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Organizations team up to improve mental health support for college students of color
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The JED Foundation and the Steve Fund recently announced a collaboration to establish recommended practices for colleges and universities to improve mental health support for American college students of color.
Recent data from a 2015 national survey conducted by the JED Foundation, the Partnership for Drug Free Kids and the Jordan Porco Foundation indicated an unmet need in providing mental health support, education and programming that addresses unique challenges faced by American college students of color.
The survey found that white students (50%) were more likely to feel academically prepared for their first college term than their black (36%) and Hispanic peers (39%).
White students were also more likely to feel emotionally prepared for their first college term than black students (35% vs. 23%).
Black students were more likely to report that college did not meet their expectations, compared with white students (57% vs. 46%).
Black students (52%) and Hispanic students (49%) were more likely to report that “it seems like everyone has college figured out but them,” compared with white students (41%).
More black students reported keeping their feelings about the difficulty of college to themselves than white students (75% vs. 61%).
In response to these findings, the JED Foundation and the Steve Fund plan to develop comprehensive guidelines that will enable college decision-makers, administrators, professionals, students and families to offer more effective support for the mental health and emotional well-being of college students of color.
“The partnership between the Steve Fund and the JED Foundation will allow us to make significant progress in addressing an alarming deficit in effective, culturally relevant and broadly-adopted mental health programming for students of color in our nation's colleges and universities,” Evan Rose, president of the Steve Fund, said in a press release. “Together, we will provide practical, actionable recommendations to stimulate dialogue and best practices that reduce stigma, build knowledge and support assistance so that young people of color can thrive in higher education environments.”
As part of the collaboration, researchers will analyze existing studies and programs and work closely with college leaders and mental health clinicians to develop an integrated and comprehensive set of guidelines to support the mental health of college students of color.