• Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled California’s Master Plan for Kids’ Mental Health to ensure all California children, parents, and communities have increased access to mental health and substance use services, according to an Aug. 18 statement from the governor’s office. Nationally, kids are reporting symptoms of depression and anxiety at record rates and are considering or attempting suicide at historic levels. In California, about one-third of seventh and ninth graders and half of 11th graders experienced chronic sadness in the 2020-21 school year, and it’s estimated that 1 in 10 kids between the ages of 12 and 17 suffered from at least one major depressive episode in the last year, according to Newsom’s office. The governor also signed AB 2508 to better define the role of school counselors and recognize the importance of access to mental health, and invested $4.7 billion to boost coverage options and public awareness so all children and youth are routinely screened, supported, and served. “Mental and behavioral health is one of the greatest challenges of our time. As other states take away resources to support kids’ mental health, California is doubling down with the most significant overhaul of our mental health system in state history,” Newsom said in the statement. “We’re investing billions of dollars to ensure every California child has better access to comprehensive mental health and substance use services. … Every single kid deserves to have their mental health supported.”
• Gov. Gavin Newom announced federal grants totaling more than $317 million to assist seven jurisdictions that continue to recover and rebuild after the 2018 federally declared disasters—when wildfires burned more than 1.6 million acres and destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses, according to an Aug. 19 statement from the governor’s office. The Community Block Grant-Disaster Recovery funds are for foundational infrastructure projects that must be completed as communities work to build and rebuild needed housing—especially housing for low- and moderate-income Californians—and ensure that every household that was displaced in these disasters has the opportunity to return home. Communities were awarded funding based on their unmet infrastructure needs and have the flexibility to use the grants based on their priorities to rebuild in a safe, sustainable, resilient way. “California remains committed to uplifting and supporting every community impacted by devastating wildfires as they work to rebuild,” Newsom said in a statement. “Rebuilding after communities are tragically destroyed due to extreme weather is an opportunity to restore economic opportunities and strengthen communities giving them an opportunity to heal.”
• U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California) joined 22 Senate colleagues in responding to the Department of Education’s proposed rules to expand and improve student debt relief programs. In a letter to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, the senators applauded the department’s efforts to provide and expand relief to borrowers whose school closed or defrauded them, borrowers working in public service, and borrowers who are permanently disabled. The senators encouraged additional steps to improve the department’s student debt relief programs and ensure borrowers can access the relief they are owed. Californians owe nearly $142 billion in student debt—with Black and Latino residents facing the highest rates of default and delinquency. According to analysis from the Roosevelt Institute, debt cancellation could add more than $173 billion to the nation’s GDP in the first year alone. In their letter, the senators commended the Biden administration’s proposals to deliver and expand relief for this group. “The department’s proposed rules will help to provide additional relief to struggling borrowers, protect students and taxpayers from fraud and abuse committed by institutions, and ensure our federal student loan program fulfills its promise to put higher education within reach for more students without subjecting them to complex, burdensome, or punitive requirements that make it harder to get the relief they are owed,” the letter stated.
This article appears in Aug 25 – Sep 1, 2022.