Tell Your Senators to Fight the Opioid Epidemic through Community Schools

The opioid epidemic is an urgent crisis and is affecting our nation’s children every day. For example, the number of children admitted to pediatric intensive care units at hospitals for opioid-related trouble nearly doubled between 2004 and 2015.

A federal bill has been introduced to invest $45 million in community schools to prevent and address this crisis and other forms of substance abuse, and we need your help to get more Senators to support it.

Take 2 minutes to send a message to your Senators urging them to cosponsor this important bill. Thank you for your advocacy!

In August 2018, Senators Brown (D-OH) and Van Hollen (D-MD) introduced the Full-Service Community Schools in Distressed Communities Act of 2018 (S. 3362) in response to the opioid epidemic and its tragic impact on millions of children and families across the country.

This bill would:

• Expand full-service community schools by investing $45 million in full-service community schools around the country by directing resources to schools serving low-income students particularly in areas with high poverty and high rates of substance abuse.
• Provide resources for awardees to build collaborative leadership structures between districts, parents, underrepresented groups, and system-level partners to provide integrated student supports to support academic and non-academic needs of students.
• Fund site coordinators to implement community schools at 2 or more schools for each awardee.
• Set aside 30% of funds for schools eligible for the Rural Education Achievement Program to support rural schools as their students deal with the effects of the opioid crisis.