More than $32.8 million in grants have been awarded to 18 states and the District of Columbia as part of a joint effort by the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Justice to support schools in creating safer and healthier learning environments.

The highly competitive Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative attracted 422 grant applications nationally. Under the initiative, school districts, in partnership with local public mental-health agencies, law-enforcement and juvenile justice entities, must implement a comprehensive, community-wide plan that focuses on the following elements:

• Safe school environments and violence prevention activities
• Alcohol, tobacco and other drug prevention activities
• Student behavioral, social and emotional supports
• Mental-health services
• Early childhood social and emotional learning programs.

“Every child in America deserves a safe and healthy school environment, and it’s our job as educators, parents and community members to ensure that happens,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said. “The Safe Schools/Healthy Students grants will provide students with access to services and programs that promote healthy development, personally and academically.”

“The prevention of youth violence and substance abuse is a principal objective of the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative and is crucial to our efforts to reduce juvenile delinquency,” said Laurie Robinson, acting assistant attorney general, Office of Justice Programs at the U.S. Department of Justice. “The initiative is well equipped to advance the prevention of delinquency, and the grants announced today represent a significant step forward towards that end.”

“In community after community, this initiative has been the catalyst for bringing schools and youth-serving organizations together to build and expand evidence-based programs to prevent violence, promote mental health and boost young people’s academic achievement.”said Eric Broderick, acting administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), which manages the program on behalf of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.“The dividends for children, families and communities at large have been unprecedented: lower rates of school violence, more mental-health services for more children, better attendance and improved academic performance.”

The Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative draws on the best practices of education, juvenile justice, law enforcement and mental-health systems to provide integrated resources for prevention and early intervention services for children and youth.

Since 1999, the Education, Justice and Health and Human Services departments have administered the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative, which has provided more than $2.1 billion to local educational, mental health, law enforcement and juvenile justice partnerships.

A complete list of grantees and their abstracts can be found at www.ed.gov/programs/dvpsafeschools/awards.html or see below. For more information on the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative, visit www.ed.gov/programs/dvpsafeschools/index.html or www.sshs.samhsa.gov.

2009 Safe Schools/Healthy Students grantees are listed below: