Congressman Carter Celebrates $400,000 Federal Grant to Promote Black Youth Mental Health in Southeast Louisiana
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman Troy A. Carter, Sr. announced that the U.S. The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health has awarded more than $3 million to eight organizations nationwide for a new initiative to demonstrate policy effectiveness to promote Black youth mental health. Southeast Louisiana will receive a total of $400,000 under one grant for the Institute of Woman and Ethnic Studies.
"Our system is failing to help our dear children stay healthy inside and out,” said Congressman Carter. “It truly is a crisis, and like most crises we face, the situation is exacerbated further for communities of color. We cannot accept this tragic reality, and I’m grateful that HHS has granted the Institute of Women and Ethnic Studies of New Orleans $400,000 to fight for the lives and well-being of young Black people. This is a powerful step forward.”
“Over the past decade, Black children under age 13 are twice as likely to die by suicide compared to their White peers,” said RDML Felicia Collins, M.D., Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health. “With this new initiative, we intend to identify specific policies that exhibit a meaningful impact on mental health for Black youth and to spread the word about these effective policy efforts.”
In October 2020, HHS released a report to Congress on African American Youth Suicide, which analyzed National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) data between 2014-2017. This data examined the risk and precipitating factors in non-Hispanic Black children and non-Hispanic White children aged 10 to 17, who died by suicide. The report examined youth suicide demographics, risk factors associated with higher rates of suicide among Black youth and evidence-based interventions towards prevention.
Grant Awardees are expected to use a policy assessment framework to identify existing policies to promote mental health in Black youth and test the impact of policies in various settings, such as schools, faith based organizations, community centers, health centers, or other community agency settings.
Later tonight, Congressman Carter plans to share remarks on the floor of the House of Representatives on the importance of improving mental health services for America’s young people. The video will be posted on his congressional YouTube page. Tomorrow morning, Thursday September 22nd, Congressman Carter will participate in a press conference about the impact of the climate crisis and natural disasters on youth mental health. The event will be livestreamed on the Moms Clean Air Force Facebook and Twitter pages at 9:30am ET / 8:30am CT.
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