| Name | Ronald |
|---|---|
| Last Name | Yother |
| Home Address | 1315 Dreamcatcher Way Hixson, Tennessee 37343 United States |
| Organization Name | Skyuka Hall |
| Describe Your Role In The Organization | President and Head of School |
| Organization Address | 5600 Brainerd Rd A-24 Chattanooga, Tennessee 37411 United States |
| Website | https://skyukahall.org |
| Best Phone Number To Reach You | 4238779711 |
| Alternate Phone Number | 4233855007 |
| Email Address | jyother@skyukahall.org |
| Alternate Email Address | broj44@aol.com |
| Please Describe Your Project In Detail | Our project is the Wolf Pack (Skyuka Hall's mascot) Mental and Behavioral Health Initiative. Our expectations for the proposed Wolf Pack Mental and Behavioral Health Initiative are to advance the mental and behavioral health and perseverance levels of our student population (students with learning differences) who have struggled mentally and/or behaviorally because of the COVID-19 pandemic. These expectations will be met by developing a school-based mental health program in partnership with The Hamilton County Department of Education, The University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, and Agape Youth Behavioral Health under the direction of a new school guidance counselor. Mental health care services for the students at Skyuka Hall are a must during this pressing and critical time brought on by the pandemic. The purpose of many children with learning differences often lies dormant in traditional public and private school classrooms across the country and is never fully realized. The Greater Chattanooga area is no different. Too many learning-challenged students become lost as a statistic, often forfeiting gifts and abilities simply because they are misunderstood and not properly equipped to achieve. Covid-19 has created an even bigger gap for students with learning differences who want to thrive but thanks to the chaos ensued locally and globally from the pandemic, are now merely trying to survive and cope. To assist in the socio-skill coping production necessary to live a productive and happy life, students with learning differences must be shown how they are destined to make an impact in this world despite the academic and mental challenges they face during these tumultuous times and must have a formidable mental and behavioral program in place to support an individualized academic plan. Without the proper mental health supports in place, the physical and mental health, safety, wellbeing, and success of stduents with learning differences, in and outside the classroom, becomes extremely limited. Learning differences are common in education. In Chattanooga, approximately one-in-five students have some type of learning difference like dyslexia, dysgraphia, and/or Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). These challenges make educational requirements like reading, writing, and spelling tiring and difficult and do not promote success in the classroom or at home. To make matters worse, the anxiety, frustration, and ever-changing schedules brought on by the pandemic have overwhelmed many of these students to the point they want to give up and/or “cope” in unsafe and detrimental ways. Skyuka Hall is the only dually accredited K-12 school in East Tennessee offering a full-time, non-traditional education exclusively for students with learning differences. Skyuka Hall has a proven track record of working with children who have a wide range of learning differences, including autism, and/or ADHD. The school has grown from 12 to 113 students in seven years and graduated 25 students in two years. These students continue to become success stories and are already making a difference in society. However, society has changed dramatically because of the pandemic. Another variable of change has entered our students' lives. The new and ever-increasing challenges brought on by the pandemic and inadequate resources have made mental and behavioral achievement of these students almost impossible: the lack of mental and behavioral achievement then carries over into staggered academic progress as we have seen. We desperately need your help. Meeting this mental and behavioral health crisis head-on, therefore, is critical before things get worse. The overwhelming majority of our students come to the school from a perspective of hopelessness due to their time spent struggling in traditional classroom settings anyway. We hired a social-emotional director to help meet some of these needs by developing better socio-emotional skills. However, since the pandemic, the mental and behavioral health challenges of our learners, including but not limited to many of their families, have created another level of desperate need far beyond "social struggles." Our families don't know what to do. Until now, we have done the best we can with what we have. But according to CNN Health, "If youth grow through this pandemic with increasing levels of stress and mental health challenges, society could be in for some real challenges as youth grow into adulthood" (^). How much more of a longitudinal impact will the pandemic have on students with learning differences who are already subject to heightened anxiety and depression? CNN Health published another article on the impact that the pandemic has played on the mental health of children and adolescents. According to Kristen Rodgers of CNN, vaccines do not have the ability to manage the negative impact the pandemic