Working Within a State

Through the federal Safe Schools/Healthy Students grant program, HHD’s National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention has provided training, resources, and support to communities in 49 states across the country—reaching more than 6 million youth of every race and nationality. In each state the National Center serves, our specialists foster communication, collaboration, and combined services to strengthen efforts within the state.

One example is our work in California. In order to customize our services to more than 40 communities in this state, we have dedicated staff that have experience working with California’s education and mental health systems. Understanding the unique characteristics of the state and local communities, we are able to effectively bring together a coalition of education, mental health, and law enforcement agencies to promote mental health and to prevent substance abuse and violence among youth.