Record number of local middle schools get "You Belong" grants

LORAIN — The Mental Health, Addiction and Recovery Services Board of Lorain County is providing grants to 14 local middle schools to support their "You Belong" programs. Four of the schools are first-time recipients of the grant. Interim MHARS Board executive director Elaine Georgas said the board allocated $35,000 total for this school year, with grants ranging from $2,000 to $2,500 for individual schools. The four schools receiving the grant for the first time are Learwood Middle School in Avon Lake, Columbia Middle School, South Amherst Middle School and the North Ridgeville Academic Center. You Belong is a student-led program that targets social isolation in an effort to "improve overall health and buffer students from the development or exacerbation of mental health symptoms," according to a release from the MHARS Board. Students in each school's You Belong groups make decisions on what they want to do to foster peer-to-peer connections at their school. "We want the kids to have the biggest voice in it," said Liz Wolanski, the board's director of child and adolescent services. She said some of the ideas students in the past have chosen are to create encouraging cards for every student at the school and stage games of bubble soccer. Wolanski said she visited one of the middle schools that received the grant for the first time on Tuesday, and students were excited to learn of their large roles in making decisions within the group. "The goal was to meet with at least 100 students to identify who they'd like their mentors to be," she said. Like all student organizations, You Belong groups must have a staff member of the school as an adviser. The majority of advisors are school counselors, but Wolanski said some are teachers, and coaches are also eligible. "Another goal of this program is to try to make it part of the school's culture," she said. Having school staff members involved can help toward that goal. Another method the MHARS Board is trying is to have students in the groups interact with students from other schools in Lorain County, including at a kickoff event at Lorain County Community College's Spitzer Conference Center on Oct. 28. You Belong was created five years ago, initially including just four schools. The program has grown every year since. The schools receiving grants, besides the four first-year schools, are: Avon Middle School, Durling Middle School from Clearview Local Schools, Keystone Middle School, Eastern Heights Middle School from Elyria City Schools, Langston Middle School from Oberlin City Schools, Southview Middle School from Lorain City Schools, General Johnnie Wilson Middle School from Lorain City Schools, Longfellow Middle School from Lorain City Schools, Midview Middle School and Brookside Middle School from Sheffield/Sheffield Lake City Schools. Contact Dylan Reynolds at (440) 329-7123 or dreynolds@chroniclet.com.