has had on mental health. “Isolation, which can lead to loneliness, has hit people of all ages. Many children and adolescents have been missing out on opportunities important for social development” (*). We have seen these truths on the ground. Students with learning differences thrive on day-to-day structure. So, missing out on these critical opportunities along with innumerable disruptions, online school, and having the basic day-to-day schedules and structures of school life restricted and turned upside-down due to Covid-19 (when we can even learn at school), has caused a mental catastrophe within our student population. Since the pandemic, our learners have become more stressed, often depressed, and face new anxieties that inhibit their ability to be successful not only in a classroom but in society. The time is now to implement this mental health program. We humbly and desperately reach out to the City of Chattanooga for relief funding to help us start the Wolf Pack Mental and Behavioral Health Initiative, a program aimed at hiring a guidance counselor (we currently have no one) and the resources necessary to serve the mental and behavioral health needs of our unique learners as the pandemic continues to rage. Sara Molano of CNN writes, “The kids are not all right a new study suggests. During the Covid-19 pandemic, depression, and anxiety in youth doubled compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to research” (^). As mentioned earlier, students with learning differences already have heightened numbers of anxiety and depression from being different and misunderstood not to mention trying to cope with a virus that no one can explain or seem to stop. Our students especially seek and crave normalcy and structure in an abnormal and structurless time. Therefore, funding for a program like this that can launch during these vaciliating times would impact the mental and behavioral health of our students positively and immediately, and we are grateful for your consideration. Sources: https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/04/health/mental-health-during-covid-19-2021-stress-wellness/index.html * https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/10/health/covid-child-teen-depression-anxiety-wellness/index.html ^ |
| Please explain how your project meets the requirements of the American Rescue Plan | As stated by the Department of the Treasury's Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funding document, “The pandemic’s impacts on behavioral health, including the toll of the pandemic-related stress, have increased the need for behavioral health resources” (p. 26786). The Wolf Pack Mental and Behavioral Health Initiative, therefore, is fully aligned with the Department of the Treasury’s Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funding document by seeking to provide mental and behavioral health to students suffering from educational differences and disparities. Under the Department of the Treasury's Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funding document, mental and behavioral health treatment and the services needed to combat the negative impact the pandemic has had on mental and behavioral health, even crisis intervention, qualifies for acceptance. Therefore, we humbly and hopefully apply to you. The Department of the Treasury's Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funding document also states, “Children’s economic and family circumstances have a long-term impact on their future economic outcomes. Increases in economic hardship, material insecurity, and parental stress and behavioral health challenges all raise the risk of long-term harms to today’s children due to the pandemic.” By implementing evidence-based practices to address the mental and behavioral health needs of the students with learning differences at Skyuka Hall, we stand a strong chance of mitigating these “long-term harms” and put these students in Chattanooga in a better position to fulfill their goals and dreams without fear and the hopelessness being produced during the pandemic. This effort in turn will positively impact the families of these students who also live in our community. Sources: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/05/17/2021-10283/coronavirus-state-and-local-fiscal-recovery-funds |
| Where would your project take place? | Offices have been prepared on the second floor of Skyuka Hall School specifically for this project. |
| How much will your project cost in total? | 125000 |
| Do you have any matching funding sources from other local governments, private entities, non-profits, or philanthropic entities for your project? | Yes |
| Please describe the source and list amounts of any other funding. | The Board of Trustees, along with Jake Marshall, Inc. and the Coat of Many Colors, have agreed to continue the Mental and Behavioral Health Initiative if the relief funding for the pilot program is provided by the City of Chattanooga for the 2022-2023 school year. |
| What portion of the project are you asking the city to fund? | Therefore, we humbly ask the City of Chattanooga to help us launch the pilot program with $100,000 in relief funding (80 percent). The Coat of Many Colors committed $25,000 to this pilot project. Dr. Ken Pittman and his staff at Agape Youth Behavioral Health have also offered services-in-kind as well. |
| If funded, when would your project start? | June 15, 2022 |
