BETHEL, CT — The Bethel College District is considered one of 20 throughout the state being awarded $5 million in funding for use for hiring and sustaining college psychological well being employees throughout the 2023, 2024, and 2025 college years.
The whole award to Bethel Faculties will likely be $261,840, parsed out as $96,978 in each fiscal yr 2023 and 2024, and $67,884 in FY 2025.
The College Psychological Well being Employees Grant, being administered by the Connecticut State Division of Schooling, is funded by cash the state obtained from the federal American Rescue Plan Act, which was authorized by Congress in 2021 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
That is the primary of three rounds of grants aimed toward growing the variety of psychological well being employees in faculties which can be being administered by the state utilizing ARPA funding. A second spherical – the College Psychological Well being Specialists Grant – will quickly present grants totaling $15 million. A 3rd grant program will present $8 million to summer season camps and school-based summer season programming for psychological well being help.
Awards for every district beneath this primary spherical vary between $101,973 and $324,000. Precedence was given to districts with a excessive ratio of scholars to high school psychological well being employees and a excessive price of scholar use of college psychological well being providers, in accordance with a information launch from Gov. Ned Lamont’s Workplace.
U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, representing Bethel as a part of the fifth District, stated, “As college students proceed to get better from probably the most traumatizing interruption to their schooling, they want robust, dependable, and accessible help providers. I’m grateful Governor Lamont and state leaders are utilizing American Rescue Plan funding to serve college students straight. Bringing extra psychological well being employees into faculties is significant for youngsters to heal from the pandemic and supply them with a protected studying surroundings.”
