Sponsored by:
This fall, Communities In Colleges of San Antonio celebrates a outstanding milestone: our fortieth faculty yr of strolling alongside college students, households, and educators. Our theme — “One Mission, Many Futures: Champions for Each Scholar” — is greater than a slogan. It’s a name to motion. A reminder that each youngster deserves a group of caring adults of their lives, united in assist of their goals and objectives for the long run.
CIS-SA can also be an anchor associate serving to lead the work of the Future Prepared Bexar County Plan, which goals to extend postsecondary enrollment of Bexar County Excessive Faculty graduates in a level or credential program to 70% by 2030 via the main focus areas of therapeutic, entry, voice and system helps.
This September, throughout Nationwide Suicide Prevention Month, we’re particularly aware of the pressing have to assist youth psychological well being to notably align with the therapeutic focus space of the community-wide plan.
In honor of our legacy and with our eyes firmly on the long run, we’re proud to announce a brand new partnership with FRBC Public Faculty Districts East Central ISD and Southwest ISD to launch the Hope Squad program in two excessive faculties in every district.
Hope Squad’s function is to foster human connection, group, and hope. Their method is to raise psychological wellbeing via peer-to-peer suicide prevention programming. Hope Squad’s curriculum prepares advisors to teach college students to acknowledge indicators of misery, provide compassion, and join their friends to trusted adults and sources. It’s constructed on the straightforward however highly effective concept that college students usually flip to one another first — and that with the precise instruments, they are often the distinction between despair and hope.
“We all know that college students thrive once they really feel seen, heard, and supported,” stated Jessica Weaver, president and CEO of CIS-SA. “Hope Squad aligns completely with our mission and our 40-year legacy of exhibiting up for teenagers. This partnership is a robust reminder that once we put money into connection, we domesticate resilience.”
Hope Squad has a quickly rising presence in Texas with almost 500 energetic faculties, the place they’re equipping college students to forestall youth suicide, based on the group’s CEO Eric Workman.
“Via this partnership with CIS-SA, the Baptist Well being Basis of San Antonio, ECISD, and SWISD, we will seamlessly combine psychological wellness into the varsity group and assist college students in a complete means. I’m excited to see how these two launches will remodel the varsity tradition and save lives,” Workman added.
This transformative initiative is made attainable by the beneficiant assist of the BHFSA, whose dedication to youth psychological well being helps us convey life-saving assist immediately into our faculties.
“At BHFSA, we view hope as a priceless software for selling group well being,” stated Cody Knowlton, president and CEO of BHFSA. “It’s a gorgeous factor to see youth empowered to provide the reward of hope to one another. We thank God that we’re capable of be part of this work.”
The keenness for this system is shared by the 2 superintendents of SWISD and ECISD, who see Hope Squad as a strategy to reinforce their dedication to pupil well-being.
“At Southwest ISD, we’re dedicated to creating protected, inclusive environments the place each pupil can thrive,” stated Dr. Jeanette Ball, superintendent of SWISD. “Partnering with CIS-SA and Hope Squad permits us to deepen that dedication and guarantee our college students have the assist they want — emotionally and academically.”
ECISD Superintendent Roland Toscano echoed that sentiment, noting that the partnership aligns with their long-standing funding in pupil well being and resilience.
“Via our partnership with CIS-SA, we’re making certain that college students throughout East Central ISD have entry to well timed, efficient behavioral well being assist,” Toscano stated. “Hope Squad is an important a part of that imaginative and prescient — serving to college students construct resilience and know they’re by no means alone.”
This collaboration displays a countywide push to prioritize youth psychological well being, turning native and nationwide knowledge into motion via packages like Hope Squad.
“A number of knowledge sources present a constant concern about psychological well being amongst younger folks,” stated Cathy Jones, CEO of UP Partnership. “At our 2024 Youth Summit, 38% of scholars instructed us they fear about psychological well being. After we see that mirrored in nationwide and native surveys as effectively, it’s a transparent name to motion. Partnerships like Hope Squad assist us transfer from knowledge to options — creating protected, supportive environments the place college students can thrive academically, socially and emotionally.”
This initiative comes at a essential time. Our youth are dealing with unprecedented ranges of stress, anxiousness, and isolation. However we additionally know that hope is contagious. When one pupil reaches out, others comply with. When one faculty embraces psychological wellness, the entire group grows stronger.
The information confirms the urgency. Within the 2024 Teen Psychological Well being Survey, 36% of native youth reported feeling helpless or numb, 62% stated faculty is their largest stressor, and 16% admitted they’ve nobody they really feel comfy speaking to — underscoring the necessity for trusted adults and a group to be linked to.
As CIS-SA celebrates 40 years of influence, we invite you — our neighbors, leaders, and mates — to hitch us. Be a champion for teenagers. Advocate for psychological well being. Volunteer. Hear. Present up. As a result of once we come along with one mission, we unlock many futures.
Should you or somebody is struggling, assist is offered now. Name or textual content 988 to succeed in the Suicide & Disaster Lifeline — free, confidential assist is offered 24/7.
Collectively, CIS-SA and our group of supportive companions are constructing a metropolis the place each pupil is aware of: You matter. You aren’t alone. And your future is price championing.
