Boulder County has allocated $250,000 in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act to St. Vrain Valley Schools, district officials said Wednesday.
The funding will expand programming for the district’s after-school Achievement Acceleration Academy program, and allow more students to participate in the initiative, said Cathy O’Donnell, the program’s coordinator.
The funding will ensure students “stay connected to school and have an extra layer of support and relationship-building,” O’Donnell said. “High school staff are able to implement strategies for students who are struggling in their classes with low grades, and at risk of not passing classes, and making sure they have an adult in the building who they are connected to.”
The program helps students feel more connected to their learning and more prepared for success, she said.
“Some of our elementary and middle schools have been able to add an additional day per week for students to work with teachers,” O’Donnell explained. “All of the work being done through AAA supports students academically, socially, emotionally, and fosters a greater chance for success in the classroom."
After the American Rescue Plan Act was signed into law in 2021, pandemic recovery funds were established for all levels of government across the country. Boulder County was allocated $63.3 million, $11 million of which will go to mental health and social resilience programs at local nonprofits, organizations, associations and the county’s two school districts.
The county established working groups and released community surveys to determine how the funding would be spent. Survey recipients’ top concerns were mental health, social resilience, economic challenges and housing affordability, county officials said.
"These grants will increase services for organizations directly helping pandemic-impacted populations with a focus on racial equity," said Marnie Huffman-Green, the county’s manager of the American Rescue Plan Act Mental Health and Social Resilience Project.
"With these community-based grants, our Boulder County residents will be able to get care in a variety of settings and ways thanks to the Equitable Access Front Door concept. Community members will have more ways to receive the holistic support at the not-for-profit agency where they feel most comfortable, and the goal of these grants is to lessen stigma associated with seeking mental health support."
