Region 7 ESC, a kilgore TX-based education service agency, seeks to improve safety and wellness conditions for its eastern texas school district partners

The Region VII Education Service Center (ESC) was awarded a $999,835 Project Grant from the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance under the STOP (Students, Teachers, and Officers Preventing) School Violence Program (CFDA 16.839). The grant will fund the East Texas School Safety Initiative (ETSSI), which aims to improve safety and wellness conditions for the ESC's high-poverty school district partners in eastern Texas.

The ETSSI program will provide an anonymous reporting system (ARS) with trauma-informed features, monitored 24/7 through a crisis center team. The ARS will enable students, staff, and families to report safety and mental health concerns, with emergent incidents directed to law enforcement or other emergency services. The program will also offer immediate 24/7 access to trained crisis counselors and connect users to local community and school self-help resources. This technology-enabled solution will be accessible through a mobile app, Chromebook, website, and telephone hotline, and it will comply with relevant data privacy laws.

Its east texas school safety initiative (etssi) will provide a proven anonymous reporting system (ARS) with trauma-informed features to its high-poverty school community. The program will be monitored 24/7/365 through a crisis center team with extensive experience working with texas schools. Emergent incidents will be directed immediately to law enforcement or other emergency services to ensure prompt attention to todays most pressing school challenges safety and mental wellness concerns. Etssi will also provide students, staff, and families with immediate 24/7/365 access to a trained crisis counselor while providing access to local community and school self-help resources, also available at all times. This tech-enabled ARS will house all solutions and distribute access via all modern-day modes of communication, including mobile APP, chromebook, website APP, and telephone hotline access. This technology framework is highly secure and compliant with all relevant education-focused data privacy laws and desirable attributes, including SOC2, coppa, hipaa, and ferpa. The citizens of region 7S service area learn, work, and live in a high-poverty area with challenging school safety and mental health conditions with significant barriers to accessing resources due to a highly rural environment. With this category 2 funding request for $999,835FROM the stop school violence act, through etssi, region 7 seeks to provide these much-needed resources to its underserved and deserving students and school community members.