Community-Based Organizations Must Be Part Of The Student Mental Health Solution – The 74

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It’s clear that the mental health needs of our nation’s young people are urgent. Forty percent of high school students reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness during the past year. than a third of young adults 18-25 with an untreated mental health condition want care and can’t access it. These aren’t just statistics — they’re a call to action.

Families and schools play a crucial role in recognizing when a young person needs help and providing or connecting them with it, but they cannot possibly do it all. Fortunately, there is an untapped opportunity to expand support: the community–based organizations and out-of-school-time programs where young people already spend time, form trusting relationships, and feel a sense of safety and belonging.

Summer camps, youth mentoring, sports leagues, after-school clubs and countless other experiences — these are spaces where trusted relationships are built, often over years. Reaching young people through the organizations they already trust is crucial to broadening and strengthening the mental health safety net. With the right tools and training, they can become powerful front-line hubs for mental health support. But that requires real investment in partnerships, resources, and staff training.

Let’s be clear: This is not about turning after-school programs into clinics. It’s about embedding a layer of basic mental health support into places where young people already feel a sense of belonging. We can equip nonprofit staff to recognize, respond to and refer youth in need to professionals when necessary — ensuring the young people they serve are seen, supported and connected with the help they need.

Today’s young people are more open than ever about mental health. Research from our organizations, The Jed Foundation (JED) and America’s Promise Alliance (APA), among others, shows that this generation is more self-aware and ready to advocate for emotional well-being than any before. And they are looking for support in familiar spaces where they already spend time: APA’s 2024 State of Young People report found that more than 80% of young people recommend schools and community‑based organizations expand individual counseling services.

But openness alone isn’t enough. Support needs to meet them where they are.

Everyone who is part of a young person’s life is on the front lines of addressing young people’s urgent mental health needs. Rather than putting the burden on youth themselves to find support, we can build mental health expertise in the places they already are.

The 150 organizations in APA’s Alliance Community, for example, collectively serve 31 million young people each year. Through these and so many other organizations, youth are already forming close bonds with the tutors, coaches and counselors they interact with at nonprofit organizations — putting these caring adults in an ideal position to recognize and respond to early signs of distress.

For many organizations it is not a big leap from their existing programming to supporting youth mental health. Sports, arts and crafts, being outside in nature, socializing with others, and so many other activities common to nonprofit youth programs – these are all key components to boosting well-being.

All of this presents an important opportunity to equip youth-serving staff with the tools and training they need to consistently and effectively support young people’s mental health.

Any community-based leader or staff member will tell you that providing mental health support is already part of the job. The reality is that they are often called upon, day or night, to help youth navigate urgent needs, typically under significant resource constraints – and too often without appropriate training or the institutional infrastructure for addressing and escalating mental health issues and crises.

That is not sustainable, and does a disservice to both the young people and staff members. If we want to truly support youth, we have to support the people who support them by investing in training and mental health infrastructure that is effective and sustainable.

Many funders have longstanding relationships with youth-serving organizations, presenting an opportunity to extend their philanthropy to an area that can truly change lives: the mental health and emotional well-being of the young people who participate in these cherished programs.

What does that look like in practice?

• Help organizations create strategic plans for how they will support the mental health of the youth they serve, including building basic infrastructure such as protocols, resource directories and safety nets to take pressure off individual staff members
• Fund staff training so youth workers know how to recognize emotional distress and respond appropriately
• Support partnerships between community-based organizations and mental health providers, including warm referral systems and local collaboration
• Invest in the well-being of frontline workers, many of whom are navigating secondary stress and burnout without support

Community-based organizations are uniquely positioned to meet the moment by providing critical support that can complement and extend school-based efforts. By investing in their capacity now — and fostering stronger collaboration across every corner of the youth-serving ecosystem — we can build a more cohesive, responsive, and resilient network to support young people.

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