| Name | Elaine |
|---|---|
| Last Name | Swafford |
| Home Address | PO Box 3859 Chattanooga, TN 37404 United States |
| Organization Name | Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy |
| Describe Your Role In The Organization | Chief Executive Officer |
| Organization Address | 1802 Bailey Avenue Chattanooga, TN 37404 United States |
| Website | https://www.cglaonline.com |
| Best Phone Number To Reach You | 423-702-7230 |
| Alternate Phone Number | 423-718-4229 |
| Email Address | elaineswafford@cglaonline.com |
| Alternate Email Address | jenniferhoff@cglaonline.com |
| Please Describe Your Project In Detail | In August 2021, CGLA embarked on its thirteenth school year with 365 girls in grades 6-12. Over 90% of CGLA students are low-income and the student population is predominantly minority (54% African American and 42% Latina). Since 2009, CGLA has offered educational opportunities for Hamilton County’s most academically vulnerable girls, with nearly 100% considered at-risk because they scored below proficient on standardized tests before arriving at CGLA or come from low-income homes. CGLA students disproportionately face risk factors that make them academically vulnerable. Economically, the target community for CGLA is stricken with poverty. The median household income is $29,632—40% below the county median. The poverty rate in Chattanooga is 27%, which is nearly double the national rate, and women head about two-thirds of the city’s poor households. Even more alarming: 42% of children in the city are poor, which is nearly double the rate statewide. Communities of color are disproportionately impacted by poverty in Hamilton County: a 2013 study found that African American households had an average annual income of $26,787 while white households averaged $51,548 per year and 60% of African American children lived in poverty, compared to only 16.5% of white children. Limited access to educational opportunities reflects the dismal academic experiences of the communities CGLA serves where 27% of residents lack a high school diploma or equivalent and less than 14% of adults have a bachelor’s degree or higher. The intersection of economic inequality, race, and geography creates academic achievement disparities that contribute to an intergenerational cycle of poverty. Since the COVID pandemic began, we have seen significant needs increase for our students and families, including: • Access to Food: With nearly all of our students from low-income homes, many families struggle week-to-week to provide their children with healthy, nutritious meals. Sadly, for many of our students the only meals they receive consistently each week are the breakfast, lunch, and snacks provided at school. • Access to Basic Necessities: Most of our families are low-income and live paycheck to paycheck and struggle to make ends meet. The pandemic has exacerbated these financial hardships for our families, who are facing increased financial struggles due to job loss. • Health Needs: Throughout the pandemic there have been disparities in access to COVID testing and other health services for our students and families. • Mental Wellbeing: We have continued to see an increase in students needing counseling or other supports to address SEL needs since the start of the pandemic. Of these needs, the most pronounced has been the mental wellbeing of our students, faculty, staff, and families. In 2020, COVID-19 exacerbated material hardship and psychological distress for low-income families, minority families (Jenco, 2020). Teachers are also reporting higher levels of work-place distress, especially those in urban settings (Ouellette et al., 2018). Some factors contributing to teacher stress include limited resources, chronic disruptive student behavior, and high-pressure accountability policies. These stressors lead to faculty burnout and turnover, which negatively impacts student educational outcomes. Research indicates between 18-20 percent of students have mental health issues significant enough to cause impairment to major life functions (Dore, 2005), yet only one in five receives the necessary services (Kaffenberger, Seligman, 2007). Furthermore, certain students, including students of color and students from low income families, are at greater risk for mental health challenges, but are even less likely to receive the appropriate services (Vera, Buhin, & Shin, 2006). To address these needs, CGLA is seeking City of Chattanooga ARP grant funds to create a Mental Health Center to support equitable access to mental health, social work, and SEL services for students, faculty, staff, and families at CGLA and Montessori Elementary at Highland Park (MEHP), a PreK3-5 co-ed public charter school that shares CGLA’s campus. MEHP opened in August 2021 and will grow to serve 480 children from PreK3 to 5th grade over the next three years through a dynamic, participatory environment integrating Montessori education with experiential learning grounded in science, technology, engineering, the arts, and math (STEAM). MEHP is a partner school with CGLA (with Dr. Elaine Swafford serving as CEO of both schools) and students matriculate from 5th grade into CGLA. This new Mental Health Center will be located in a separate building on campus that CGLA owns and is not currently able to utilize due to renovation needs. This space will be transformed into an inviting suite of offices to support expansion of CGLA’s and MEHP’s mental health support services, including the addition of a full-time social worker and interns from the UTC Social Work Department. This expansion is not possible currently due to space limitations in the current school building. Having a private space that is separate from the CGLA’s main school building will also be more private for students, faculty, staff, and families who utilize the services of the new Center. While most schools do have a counselor or social worker, our