Best Practices: Rural School Mental Health Collaboration & Funding

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Audience: All


DESCRIPTION:

‍ ‍Learn how some rural Wisconsin school districts are strengthening their mental health programs through high-gain collaborations, private funding, community engagement, cost-saving measures, and effective story telling. This session shares best practices from two rural school consortiums and several small rural districts that have demonstrated how size can actually be an advantage in the delivery of mental health services. The session also highlights what private funders look for in school mental health funding opportunities and the most common uses of private funds for school mental health.

PRESENTER: Steve Goldberg - Executive Director, WEA Member Benefits Foundation

Steve Goldberg is in his fifth year as executive director of the WEA Member Benefits Foundation, where he leads a statewide school mental health funding initiative which provides unrestricted, multi-year grants to selected school districts, plus fundraising guidance to help them secure additional financial support from private sources. The Foundation currently funds mental health programs in 28 districts serving 155,000 of Wisconsin’s 785,000 K-12 students. More than half of those districts are rural.

Steve serves on the boards of the Wisconsin Coalition for Expanding School-Based Mental Health and the UW Center for Community & Nonprofit Studies. He’s the past chairman of the Wisconsin Philanthropy Network and also served on the Advancing a Healthy Wisconsin Endowment Mental Health Investment Team. The Madison School District has named him a Champion for Madison Public Schools. Prior to joining the WEA Member Benefits Foundation, he was executive director of a major Madison- based corporate foundation.

NOTE: Representatives from two rural school mental health consortiums have been invited as co-presenters. One has agreed to participate pending approval from her district for travel expenses.

PRESENTER: NOTE: Representatives from two rural school mental health consortiums have been invited as co-presenters. One has agreed to participate pending approval from her district for travel expenses.