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Sen. Klobuchar visits Rochester Public Schools to emphasize $1.9 million federal grant aimed at mental health

Post-Bulletin - 3/13/2023

Mar. 13—ROCHESTER — Emphasizing both the need and the opportunity to address it, Sen. Amy Klobuchar visited Rochester Public Schools on Monday to speak about the district receiving a federal grant of nearly $2 million aimed at the mental health crisis.

RPS first

announced the grant

in February. On Monday, Klobuchar said the district was the only one in the state, and one of 100 across the country, to receive a grant of its kind.

"We all know that we have come through a lot as a country," Klobuchar said. "The healing can start in the schools."

As previously reported, the grant will focus on a partnership between RPS and Winona State University. Disbursed over five years, the funds will go toward "scholarships, district internship placements, and ongoing supervision and support to incoming masters level social work students at Winona State University," according to a press release.

RPS Superintendent Kent Pekel, WSU master of social work program Director Alex Espadas, and RPS School social worker Akilah Sharif also spoke about the grant funding on Monday.

The speakers framed the mental health crisis in the context of factors like the pandemic and social media, describing it as a matter of life and death for some youth.

Multiple district leaders spoke about how the partnership between RPS and WSU is a way to address the workforce shortage. Denise Moody, RPS director of development, said the program will especially be useful in the development of mental health workers of color — a growing need with a student body that is almost half minorities.

Espadas said the trauma-informed program will be "uniquely equipped" to work with the growing population of refugees, immigrants, and first-generation students.

Klobuchar said Rochester was chosen as one of the grant recipients because of its ability to build the program to scale and become a model for other districts. She also described the existing relationship between RPS and WSU as a factor.

Pekel reiterated that, while also adding the district is in the heart of a major medical and research community, and that it has a diverse student population with disparities to address.

"I really do believe there's no place in the country that has the opportunity we do in Rochester to marry excellence and equity," Pekel said. "We're well positioned to do that with this project."

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