Yelm Community Schools Awarded $750,000 DoDea Grant for Social and Emotional Health and Wellness

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Submitted by Yelm Community Schools

Yelm Community Schools (YCS) has been awarded a $750,000 grant over the next five years by the Department of Defense to support the social and emotional health and wellness of our military connected students. Yelm was selected as one of the 21 districts out of nearly 80 that applied across the country.

Military connected students in Yelm Community Schools experience unique stressors that affect social and emotional health and wellness. In addition to the trauma and stress that affects all students, military connected students face high mobility, parent deployment, and variable school demographics. Because military connected students often have high resiliency, their social and emotional health may suffer with few outward signs of distress.

To meet this need, Yelm Community Schools entered into a grant competition sponsored by the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), a department within the DoD that supports military connected students. YCS proposed a project to support the diverse social and emotional needs of students, including military connected students, by integrating social-emotional learning and cultural competency into elementary and middle school classrooms. In addition, the proposal included the addition of a universal social-emotional health screening and further develops the multi-tiered systems of support within the district.

This is the 7th DoDEA award that Yelm has received. In total DoDEA has awarded Yelm $3.5 million since 2012. Past projects have focused on STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics), Literacy, and Technology Integration. Grant funds have paid for professional development for staff, the introduction of AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination), student and staff devices, and other educational tools and programs. YCS is honored to continue to partner with DoDEA in supporting our military connected students.

For additional information related to the grant, contact Kendall McNutt, director of student learning.

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