| How long would your project take to complete? | The project would take the entire school year to complete. |
| What milestones would you use to measure your project’s progress? | According to Jasmine Mena in the CNN report, “Pandemic-specific impacts on one’s livelihood and well-being are ‘expected to amplify the already declining mental health in US society” (*). Therefore, since The Wolf Pack Mental and Behavioral Health Initiative is geared toward improving the mental and behavioral health and perseverance levels of students with learning differences battling from the negative effects of the pandemic, gaining immediate mental and behavioral health data will be critical. Skyuka Hall will continue providing individualized learning plans that include socio-emotional plans and goals that are critical to success in the classroom and life. However, under the pilot program, the new guidance counselor will be responsible for, working under the guidance of Dr. Pittman and Agape Health, meeting with each student (and family) prior to the start of school in August 2022 to gain more in-depth, student mental and behavioral health data as impacted by the changes from the pandemic. We will obtain baseline mental and behavioral health data while aggregating all academic progress from the previous school year(s). Identified and evidenced-based areas of concern will then be noted and directly addressed with best practices for each student throughout the school year. “Milestones” will be measured based on the progress each student makes academically, socially, qualitatively (according to personal goals), and behaviorally. We want to build student perseverance. Students at Skyuka Hall will participate in the school’s “Community Levels System,” where they come into the school at a Level C (caring, cooperative, courteous) and can move to Level R (role model and responsible), Level L (leadership), and Level S (supervisory-negative move). It is expected that with the Wolf Pack Mental and Behavioral Health Initiative, after pre and post-assessments, parental surveys (home life), and teacher evaluations have been conducted and aggregated, a palpable difference will be made in the students’ lives and perserverance levels and progress will be made not only in the school community levels system and at home but in the community at large. Sources: https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/04/health/mental-health-during-covid-19-2021-stress-wellness/index.html * |
| How would you ensure accountability and transparency throughout the project lifecycle? | Dr. Ken Pittman, MD, myself, and the entire administrative team will help us ensure accountability and transparency throughout the project lifestyle. Dr. Pittman is a child & adolescent psychiatry specialist in Chattanooga, TN. Dr. Pittman completed a residency at Indiana University/School of Medicine. Dr. Pittman currently practices at Agape Youth Behavioral Health and is affiliated with Parkridge Medical Center. Dr. Pittman is board certified in Psychiatry and as an active member of the Board of Trustees, completely understands the interworkings of our school and students. Dr. Pittman has agreed to help us establish a mental and behavioral health systems program where mindsets, socio-emotional skills, and behaviors can be measured throughout the school’s community system under the lead of a qualified guidance counselor. On a Trustee level, Dr. Pittman will be responsible for not only ensuring that the grant guidelines are met but that all monies are maximized to enhance the Initiative. The Board of Trustees meets quarterly, and as fiduciaries of the school, will ensure with evidence that every grant is implemented and itemized properly. Along with Dr. Pitman, the guidance counselor will report data and findings at meetings with data gleaned from assessments, evaluations, surveys, and anecdotal notes to ensure transparency and to review progress made toward student goals. Parents will also be asked to participate in bi-annual meetings to discuss all happenings related to the Wolf Pack Mental and Behavioral Health Initiative. All reporting requirements as expected by the City of Chattanooga will also be met while remaining in compliance with all applicable medical laws. Skyuka Hall would be more than happy to share its findings if requested. |
| If successful, how would your project benefit the community? | Skyuka Hall has received recognition throughout the community for standing in the gap exclusively for students with learning differences and/or ADHD including but not limited to the governor’s office and both mayoral offices. Being able to address the mental health and behavioral deficiencies of students with learning differences and/or ADHD, particularly those whose mental and behavioral health has been worsened by the pandemic (ultimately affecting academic progress as well), will help our community directly and substantially. Students will gain effective and behavioral, mental, and coping skills as they relate to their own neurological differences and the increasing pressures added by crisis and the pandemic. As a result of the confidence gained from acquiring these skills, it is expected the students’ academic performance will increase as their desire to come to school and that perseverance levels will improve in and outside the classroom. Skyuka Hall expects to see fewer behavioral referrals, in-school suspensions, and suspensions as student perseverance increases due to the program. By impacting the students directly and providing continuing information, data, resources, and training lessons to the parents and guardians, we also expect more hope to be restored through the dark times of the ongoing pandemic. Students and families suffering from the educational experiences and seemingly endless issues brought on by the pandemic can rest assured that Skyuka Hall, with the City of Chattanooga's help, will have the expertise not only in the classroom but will have the mental and behavioral health counseling, programming, and resources necessary to bring wholeness to each individual student. |
