As the COVID-19 pandemic raged on and effects in its aftermath became clearer, the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) started thinking of solutions.
From their vantage point, health officials saw that school-aged children were experiencing increased levels of trauma leading to mental and behavioral-health issues. To exacerbate the problem, staffing to support those with these issues were dwindling.
These pressing needs beget the grant that would become Project SEEKS SES, which Debra Bogen and Patrick Dowd of the ACHD submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Health in June 2021.
“It was kind of a hail mary, to be honest. I remember submitting it and saying, ‘it can’t hurt to send it along. If we don’t get it, we can think of some other way to use the money,’” said Dowd, the director of the ACHD. “And low and behold, the state approved it.”
Now, Dowd is all too happy that the long shot fell into the right hands. Project SEEKS SES (Supporting Expansion and Enhancement of K-12 School-Based Social, Emotional Supports) is a grant-funded partnership between the ACHD and the Allegheny Intermediate Unit (AIU) that helps 10 participating school districts address trauma, behavior and mental health issues exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The grant will also assist at least three higher education institutions bolster a local pipeline of professionals to social and emotional health fields.
“We’re really excited for this partnership and think it’s very important not just for this project, but in continuing our work together,” Dowd said. “There’s no better partner in the county for serving a wide variety of schools than the AIU.”
Dowd and his department will monitor the progress of the grant. Bogen, though, has moved onto a different position as Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Health after serving as the director of the ACHD. Dowd, formally the chief operating officer of ACHD, has assumed Bogen’s role.
Dowd called Bogen, a former pediatrician, a “genius,” a lofty designation that became clearer when they wrote for the Project SEEKS SES grant. Dowd said navigating the COVID-19 pandemic along with schools in the county was an “intense” experience, especially for Bogen. As children returned to school and the social and emotional effects of the pandemic became clearer, Bogen and Dowd started thinking about what they could do.
As Bogen and Dowd saw it, school-aged children were facing new and unprecedented challenges, including emotional, behavioral and social regression as a result of not having in-person learning. As the framework of the grant began to take shape, Bogen and Dowd received input from an advisory committee and incorporated the feedback. And with a wing and a prayer, they submitted their longshot request, hoping for the best.
“This wasn’t exactly — at the time — a common request of proposal. I think now it is across public health departments throughout the country. It was a little bit ahead of its time,” Dowd said.
“The health department immediately was like, ‘that’s a great idea, how do we get this done?’”
The answer to that question was obvious: the AIU. While Bogen and Dowd worked through writing the grant, the AIU was always in the back of their minds as the obvious partner to facilitate the work.
Throughout the pandemic, the ACHD had regular meetings with the AIU and school district superintendents about many topics related to COVID-19. Through those meetings, it became clear the AIU had their finger on the pulse of Allegheny County schools. That, along with their already well-established depth of work, made the AIU an easy choice for collaboration.
“They turned to the AIU, because they knew that the AIU was a central hub for all of the school districts in the county, and that we were really good at pushing out information and getting partnerships going with our member districts,” said James Palmiero, the AIU’s assistant executive director for special education and pupil services.
The AIU first became aware of Project SEEKS SES when the ACHD engaged Palmiero and Robert Scherrer, the AIU’s executive director, in July 2022. They shared ideas, and when the phone call ended, Dowd said their excitement grew as it became even more apparent how the AIU could help. Palmiero left the phone call feeling exhilarated, knowing just how impactful the opportunity placed in front of them could be.
“Having money to support work that’s desperately needed is a pretty intoxicating place for a district to be,” Palmiero said. “I was thrilled when this project came up.”
Palmiero has dedicated his life to education, and along the way has contributed to various social and emotional learning initiatives. Most notably, he was on the committee that developed the Pennsylvania Career Ready Skills, which are social and emotional learning progressions that support the development of student competence.
Along the way, Palmiero has crossed paths with a number of forward-thinking professionals dedicated towards the full-scope of a child’s development as a learner and a human being. Among those people, Shannon Fagan, now project coordinator for SEEKS SES, was a standout.
Fagan has spent her life working in the mental health system, most notably spending three years as Pennsylvania’s children’s behavioral health director. When she learned about the Project SEEKS SES grant, Fagan’s interest peaked.
“When this opportunity presented itself I was so excited. Then when I spoke to Jim Palmiero about it, knowing our histories of working together to support partnerships within educational and mental health systems, it was a natural fit,” Fagan said. “For me — facilitating the conversations and collaborations, especially post-COVID — is really important because life is so different. COVID left us with a great need for teachers, social workers and school psychologists and filling these positions right now is difficult. It felt like the right time for me to jump in and bring my skill set into the work.”
Palmiero echoed those thoughts.
“Shannon’s background is so diverse and very interesting. She knows all of the players in human services. And people like me in the AIU know all of the players in education. But we need to really better blend the intersection between human services and education,” Palmiero said.
Once Fagan was hired as the project’s coordinator, Project SEEKS SES began in earnest. As the project picks up steam, Dowd said he hopes to see sustainable, evidence-based programs implemented that can help the children address their growing needs in the aftermath of COVID-19. He also hopes to grow the pipeline of professionals to help support these students.
But perhaps just as importantly, if Project SEEKS SES is carried out well, more people will start viewing students’ social and emotional needs in the same way he, Bogen, Palmiero and Fagan have long viewed them.
“We are very interested in making sure that people are making a larger argument about a public need for support for this sort of programming for other sources of funding, whether it be at the state or federal level,” Dowd said. “Hopefully there’s evidence that this works and that people can make a greater argument for it.”