Center will be innovative in its focus on treating students’ and families’ mental health needs, as well as faculty and staff who have also struggled in the pandemic. Founded in ecological and systems theories, counseling and social work interventions can reduce the impact of the pandemic’s adverse economic and psychosocial effects on children and their educators (Hopson, Schiller & Lawson, 2014). Research indicates between 18-20 percent of students have mental health issues significant enough to cause impairment to major life functions (Dore, 2005), yet only one in five receives the necessary services (Kaffenberger, Seligman, 2007). Furthermore, certain students, including students of color and students from low income families, are at greater risk for mental health challenges, but are even less likely to receive the appropriate services (Vera, Buhin, & Shin, 2006). In addition, our Mental Health Center staff will collaborate closely with the CGLA Health Clinic, which was launched in 2019 to address basic healthcare needs, illnesses, injuries, and preventative health and to reduce student absenteeism and improve academic outcomes. Dr. Saundra Williams, our Health Clinic Director, has been a phenomenal resource for our students and her work has had a significant impact on reducing chronic absenteeism. We partner with Clinica de Medicos for medical referrals for our students and families. Dr. Williams is also approved by the state to write prescriptions for students on TennCare, which is helpful for many of our families. Dr. Williams has established a fund at the clinic to help cover prescription costs for students, as we have seen an emerging need with our families who cannot afford to pay for necessary prescriptions. The clinic has also been able to provide free COVID testing for students, faculty, and staff during the pandemic to improve overall safety of the school. The clinic also was approved in spring 2021 to offer COVID vaccines on site for teachers, faculty, and staff. Dr. Williams has become a trusted and respected role model for our girls, who often stop in to talk about other struggles beyond health issues. Working in partnership with the new Mental Health Center staff, Dr. Williams will be able to connect students more quickly with the additional counseling support they need so they can focus on learning in school. Below is a brief overview of the key services to be offered by the new Center: • Counseling Services: The Mental Health Center will provide expanded access to counseling and social work services and support, which will amplify academic and personal growth by providing connections to community resources and skill-building programs, as well as on-site psychotherapy services for CGLA and MEHP students. CGLA faculty and staff will also be able to participate in counseling services. • Faculty Training: We will provide skills training to over 60 faculty members at CGLA and MEHP by providing evidence-based workshops and opportunities to practice self-care (i.e. mental health activities intended to reduce stress and strengthen coping skills). We will provide training for all of our teachers and staff on how to help students respond to trauma and other stressors that can impact their daily lives and learning. Teachers and staff have also learned strategies for identifying students struggling with SEL or mental health needs. • Family Support: We will provide a variety of supports for family members, including SEL and mental health awareness workshops, individual and group counseling sessions, linkages to additional wrap-around supports to address economic and other struggles (i.e., housing, employment, etc.). By providing counseling support for families, along with support for their children, we will be able to address root cause issues that can impact the long-term academic and college going outcomes for children. |
| Please explain how your project meets the requirements of the American Rescue Plan | Our project will directly address the mental health impacts of the COVID pandemic, which have led to academic struggles for students; increased mental health counseling needs for students, faculty, staff, and families; and financial hardships for families. All of these struggles have disproportionately impacted minority communities across the United States and within Chattanooga, as we have seen significant economic impacts among the predominantly African American and Hispanic families that we serve. Addressing the mental health needs of our students and families will help them to recover from the trauma exacerbated by the pandemic. |
| Where would your project take place? | CGLA campus at 1802 Bailey Ave. Chattanooga, TN 37404 |
| How much will your project cost in total? | 1500000 |
| 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. | CGLA and MEHP each have counselors on staff who will be part of the Mental Health Center, and this funding (approximately $150,000) is covered through other school funding. |
| What portion of the project are you asking the city to fund? | CGLA is requesting an investment of $1,350,000 from the City to cover the cost of renovations in the space and the initial pilot year for the Center, including expansion of staffing and programming for students, faculty, staff, and family members. |
| If funded, when would your project start? | March 1, 2022 |
| How long would your project take to complete? | The project will launch as soon as we receive notification of the grant award. We anticipate the renovations will take approximately 6 months |
