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School of Social Work to Partner with Skokie School District 69 for School-Based Internships

Loyola University Chicago's School of Social Work is excited to announce a partnership with Skokie School District 69, which will see six part-time salaried internships available to diverse student candidates from SSW. Students on the School Social Worker MSW track or working toward a post-MSW PEL certificate who meet a diversity requirement are eligible for the internships.

The partnership is largely thanks to Skokie School District 69 receiving a $1,393,028 School-Based Mental Health Services grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Part of that money will allow interns to receive part-time salaried positions, as opposed to stipends.

Loyola University Chicago is also receiving a $560,735 grant from the DOE as part of the Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grants.

In total, more than $188 million dollars in grants across the two programs will be awarded to 170 grantees across 30 states. The Department of Education expects this money to enable the hiring of 5,400 school-based mental health professionals and train an estimated 5,500 more to build a diverse pipeline of mental health providers in schools across the country. A press release from the DOE states that these grants are the first in a series of awards the Department will make over several years and make up the largest investment in school-based mental health this country has ever seen.

"We must do more to tackle our nation’s growing mental health crisis, which is particularly acute among our youth,” said Susan Rice, Domestic Policy Advisor to President Biden. “These new awards will help connect more students in need to school-based mental health services now and ensure a pipeline of trained professionals to support students in the future."