Nursing/Mental Health Grant - A Partnership with the Minnesota Department of Health

  • Throughout the ongoing pandemic, school nurses have had to focus on COVID-related tasks and as a result have been pulled from many duties that require attention and maintenance. Many school nurses say they are burned out after taking on additional responsibilities related to mitigation strategies and protocols, contact tracing, and addressing indirect health consequences of the pandemic, such as delays in kids getting other critical vaccines or soaring mental health concerns. Additionally, many schools are experiencing challenges when recruiting nurses and struggle to find qualified applicants due to the pre-existing nursing shortage. Compounding the problem, high turnover continues to exacerbate the staffing shortage.

    To address this critical need, the Minnesota Department of Health is partnering with the Minnesota Service Cooperatives by building capacity exclusively for COVID-19 response and recovery activities in schools, while also building capacity for future responses.

    Grant Basics:
    • $6-million dollar grant for services through 6/30/2023
    • Workforce grant for personnel to support COVID-19 prevention, preparedness, response and recovery initiatives which focus on school-based health programs at the K-12 level
    • Grant funds a Grant Administrator and Licensed School Nurse plus
    • Subgrants awarded to each Service Cooperative to carry out regional solutions