NCHS $2 Million RFP Supporting Youth Resiliency in 8 Counties

NCHS is announcing a new grant opportunity for school corporations serving Benton, Carroll, Clinton, Fountain, Montgomery, Tippecanoe, Warren, and White counties in Indiana. NCHS has allocated $2 million to the Resilient Youth Initiative, to fund planning and implementation grants for proven programs that support social and emotional learning (SEL) and substance use prevention for youth. 

Noncompetitive planning grant applications are due at 1:00 p.m., Monday, December 10, 2018.

Visit www.nchsi.com/resilient to explore their RFP's and application process.

Background

NCHS is committed to providing health care and promoting healthy communities for the benefit of the citizens of Benton, Carroll, Clinton, Fountain, Montgomery, Tippecanoe, Warren, and White counties. Since 1999, NCHS has awarded over $50 million in grant funding to more than 190 organizations. Beyond its Community Benefit Capital Grants program, NCHS initiates strategic partnerships with coalitions, funders, nonprofits, and other entities to directly address the most critical community health needs identified by the NCHS and River Bend Hospital Community Health Needs Assessment. These NCHS-initiated Community Benefit Partnerships fund the launch, expansion, or strengthening of programs and services that improve health outcomes and develop healthy communities.

Local youth face rising trends in suicide attempts, substantiated incidents of child abuse and neglect, and parental substance use. Youth in Indiana reporting at least one major depressive episode in the past year rose 71% from 2011 to 2017. Nearly 17% of Indiana high school students in 2015 reported they had abused a prescription drug. In 2015, nearly 20% of Indiana high school students seriously considered suicide – the third-highest rate in the nation.

Stressed brains do not have the same learning capacities as those that feel safe, can emotionally regulate, and can feel connection. Perhaps no other group is better informed about the mental health needs of children in our communities than the teachers, counselors, and school administrators who serve them every day.

Resilient Youth Initiative

As a funder that prioritizes grant impact in the areas of mental health and substance abuse, NCHS seeks to assist schools in developing youth resiliency through social-emotional competency, drug resistance, and mental wellbeing. These grants will assist school corporations in the NCHS service area with the identification, implementation, and long-term sustainability of proven social-emotional learning (SEL) and substance use prevention programs.

The RFP launches with a noncompetitive planning grant round in which grant recipients will receive funding and complimentary coaching to develop plans and proposals. Planning grant recipients will then have the opportunity to submit their plans for implementation grant consideration. 

Resilient Youth Initiative Goals

• Alleviate barriers schools face identifying evidence-based social-emotional learning and substance use prevention programs
• Provide the support schools need to effectively implement these programs
• Help students develop prosocial-emotional behaviors, drug resistance, and mental wellbeing
• Improve youth mental health measures and reduce youth substance use