How Cross Sectoral Partnerships Support Student Mental Health Needs: the Margaret’s Place Program

By Brandon Martinez, Research Associate, and Sara Carrión, Policy Associate

The Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation (JTSAH), in partnership with two schools and a nonprofit in Washington Heights, offers programming for students, parents, and teachers that addresses violence and trauma, including through counseling, peer leadership, workshops and trainings, and a safe space for youth.

Research demonstrates that trauma has widespread impacts on youth development and, accordingly, is important to address. In 2018, JTSAH was awarded a grant by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office (DANY) to implement Margaret’s Place in Communities Impacted by Trauma-exposed Youth (MP-CITY), which provides youth and parents with much-needed services to address trauma and improve educational outcomes. The MP-CITY program is an adaptation of the existing Margaret’s Place program, and supplements JTSAH’s existing services for students by partnering with the Dominican Women’s Development Center (DWDC) to provide counseling and workshops to parents and the local community. The collaboration between JTSAH and the two Manhattan public schools represents an approach to cross-sector programming designed to support youth needs.    

Findings from an ongoing evaluation of the program by the Center for Court Innovation highlight how MP-CITY’s tiered and cross-sector programming can meet the mental health needs of students, their parents, and their communities.

The MP-CITY Model

MP-CITY programming consists of several components for students, school staff, and parents that aim to raise awareness about violence and trauma among youth, and support youth and parents affected by violence. The MP-CITY adaptation specifically brought on DWDC as a partner to include broader community outreach and counseling for parents, to serve the community as a whole in addition to those connected with the two MP-CITY schools. JTSAH partnered with DWDC because of their experience as a trusted community-based provider working with the Latinx community in Washington Heights.

Students

For students, MP-CITY provides tiered programming designed to assist young people with graduated levels of support. The first tier of services is available to all students and includes school-wide campaigns, a peer leadership program, workshops, and group discussions. The second tier includes a classroom-based violence prevention program offered to all students in one grade at each of the schools. Finally, the most direct services are offered as part of the third tier: individual and group counseling services that are available for any students who want or need them.

School-wide awareness campaigns include assemblies, murals, and informational pamphlets, and involve students, teachers, and administrators. Workshops and group discussions coordinated by program staff give students additional opportunities to discuss topics such as dating safety, healthy relationships, consent, and bullying. Any student who is interested can apply to be in the Peer Leadership groups at their schools, which train students to educate their peers about violence, abuse, and conflict mediation.

Youth Empowered to Speak (YES) is a classroom-based violence prevention program where students learn how traumatic experiences may affect people and their families. The program is conducted during five class periods over the course of a month. YES uses presentations and reflection activities to encourage youth to discuss empowerment, the impact of trauma, coping skills and safety strategies, and how they can be responsible bystanders.

At the most intensive level, students may attend individual and group counseling, which is offered in the Margaret’s Place Space, a room designed to create a welcoming and safe environment in the school for students. This space is also available for students to drop in and speak with a counselor as needed.

In addition to these graduated tiers, MP-CITY program counselors provide students with other school-based and external service referrals. Most commonly, these include additional counseling or support groups. Students in MP-CITY most commonly received referrals to:

• Case management and material support services

• Medical services

• School-based support (e.g., after-school or summer programs)

• Domestic violence services

• In-home resources (e.g., online activities)

School Staff and Teachers

To help them better serve students, MP-CITY also provides services to school staff. The program delivers trainings on topics related to trauma, including domestic violence and the effect of trauma on youth. In these sessions, staff are equipped to respond to students and youth who have been exposed to trauma or violence. These workshops are offered at least twice a year to teachers, administrators, and other support staff in schools.

Parents

Through their partnership with DWDC, MP-CITY has also provided services in the schools and the community for parents. These services include individual and group counseling for parents, to help them heal from their own experiences with trauma as well as help them to support their children. Parent workshops have addressed subjects such as the effects of trauma on youth and how parents can discuss dating with their children.

Impact of Funding

Findings from the interim evaluation report provide key insights on student engagement[1] in the program. Among students who received direct services, 83% participated in individual counseling and 46% participated in group counseling. On average, students attended 3-4 sessions of individual counseling and 6 sessions of group counseling. According to additional data submitted to ISLG, 446 students participated in YES across the ’18-19, ’19-’20, and ’20-’21 school years. On average, 14 students participated in Peer Leadership and 266 attended youth workshops[2] in each school year during the same timeframe. Across the two schools, a majority of students served by the program were Latinx (83%) or Black (12%).

Considerations for Cross-Sector Collaboration

The mid-evaluation report of MP-CITY outlines three considerations that can be helpful to organizations pursuing cross-sector collaboration, particularly between schools and external organizations.

• Organizations can provide services to youth and students that schools themselves cannot. MP-CITY was seen by school administrators as a critical resource for the school and students due to their ability to provide clinical services. School and program staff also reported that students felt comfortable opening up, sharing information about their lives, and developing good relationships with counselors because they were not associated with the school. As a result of students’ participation in the program, counseling staff reported that student coping skills, behavior, and grades improved.

• A tiered model can help to maximize program reach. School-wide program interventions helped to contribute to a safe school environment by teaching students about domestic and dating violence and trauma, promoted healthy dating relationships (via campaigns and YES), and served as a way to advertise counseling services available to students. Counseling services provided additional supports to students who needed them.

• School-based partnerships require coordination and commitment from both the school and partner organizations. The mid-evaluation report highlights the importance of developing a needs assessment and readiness checklist for the partnership during the program planning process and throughout the relationship. These tools can be used to determine whether schools and programs are a good fit for each other and are ready for collaboration, and for identifying what is needed from both partners for the program to operate successfully, including scheduling, space needs, and alignment on mission and policies. Good communication between partners is also crucial: over time, program staff learned how to navigate each school’s rules and protocols, and worked to develop relationships and communication with them, which helped strgethen thier collaboration. 

About the Program and Evaluation

The MP-CITY program evaluation, conducted by the Center for Court Innovation, is managed by the CUNY Institute for State & Local Governance. The program was funded through the Criminal Justice Investment Initiative (CJII) of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office (DANY). Feedback from participants and findings from the CCI’s interim evaluation are useful for understanding how the MP-CITY program can be further strengthened for participants. The Center for Court Innovation plans to conduct additional interviews with staff and analyze participant surveys and program data; findings from the full evaluation will be shared in a final report in late 2023.

About the CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance (ISLG) and the Criminal Justice Investment Initiative (CJII)

The CUNY Institute for State & Local Governance manages the Criminal Justice Investment Initiative (CJII), which was established by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in 2015. ISLG provides technical assistance, conducts oversight, measures performance, and manages all CJII grantees.

The CJII focuses on three investment areas—crime prevention, reentry and diversion, and supports for survivors of crime. The MP-CITY Program is funded through the Family and Youth Development initiative, whose goal is to provide supports to families that address risk factors associated with increased chances of youth becoming involved in the justice system. This initiative is part of the CJII’s crime prevention-focused investments in Youth, Families, and Communities.

[1] Findings from the mid-evaluation report also indicate that counselor-led trainings on trauma and classroom-based responses were well-received by school staff. Data reporting submitted to ISLG also indicate that more than 439 staff members attended trainings. Because of JTSAH’s data reporting structure, these values may include duplicates.

[2] Because attendance data at youth workshops is not unique across workshops, these data may overestimate the total number of students who attended youth workshops.