Project PRESS

In January 2023, the Department of Education awarded Howard University a grant under the Mental Health Service Professionals Demonstration program to support increasing the number of mental health professionals of color placed in the District of Columbia Public Schools. The priority of the Mental Health Services Professional Demonstration program is to expand the capacity of high-need LEAs in partnership with institutions of higher education (IHEs) to train school-based mental health services providers, to expand the number of these professionals available to address the shortages of school-based mental health services providers in high-need schools. To achieve the program’s priority, Howard University was awarded a five-year grant to work in partnership with the DCPS system.

This grant funds the work that Howard University’s School of Social Work is engaged in within eleven schools across Wards 7 and 8 in Washington, DC. Howard University’s Master of Social Work (MSW) students are trained to engage students, educators, and families in multiple interventions to improve mental health outcomes, including psychological distress and race-based stress, anxiety, depression, self-regulation, and to develop coping skills to deal with experiences of trauma and community violence.