| How will you attract community buy-in for your project? | Only by partnerships with community leaders, leading foundations, the Hamilton County Department of Education, our local university (UTC), and local physicians and psychiatrists have Skyuka Hall experienced the success it has experienced in seven short years. The community has embraced our school even in its newness. The Hamilton County Department of Education has graciously sent occupational, physical, and speech therapists to the school for years to aid our students and continues to write federal IEPs for any of our students who need them. We are one of the fastest-growing independent schools in the state helping these precious students in our area not only find an education but healing and wholeness. Then came the pandemic. Granted, all schools have had to deal with the disruptions of the pandemic. However, Skyuka Hall is the only dually accredited school in the City of Chattanooga that deals exclusively with students who have learning differences, ADHD, and other unique mental and behavioral needs. Our learners have experienced severe anxiety from the previous schools they have attended. Over 70 percent of our student body left public school due to the struggle AND THEN have been asked to take on the fallout produced by the pandemic; this responsibility has added stress, anxiety, and depression, even at their new school home. While we are a Category III State of Tennessee School, we are new and as a 501c3 we do not have a working endowment and/or church/leading institution to support us. These funds from the City of Chattanooga would be monumental and would allow us to gain even more community buy-in within Chattanooga, ensuring that all students with learning differences in our area who have not only had their potential maximized can find a school who not only individualized academic and social instruction but who also have the resources and personnel needed to deal with the mental health crisis facing our learners today. Families of students with learning differences in Chattanooga will be overjoyed to know that Skyuka Hall will have the personnel and programming necessary to ensure their child receives the proper mental career as they continue to navigate through the pandemic. |
| Name | Dr. Ken Pittman, Agape Youth Behavioral Health |
| Contact Information | 423-226-0871 drpittman@youthbehavior.com |
| Name | Mrs. Krissa Barclay, Hamilton County Department of Education |
| Contact Information | 615-969-0469 kmbarclay@comcast.net |
| Name | Dr. Valerie Copeland-Rutledge, UTC Department of Education |
| Contact Information | 423-425-5374 Valerie-Rutledge@utc.edu |
| Is there anything else you would like us to know about your project? | Within two days of writing this grant, I suffered a severe heart attack. Thanks to God and an incredible medical team at Erlanger Hospital, I have been given a new lease on life. There is so much more information I wanted to add in this proposal but have been placed in bed even at the time of this writing. However, writing I had to do (too urgent of a mental health crisis not to). The journey of our school has been a miracle, just like my life, and I cannot articulate properly the need we have for this new pilot program at our school. And, we have committed monies for the future if we can get this program launched now with your help. For this reason, I continue to type even against doctor instructions. We are living in an urgent and pressing time. Our school is reaching out to a sub-population of children in Chattanooga who have been lost in the cracks, and with a tiny student-to-teach ratio to make it work, we have lacked the funding to make this critical hire and launch this Initiative before now. With a Board commitment to match these funds once this pilot project is completed, the City of Chattanooga would help direct our school into a new era, where the misunderstood students of our community who need mental health support the most can receive it at their school. We already receive occupational, physical, and speech support from the Hamilton County Department of Education, and thank you in advance, City of Chattanooga, for showing the community that not only do we matter but that you are willing to partner with us as we partner with the families of students with children who have learning differences in Chattanooga to change their lives even more. The CNN article said, "If we can come together as parents, researchers, clinicians and policy-makers to develop clear and actionable ways to move forward to support child and youth mental health, we can re-write this story in another year's time" (^). God bless you and thank you for your consideration for funding our plan to do just that with the students of Skyuka Hall. Sources: https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/10/health/covid-child-teen-depression-anxiety-wellness/index.html ^ |