The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has received a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) for FY2021 Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resiliency in Education) 

The purpose of this grant is to build or expand capacity through partnerships and collaboration between state and local systems to promote healthy development of school-aged youth. The funding will be used to support the development and implementation of a comprehensive plan of activities, services, and strategies to decrease youth violence. State and local systems will work together to (1) increase awareness of mental health issues among school-aged youth; (2) provide training for school personnel and other adults who connect with-school aged youth to detect and respond to mental health issues; and (3) connect school-aged youth who may have behavioral health issues, including serious emotional disturbance (SED) or serious mental illness (SMI), and their families, to needed services.

Through the grant funding, we are currently partnering with the Missouri Department of Mental Health and three Missouri school districts.

Kansas City Public Schools
Kennett School District
Riverview Gardens School District

Each district has entered into an agreement to increase awareness of mental health in schools and build resiliency to mental health issues using the tiered approach.

For more information about Project AWARE Missouri: dese.projectaware@dese.mo.gov