The Program Being Evaluated

The Foundation's program, Caring Across Communities: Addressing Mental Health Needs of Diverse Children and Youth, was designed to establish school-connected mental health services for students, with an emphasis on overcoming cultural and language barriers of children in immigrant and refugee families. With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 15 sites across the United States are developing model mental health programs that engage schools, families, students, mental health agencies and other community organizations to build effective, easily-accessed services for children and youth.

About the Evaluation

The most immediate result of this evaluation project is to document a number of impacts associated with school-connected interventions delivered across a select group of grantee communities around the country. The evaluation is directed by Clea McNeely, Dr.P.H.

Summary of Methods

The evaluator will collect both qualitative and quantitative data and conduct interviews with individuals and groups. The information collected will be coded and analyzed resulting in an evaluation report.  

Products and Dissemination

The deliverables will include: (1) documentation of the impacts associated with school-connected mental health interventions in five U.S. communities; and (2) identification of best practices in the delivery of children's mental health services. The project also could result in an improvement in the number and types of supports that schools offer at-risk youth.