Students Solving Problems
Students from Washington County schools meet with Memorial Health Foudnation staff to learn more about philanthropy and solving behavorial health issues in their communities.
Heather Miller, Communications and Engagement Coordinator and SSP Coordinator
How do you engage students in solving behavioral health problems in their homes, in their schools, and in their communities? That’s the question that Students Solving Problems (SSP) was created in 2019 to answer. This collaborative program brought together youth-led prevention from Ohio Teen Institute, service-learning and healthcare pathway exploration through the AmeriCorps HPAC/CRUSH and BB2C, and youth philanthropy through Marietta Community Foundation. The original program funder was Sister’s Health Foundation.
Warren High School students, along with their advisor Ann Skufca, brainstorm solutions to the problems they’ve identified.
SSP works in all of the public-school districts in Washington County. Student groups meet with educator advisors during the school day or after school to voice the issues they are seeing and experiencing, discuss which issues they’d like to tackle, and explore solutionMini-grant funding, community connections, and school support help bring their ideas to life. In the spring of 2022, the Appalachian Children Coalition came on as the program Funder.
This spring, Memorial Health Foundation offered to administer the mini-grant process moving forward to allow students the chance to learn more about philanthropy, grant writing, and fundraising. At the end of January, students from the Waterford High School, Washington County Career Center, Warren Middle and High Schools, Marietta High School, and Frontier High School came together to meet with Memorial Health Foundation staff, review grant-writing tips and tricks, enjoy lunch together, and brainstorm ideas to implement.
Students Solving Problems:
Uses an entrepreneurial problem-solution-action model.
Focuses on behavioral health issues which includes mental, physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and financial health.
Promotes career opportunities in behavioral health fields.
Teaches knowledge and skills around philanthropy, teamwork, and focusing on solutions.
Encourages students to lead the way to healthier communities.
For more information, contact the SSP Coordinator, Heather Miller at hmiller@bb2careers.org.