Since inception, The Westchester Community Foundation has operated as an affiliate of The New York Community Trust.
As part of our centennial celebrations, we are creating a single, unified organization to more powerfully advocate for our region with one voice.
We will still maintain our physical offices in Westchester with the same dedicated staff who will continue to honor and build upon our relationships with local nonprofits and communities.
You can now find us at: https://www.thenytrust.org/westchester/
The Westchester Index is at westchesterindex.org.
The New York Community Trust. For Westchester. Forever.
Download this story and the full 2022 Fall Newsletter here.
The widespread isolation people experienced due to the pandemic exacerbated a burgeoning mental health crisis among young people. School officials noted that students who had mental health issues and those who were experiencing loss, grief and trauma were more likely to skip school or have limited academic success.
To combat the crisis, the Ossining and Peekskill School Districts created an outreach program to provide more mental health support to students and their families.
A grant from the Foundation allowed the districts to employ a multi-tiered approach: adding behavioral health specialists to assess students’ needs; increasing the availability of mental health staff to work with students; and spreading the word in the community.
Dr. Raymond Sanchez, Superintendent, Ossining UFSD and Dr. David Mauricio, Superintendent, Peekskill CSD. “Our scholars’ social and emotional needs are paramount to their success in and out of school. Prioritizing the mental health and the social well-being of our students and their families takes a collaborative effort that synergistically allows us to accomplish greater impact together, especially in this period of immense need.”
