A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

"Safe Schools/Healthy Students"
Gresham, Oregon

Multnomah County is a rapidly expanding metropolitan area that has grown outward from the urban center of Portland, Oregon. The area?s increasing population is ethnically diverse and includes people from Central America, rural Mexico, Eastern Europe, and Asia. The student population in East Multnomah County is at increasing risk for a variety of negative outcomes. Students are increasingly carrying weapons to school, bringing alcohol onto school property, and becoming involved in violent crimes. The rate of child abuse and neglect and suicide deaths among persons age 10 to 17 has also risen to alarming levels. This proposal will serve four school districts in East Multnomah County, reaching a total of 33,000 students.

The four East Multnomah school districts will work with a consortium of 13 agencies to emphasize prevention through early access to mental health services for students.

The goal of this project, called Safety Achieved From Effective Prevention Teaming (SAFE PT), is to help schools and community agencies work together to identify problems early and provide mental and emotional health services for troubled youth and their families. Specialized training will be provided for early childhood, primary, elementary, and middle school teachers, counselors, nurses, and early intervention staff to increase early identification of at-risk children and youth. A program director and five district coordinators will be hired to assess at-risk students and connect them with appropriate service providers. Agencies will receive additional resources to conduct comprehensive assessments emerging from early referrals. Eight case managers will be hired to ensure that appropriate intervention services are administered and monitored. The Schools Uniting Neighborhoods (SUN) School model will be implemented at the middle school level to reduce drug and alcohol abuse and juvenile crime and raise academic achievement by extending learning and recreational activities beyond the regular school day. Teachers will receive awareness training that will help then nurture classroom cultures that give students a sense of identity and that discourages aggressive behavior as a means of conflict resolution. In collaboration with area law enforcement and emergency medical agencies, a crisis response assessment will be conducted to allow agencies to be better prepared to respond to emergencies.

The University of Oregon?s Institute of Violence and Destructive Behavior will coordinate the evaluation, which will measure the effects of the project on some common indicators over similar periods of time for children and youth attending the program.

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