Project SEEKS SES

Seven years ago, the Penn Hills School District made what former superintendent Nancy Hines called a “pretty bold move.”Collectively, the board came to a decision to mandate mediations after school fights or related situations. Since then, Hines said the policy has […]

On August 16th, the AIU and Project SEEKS SES held its first virtual community of practice meeting. The meeting — which was attended by over 40 people —revolved around chronic absenteeism.  Each community of practice meeting will focus on a shared […]

Click here to see a full training schedule Click here to register Dr. Christie Lewis and Dr. Krisitin Harty of Chatham University are passionate about Youth Mental Health First Aid Training (YMHFA). Both are certified YMHFA instructors and have facilitated training […]

The AIU and Project SEEKS SES held its second stakeholder meeting on August 4th for the wide-ranging grant, bringing together a diverse group of school district, higher education and community partners. Over the course of the meeting, the focus was on […]

Since 2016, the Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF) has been focused on adolescent behavioral health as a priority public health focus area.  The Foundation started with a focus on health care quality improvement, and over time, the focus shifted to strengthening the community safety […]

About a year ago, McKeesport Area’s administration had heard about Pressley Ridge’s YESS (Youth Engagement Support Services) team model. The YESS team — which was piloted at the Penn Hills school district — focuses on helping address issues like truancy, while […]

During an expansive and informative presentation, Robert Reed, the Pennsylvania executive deputy attorney general for special initiatives, highlighted the immense impact that trauma has on school-aged children. “Trauma is the number one cause of most childhood adversity,” said Reed. With that […]

Cornell superintendent Aaron Thomas looks around a room in his school and sees chairs. Lots and lots of chairs. This room used to be a planetarium before eventually turning into a storage room for chairs and cabinets and various relics of […]

As Shannon Wanless reflected on a unique day of social-emotional learning collaboration and discussion, she came away beaming with optimism. Wanless, the Director of the Office of Child Development at the University of Pittsburgh, has long been a champion of social-emotional […]

A few years ago, the University of Pittsburgh and the Office of Child Development started pitching a program about positive racial identity, entitled P.R.I.D.E (Positive Racial Identity Development in Early Education). No institution felt comfortable taking on the program, so the […]