The Storm Lake Community School District is one of ten statewide that have been awarded a one-time COVID Public Health Workforce Supplemental Funding Grant.
The Storm Lake grant is for over 95-thousand 500-dollars. The grants awarded by the Iowa Departments of Education and Health and Human Services are going to public school districts for training and coaching school health care workers on COVID response and recovery initiatives focused on social-emotional-behavioral health. The ten districts are receiving a total of nearly 600-thousand dollars in grant money.
The COVID Public Health Workforce Supplemental Funding Grants will help school districts enhance mental health literacy, implement evidence-based practices, and expand capacity for addressing the social-emotional-behavioral health needs of students resulting from or exacerbated by the pandemic. The grants can be used to cover costs associated with planning, training, and coaching, including travel expenses for up to 12 professional developmental opportunities.
The Iowa Departments of Education and Health and Human Services received 4.5-million dollars from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention for the grants, which were awarded to school districts through a competitive process. Award amounts were based on the funding requested by each district to support their professional development plan, not to exceed 100-thousand dollars.
This is the third and final round of funding. A total of 17 districts were awarded over 1.3-million dollars through the first two rounds.
