Paving the way for school success

Over the next five years, two grants to the New Hampshire Department of Education will
  • bring $18 million to the state of New Hampshire
  • serve over 40,000 children, youth, and families
  • train over 3,000 youth-serving professionals

These grants promote social and emotional health, which is closely tied to academic success and overall well-being.

The first grant of $8.6 million from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration is to implement a four-year Safe Schools and Healthy Students planning project. The NH DOE, working with the NH Department of Health and Human Services Bureau of Behavioral Health, will coordinate the project’s implementation.

The project is called NH Communities for Children and will be implemented in three school districts and communities (Concord, Laconia, and Rochester). In addition, NH DHHS through its Division for Children, Youth and Families; Juvenile Justice Services; Bureau of Drug and Alcohol Services; and Office of Minority Health and Refugee Affairs will join NH parent and family organizations, community mental health centers, and other partners to work closely in the three communities to:

  • Substantially improve the social and emotional skills of young children, birth through five years
  • Substantially improve the mental, emotional, and behavioral health of children and youth and reduce school violence, bullying, behavior problems, suspensions, substance abuse, and punitive/exclusionary discipline practices
  • Substantially improve the behavioral health outcomes of the highest-need children, youth, and their families/caregivers
  • Substantially improve the engagement of families and youth in decision-making at all levels, and

The second grant is called Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resilience in Education). This grant will be implemented by DOE in partnership with Berlin public schools, Franklin School District, and SAU #7 (which includes Colebrook, Pittsburg, and Stewartstown districts).

The NH Department of Health and Human Services, NH Division of Children, Youth, and Families, local law enforcement, parent and family organizations, community mental health centers, the Children’s Behavioral Health Collaborative, and other youth-serving agencies will work closely over the next five years to substantially improve mental health outcomes for children and youth, and to create safer and more secure schools and communities.

Specifically, the goals of Project AWARE-NH are to

  • Provide Youth Mental Health First Aid and Mental Health First Aid training to teachers, athletic coaches, playground attendants and others;
  • Use a multi-tiered framework that reduces school violence, bullying, behavior problems, suspensions, substance abuse and punitive or exclusionary discipline practices;
  • Reduce the need for intensive treatment, out-of-home placement, hospitalization, or incarceration of children and youth in each region; and,
  • Substantially improve the engagement of school, families, and youth in decision-making at the policy, practice and individual levels.

About Project AWARE, DOE Commissioner Virginia M. Barry, Ph.D. said, “New Hampshire is very well poised to partner with districts and other child-youth serving agencies around mental health issues. We are pleased to be able to provide training to individuals in the State, especially our school staff, so that they have the tools to recognize and support students who are challenged with a mental illness.”