Jon Ossoff
10/31/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 10/31/2024 11:53
Sen. Ossoff Strengthening Mental Health Counseling for Georgia Students
Atlanta, Ga. - U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff is delivering Federal resources to hire more counselors in Georgia schools.
Today, Sen. Ossoff announced he is delivering Federal resources through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to help hire licensed mental health providers that will better support students in and around Fulton, Gwinnett, Macon-Bibb, and Muscogee Counties.
"Bringing both political parties together and putting the needs of our kids above partisan interests, I helped pass bipartisan legislation to strengthen mental health services for young people in Georgia across the country," Sen. Ossoff said. "There are real and ongoing mental health concerns for young people, particularly students in K-12 schools, and it's an issue parents across Georgia care deeply about. These new resources for local school districts will help provide mental health services in school in Georgia."
The Federal resources, coming through the U.S. Department of Education's School Based Mental Health Grant program, will help local school districts hire more counselors and better support students.
In 2023, Sen. Ossoff previously delivered funding through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to hire more mental health counselors in DeKalb County School District, the Calhoun City Board of Education, and the Dougherty County School System.
Also last year, Sen. Ossoff previously delivered funding through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act to help train more mental health counselors, with resources for Kennesaw State University, Georgia State University, and the University of Georgia.
Please find a breakdown of federal grant awards Sen. Ossoff announced:
| Grant Recipient | Project Description | Award Amount |
| Muscogee County School District | Muscogee County School District plans to recruit 11 full-time social workers and 2 full-time psychologists to better serve students across the Columbus area. | $1,997,651 |
| Bibb County School District | Bibb County School District plans to use the Federal funding to hire 13 new employees, including 11 mental health professionals. | $2,569,674 |
| Fulton County Board of Education | Fulton County Board of Education plans to hire six school psychologists to achieve a better ratio of students per school psychologist. | $470,223 |
| Gwinnett County Public Schools | Gwinnett County Public Schools plans to use the Federal funding to hire new social workers to reduce ratios of social workers to students and add mental health therapists as contractors to support students in need of more intensive mental health counseling. In addition, to build a diverse pipeline of social workers and counselors to fill future vacancies, university interns from minority-serving institutions, including Clark Atlanta University will be placed in GCPS schools and receive service scholarships and extensive mentoring support throughout their internship and first year in their new role. | $2,453,647 |
Sen. Ossoff continues working to support the health of Georgia's children.
Last month, Sen. Ossoff introduced the Fresh Food Act of 2024 to address food insecurity across Georgia by helping attract more grocery stores to Georgia communities with limited access to fresh foods, and to help support Georgia farmers.
In July, Sen. Ossoff delivered over $2.8 million in Federal grant funding through the Drug-Free Communities Support Programs (DFC) for communities across Georgia.
In March, Sen. Ossoff delivered $1,205,656 in Federal funding through the Children's Hospital Graduate Medical Education (CHGME) program to help Egleston Children's Hospital at Emory University train and retain more pediatric physicians.
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