March 1

One of 15 Grants Awarded Nationally, “Caring Across Communities” Recognizes Successful Partnership Among Minneapolis Public Schools, Hennepin County Children’s Mental Health, African Aid, La Familia Guidance Center, Inc. and the Mental Health Collective

MINNEAPOLIS, March 1, 2007– Children in need at three Minneapolis schools, particularly those from refugee and immigrant families, will receive improved mental health services through a $300,000 grant announced today by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) as part of a new national program, Caring Across Communities: Addressing Mental Health Needs of Diverse Children and Youth. The grant, awarded over three years to the Minneapolis Public Schools, recognizes the successful partnership and programming developed by the school district, Hennepin County Children’s Mental Health, African Aid, La Familia Guidance Center, Inc. and the Mental Health Collective.

In Minneapolis, the new Caring Across Communities project will focus on providing services to children from the growing immigrant and refugee communities of Somali, Liberians, Oromos and Latinos. Minneapolis Public Schools is one of 15 grantees selected by RWJF for the program from a nationwide pool of applicants.

Refugee and immigrant youth can be particularly at risk for developing mental health problems due to difficulties resulting from problems in their home countries, refugee camps and resettling, and adjusting to life in the United States. The Caring Across Communities grant will help provide a broad range of coordinated mental health services including crisis intervention, screening, assessment, treatment, consultation and training of school staff, and access to county support and treatment services for students and families in three pilot schools that have high concentrations of refugee and immigrant students: Andersen Elementary, Anne Sullivan Communication Center and Jefferson Community School.

“We are extremely grateful for the Robert Wood Johnson’s Caring Across Communities grant,” said Bill Green, Superintendent in Minneapolis Public Schools. “It comes at a critical time and will allow us to build on substantial progress that we’ve made with the help of Hennepin County Children’s Mental Health and our partnering community agencies.”

“The Minneapolis Public Schools project is part of a new movement to help children get the mental health services they need,” said Wendy Yallowitz, program officer at RWJF. “The aim here is to make a positive difference in children’s lives.”

The grant builds on the successful three-year collaboration of four community mental health agencies – NorthPoint Mental Health Center, Washburn Child Guidance Center, The Mental Health Collective and La Familia Child Guidance Center – working closely with the school district and Hennepin County to provide mental health services to students and families.

Created in 2003 with the support of a federal Safe Schools Healthy Students grant, the school mental health program brings a range of mental health services to seven Minneapolis Public schools where a community mental health agency has placed a full time, licensed mental health professional. This school-based mental health professional provides a range of services from prevention and early intervention to diagnostic evaluation and therapy with students and their families.

“The project builds on the long history of cooperation between Hennepin County, Minneapolis schools and community agencies that has grown over the past 12 years from the activities of the Children’s Mental Health Collaborative,” said Jamie Halpern, Area Manager for Hennepin County Children’s Mental Health Services. “This project will deepen and extend culturally specific mental health services for immigrant and refugee students and their families.”

This project will address five primary areas of unmet needs. They include:
• Access to culturally appropriate mental health services.
• Bridging the differences between the cultural experiences related to mental health.
• The complexity of mental health issues due to trauma and loss.
• The impact of changing family roles on parent/child relationships and family health.
• The impact of isolation and lack of social connection on individual and community wellness.

Many challenges impact the ability of immigrants and refugees to access services but the largest one is the severe shortage of linguistically and culturally competent service providers.

“One of the challenges of providing mental health service to this population is that the clinician must be able to bridge the Western understanding of the results of trauma, immigration, and acculturation and use the client’s language and sense of meaning to effectively intervene,” noted the Project’s Director Dr. Mark Sander of Hennepin County. “We have learned from past experiences that interpretation is not enough. Clinicians must understand the life experience and cultural context of the students and families that they are serving.”

Program funding will help to identify non-traditional ways of offering service that resonate culturally, have meaning within the immigrants’ understanding of health and wellness and avoid significant negative stigma.

One of the foundational tenets of the school mental health program is to identify and strengthen community partnerships rather than trying to create a new service delivery system for mental health.

There will be seven partner agencies for the project, all contributing resources:
• Minneapolis Public Schools
• Mental Health Collective (MHC)
• African Aid
• La Familia Guidance Center, Inc.
• Hennepin County Children’s Mental Health Services
• Hennepin County Center for Multicultural Services
• The Minnesota Child Response Center (MNCRC)

“Not only is this approach more efficient and cost effective, but we can deliver better services to children and families,” noted Dr. Sander. “Our experience tells us that we will all learn from each other and the families will benefit.”

About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing our country. As the nation’s largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful and timely change. For more than 30 years the Foundation has brought experience, commitment and a rigorous, balanced approach to the problems that affect the health and health care of those it serves. When it comes to helping Americans lead healthier lives and get the care they need, the Foundation expects to make a difference in your lifetime.

For more information, visit www.rwjf.org.

# # #