Arizona Department of Education invests $12.1M in children’s mental, physical health programs

PHOENIX — The Arizona Department of Education announced Tuesday it will invest $12.1 million of COVID-19 relief funds to support programs that address children’s mental and physical health needs.

The money, which comes from the American Rescue Plan passed by Congress last year, was awarded to six organizations.

“We know students learn best when they feel their best mentally and physically,” Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman said in a press release.

“We want every parent to feel confident, knowing that their kids are learning at their highest potential, and these investments will play an important role in achieving that goal.”

Valley of the Sun YMCA will get $3 million to provide memberships and expand services such as diabetes prevention and sports programming, while ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College receives $2.8 million to implement an after-school enrichment program at 14 elementary schools in the Mesa Public Schools district.

The BARR Center and notMYkid were each awarded $2 million, with The BARR Center using the funds to bring its model to selected schools and notMYkid expanding its mental and behavioral health services to 50,000 youth, parents, caregivers and school faculty with the money.

notMYkid’s services focus on Title-1 schools, LQBTQ youth and low-income students and their families, according to the release.

Lastly, Playworks Arizona gets $1.5 million and Mindfulness First receives $879,000 to expand each of its services to schools.

People can view all investments the Arizona Department of Education has made using federal recovery dollars online.

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