Binghamton University receives $9.3 million federal grant for Community Schools Program
Summary
BINGHAMTON (WBNG) -- According to The Founding Director of Binghamton Universitys Community Schools Program, Laura Bronstein, in Broome and Tioga counties, more than 50% of children live in families characterized as low income.Binghamton University received $9.3 million in federal funds to expand mental health services in the Southern Tier as part of its Mental Health Service Provider Demonstration Grant Program.$5.7 million will fund the Rural Mental Health in Schools Expansion and the other $3.5 million will fund the Family Partner Program, which will serve approximately 3,700 students at the Chenango Forks and Maine-Endwell school districts.The Executive Director of Binghamton Universitys Community Schools, Luann Kida said, she has witnessed the need for mental health support and the importance of family engagement. This is why she wants to ensure that the two most important systems children engage with every day are aligned in true partnership around the needs of children.Both of these grants will have that approach where we will actively engage families and address their barriers, said Kida. Sometimes its mental health, sometimes its their own experience, as students, many of them talk about them not liking school as a kid and so now they have children theyre trying to navigate, sometimes in that same school district so it will be helping to really help meet their needs and then work with the school system so that all of us are working to help kids succeed and reach their full potential.