SCHUMER ANNOUNCES $1 MILLION TO CHAUTAUQUA DEPT. OF MENTAL HYGIENE FOR CHILD AND FAMILY SUPPORT SERVICES
Funds Will Help Department Better Serve Children and Families in Chautauqua County, Provide Enhanced Child Mental Health and Family Support Assistance
U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer today announced that the Chautauqua County Department of Mental Hygiene will be awarded $1,000,000 under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Child Mental Health Initiative. In February, Schumer sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services supporting the Chautauqua Department’s application for the grant in an effort to secure the funds for the department. The funding will enable ChautauquaCounty to better serve children across the county through a family-driven and youth-guided rural system of care entitled “The Tapestry of Chautauqua Project.”
“These funds are essential to providing children and families with the critical mental health and support services they need,” Schumer said. “I am so glad we could deliver this much-needed money to help fund the Department’s efforts to maximize the available resources efficiently and effectively."
The Chautauqua County Department of Mental Hygiene is dedicated to planning, developing, and providing accessible, comprehensive, integrated, outcome-based mental hygiene services to residents of ChautauquaCounty.
Funding under the Child Mental Health Initiative will enable ChautauquaCounty to implement innovative changes to the way child mental health services are delivered throughout the county. ChautauquaCounty will focus on expanding evidence-based services including mentoring, school support and family support and crisis services, and more effectively reaching out to and serving families, especially those from minority groups and underserved populations, and those impacted by generational poverty. In addition, the project will work to decrease out of home placement as well as high school dropout rates. Special attention will be paid to the needs of Hispanic and African American children with SED (Serious Emotional Disturbance), as well as to the needs of their families.
“This grant of a record setting $1 million will enable us to broaden the scope adding all of the youth related services including Mentoring, Education and others to this work,” said Chautauqua City Executive Greg Edwards. “All of our stakeholders will now have the incentive to come together to design an expansion of this work that I truly believe will be a model for the whole State if not the Nation.”
To help the Chautauqua County Department of Mental Hygiene receive the grant, Senator Schumer sent a letter in February to the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt urging him to support the facility’s grant application.
A full copy of the Senator’s letter is below
February 12, 2008
The Honorable Mike Leavitt
Secretary
United States Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC20201
Dear Secretary Leavitt:
I am pleased to write in support of the application submitted by the Chautauqua County Department of Mental Hygiene for funding under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Child Mental Health Initiative. Such funding will enable ChautauquaCounty to better serve children across the county through a family-driven and youth-guided rural system of care entitled “The Tapestry of Chautauqua Project.”
ChautauquaCounty is located in the southwest corner of New YorkState. The rural county covers 1,065 square miles and has a population of 142,000 residents. The Chautauqua County Department of Mental Hygiene is dedicated to planning, developing, and providing accessible, comprehensive, integrated, outcome-based mental hygiene services to residents of Chautauqua County, maximizing available resources in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.
Funding under the Child Mental Health Initiative would enable ChautauquaCounty to implement innovative changes to the way child mental health services are delivered throughout the county. ChautauquaCounty will focus on expanding evidence-based services including mentoring, school support and family support and crisis services, and more effectively reaching out to and serving families, especially those from minority groups and underserved populations, and those impacted by generational poverty. In addition, the project will work to decrease out of home placement as well as high school dropout rates. Special attention will be paid to the needs of Hispanic and African American children with SED (Serious Emotional Disturbance), as well as to the needs of their families. It is vital that we do everything in our power to ensure that troubled youth get the best possible mental health services, and I applaud ChautauquaCounty for its foresight. I hope this application for funding meets with your approval.
