$5.6M Grant To Address Spike In Mental Health Issues For D47 Students

CRYSTAL LAKE, IL — District 47 has received five new grants totaling $6.3 million, which will support initiatives and provide resources for students. The largest of the grants, a $5.6 million federal grant, will address a spike in social-emotional issues among students.

District 47 is the only school district in McHenry County that's been awarded the five-year federal grant called Project LAKE, which stands for Learning Acceptance through Kindness for Everyone, and is issued by the U.S. Department of Education.

The $5.6 million grant will be used to assist student outcomes by increasing the capacity to implement, sustain and improve mental health services, school officials said in a news release Thursday.

D47 is one of only 7 school districts in the state to be awarded the grant and among 102 school districts in the country to receive this federal grant.

In recent years, District 47 has seen a growing number of students in need of mental and social-emotional support, and in the first 2.5 months of this school year, school officials fielded nearly the same amount of support requests as it did for all of 2021-22, according to a District 47 news release

“The mental and social-emotional health of our students is critical to their ability to successfully engage in their education,” said District 47 superintendent Kathy Hinz. “We’re thrilled to be able to provide additional supports for students and staff through our partnerships with the community and with funding sources above and beyond local tax dollars.”

Over the next five years, the grant will support the recruitment of 12 additional school-based mental health service providers, including social workers, school counselors and a director of social-emotional learning, while also supporting the retention of existing school-based mental health providers.

The district currently employs 26 social workers, 11 school psychologists and one counselor for its 13 schools and 7,100 students.

Throughout the duration of the grant, the district will collaborate with local community mental health providers and other community partners to bolster its ability to provide quality mental health services for students, according to the news release.

Midwest PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions & Supports) Network partnered with the district in writing the grant and will provide consulting services to the district and professional development for staff. The network is a national research, grant, and direct-funded organization in Illinois which functions as a hub of the Center on PBIS, a national technical assistance partnership funded by the U.S. Department of Education.

“Mental health is a critical community issue that is best addressed collaboratively,” said Kristin Schmidt, assistant director of special education. “We rely on and deeply appreciate the community partners who continually rally around us to help us support the needs of our students. Our partnerships are a unique blueprint in the field of education, and other school districts have reached out to duplicate what we’ve accomplished together so far. I’m excited that this grant will allow us to do even more.”

Schmidt led the effort to apply for the grant and will become the new director of social-emotional learning. During her 22 years with District 47, she has supported the district as a social worker and an assistant director of special education, according to the news release.

She currently serves on the board of directors for NAMI, co-leads a county group with the McHenry County Mental Health Board, and serves on the county’s Youth Empowerment Alliance.

Besides the federal LAKE grant, District 47 also received Preschool for All block grant in the amount of $344,376; an Elementary and Secondary Relief Digital Equity Formula grant in the amount of $201,200; a District-Led High Impact Tutoring grant in the amount of $149,040; and a HEROES reading intervention grant in the amount of $18,600.