| What milestones would you use to measure your project’s progress? | Our project will have two stages: renovation of the Center and launch of the new Center with expanded staffing and counseling support. We will track progress of the renovation through regular communications and check ins with the contractor to ensure the project stays on schedule. Over the next 3-5 months, we will work on recruiting and hiring staff for the Center, so they will be available to start as soon as the renovation work is completed. Our goal will be to launch the Center’s services by the start of the 2022-23 school year, if possible with the renovation schedule. The Center will be available to serve the needs of approximately 2,000 individuals annually, which includes 880 students (when both schools are fully enrolled), 60 faculty and staff, and an estimated 1,060 family members. All of these individuals will be impacted through communications with mental health awareness tips, invitations to events, and access to counseling services. Based on our current school statistics, we expect to serve a small subset of this population with direct counseling support (approximately 20%, or 400 students, faculty, staff, or family members). The goal of the Center is to expand CGLA’s capacity to positively impact the trajectory of each and every student. We anticipate that the Center will lead to the following outcomes: • Provide over 830 low-to-moderate income students with better access to mental health services. • Provide SEL, mental health, and personal development workshops for more than 60 teachers. • Improve student engagement in the classroom and in extracurricular activities. • Promote student growth and development. • Increased college enrollment and graduation rates. • Increase faculty retention. • Align CGLA and MEHP initiatives with social work values to provide a holistic, biopsychosocial approach to education and overall wellness of students, faculty, and families. We will accomplish our goal of prioritizing student wellness and academic excellence, in part, by facilitating evidence-based support programs and faculty engagement workshops. Students will have the opportunity to build on life skills (e.g. conflict resolution, responsible decision-making, organization and time management, etc.) that are not taught in the traditional classroom. Researchers from Oxford University, The Russell Sage Foundation, and the National Association of Social Workers have found that social work interventions have a significant and meaningful impact on student outcomes. Through faculty workshops, teachers will develop social-emotional skills, strengthen the student-teacher relationship and improve overall student engagement. The social work program will include a community outreach component that will encourage parent/guardian and alumni involvement. The Center the Center’s advisory board will incorporate a crucial research component to evaluate the success of the program. Qualitative measures will include alumni, faculty, and student focus groups and pre/post surveys measuring participant satisfaction. The new social worker will encourage students to provide feedback at 30, 60, and 90 day intervals after programs have commenced. Quantitative measures will include the tracking of student involvement, faculty retention, student GPA, college enrollment rates, and college graduation rates on a yearly and/or semester basis. |
| How would you ensure accountability and transparency throughout the project lifecycle? | As detailed in the milestones section above, we have established measurable outcomes and have an evaluation plan in place to ensure accountability and assess both the short-term and long-term impact. Our Center advisory board will provide oversight for our program to ensure we are meeting our goals in serving the needs of students, faculty, staff, and families. |
| If successful, how would your project benefit the community? | As detailed above, the Center will be available to serve the needs of approximately 2,000 individuals annually, which includes 880 students (when both schools are fully enrolled), 60 faculty and staff, and an estimated 1,060 family members. All of these individuals will be impacted through communications with mental health awareness tips, invitations to events, and access to counseling services. Based on our current school statistics, we expect to serve a small subset of this population with direct counseling support (approximately 20%, or 400). Our long-term vision is to create a model Mental Health Center that can be replicated in other schools in Chattanooga and beyond to help address the growing mental health crisis in our community, which has been exacerbated by the pandemic. By integrating supports across the school community—including family members—we believe we will better outcomes for our students and their families. We plan to share our model with other schools that serve an at-risk, primarily low-income student demographic so they can benefit from our lesson’s learned. |
| How will you attract community buy-in for your project? | Over the last 13 years, CGLA has built a strong base of over 100 community partners who provide support for a variety of programs and needs for our students and families. We will attract community buy-in through our typical partnership engagement efforts, including hosting focus informational meetings about plans for the new Center; focus groups with students, faculty, staff, and families to seek input regarding needed services and support; talking with experts in the field to ensure our program aligns with best practices; and continuously monitoring the success and impact of the program and adjusting, as needed, to meet evolving needs. We plan to engage several of our current partners in feedback sessions in the effort to create the new Mental Health Center, including UTC’s Social Work Program (which we already have an established partnership with for hosting interns); Clinica de Medicos; Erlanger; La Paz; Agape Youth Behavioral Health; Erlanger; OnPoint; YMCA; Boys and Girls Club of Chattanooga; and others who are engaged in this work and have a vested interest in addressing mental health challenges in our community. |
| Is there anything else you would like us to know about your project? |