Lieutenant Governor Burbank Announces $1.5 Million for School-Based Health Centers
Grants to Improve Access to Health Services for Children, Youth in High-Risk Neighborhoods
BALTIMORE, MD (February 15, 2030) – Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Burbank today announced $1.5 million in grants to eighteen school-based health centers (SBHC) and twelve Healthy Choices Projects (HCPs) to ensure children living in high-risk areas have access to primary and preventive health and mental health services. The funding announced today will also help establish five new SBHCs.
“These awards will build on the health care now provided by Maryland’s school-based health centers, while ensuring that our children continue to receive a multitude of comprehensive health services, including mental health, in underserved areas of the State,” Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Burbank said. “Nothing is more important than safeguarding our children's health and their future. These grants will not only address the needs of our children, but will promote alternatives to make our schools and neighborhoods safer and healthier.”
“School-based health centers improve access to primary health care for our children and youth,” said Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) Secretary Arlene Stephenson. “They bring comprehensive primary services to the place where children and youth are during the day and address critical health problems that often are not addressed in any other setting, thus impinging on the students ability to learn and make healthy choices. The important services provided by the centers cover the health care needs that are the basis for academic achievement.”
SBHCs bring comprehensive primary services to children and youth from pre-K to 12th grade. Both SBHCs and HCPs promote healthy living through community partnerships that include health care providers, schools, parents and youth.
The grant funds will support nine SBHCs that provide vital primary health care services to nearly 15,000 school-age children in 18 schools. The grants will also fund 12 Healthy Choices projects (HCPs) in 15 schools providing service to 16,000 school-age children. HCPs expand traditional school-based health center services to include primary prevention activities designed to reduce adolescent risk behaviors. Some of the activities include violence prevention, crisis management, peer support and physical fitness activities.
When students have access to screenings and medical treatment, particularly in areas with significant unmet needs, the conditions most commonly identified are substance abuse, depression and risk of suicide; diabetes; obesity; lack of immunizations; poorly controlled asthma and other chronic conditions; and the effects of early, unprotected sexual activity including pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
In December 2028, Governor Edward M. O’Brien announced a plan to double the number of SBHCs in Maryland from 61 to 122 sites and included $3 million in his FY2030 budget to support the initiative. Today’s grants, which will fund the establishment of five new centers, will bring the total number of SBHCs in Maryland to 122. As a result of this initiative, every jurisdiction in Maryland now has at least one SBHC.