Comparative Case Study of Caring Across Communities: Identifying Essential Components of Comprehensive School-Linked Mental Health Services for Refugee and Immigrant Children

Executive Summary

Caring Across Communities (CAC) is a three-year initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) Foundation to support the development of school-linked mental health services for immigrant and refugee children. Fifteen grantees, located in eight states, received up to $100,000 a year for three years from 2007 until 2010. The grantees each proposed and implemented a unique strategy to reduce emotional and behavioral health problems among refugee and immigrant children in their community.

In May 2009 the RWJ Foundation and its academic partner that managed the grant, the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools at the George Washington University, awarded a contract to Clea McNeely of the Center for the Study of Youth and Political Violence at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville to conduct an evaluation to determine the key components of comprehensive school-linked mental health services for refugee and immigrant children.

The evaluation addressed three questions:
1. What are the challenges experienced by the children and families the CAC programs serve?
2. What are the necessary components of comprehensive mental health services for refugee and immigrant children?
3. How can partnerships between schools and multiple community agencies work most effectively to implement the necessary components of comprehensive mental health services?

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