Jacksonville recognizes its shared obligation to the children of the city. By strengthening the residents, leaders, and community as a whole, everyone can work to make a positive future for our children. An example of how the expanded system of care is helping our community, the Project AWARE grant improves behavioral health awareness among school-age youth and their communities.
The Now Is The Time Project Advancing Wellness and Resilience Education (AWARE) grant program expands the capacity to:
- Increase awareness of mental health issues among school-age youth
- Train school personnel and other adults who interact with school-age youth so they can detect and respond to mental health issues
- Connect children, youth, and families who may experience behavioral health issues with appropriate services
Project AWARE meets these goals by expanding or implementing:
- Access to existing funding systems that support mental health services for school-age youth
- ccess to school- and community-based mental health services
- apacity and leadership to sustain community-based mental health promotion, illness prevention, early identification, and treatment services and initiatives
- Collaboration among families, schools, and communities during program planning
- Coordination among state and local youth-serving systems
- Culturally specific and developmentally appropriate mental health services
- Outreach to youth and families, behavioral health promotion, and mental illness prevention strategies
- Systems for identifying signs and symptoms early and linking families to existing services
- Use of a multi-tiered behavioral framework
- Youth violence prevention strategies