A gift from the John Deere Foundation will support the work being done by the Scanlan Center for School Mental Health to improve the mental health of K-12 school staff and students across the state of Iowa. The foundation, committing $525,000, will help advance research efforts and support underserved and underrepresented youth, educators and their families throughout John Deere communities in Iowa and Illinois.
The John Deere Foundation has awarded more than $380 million in grants to support home communities worldwide since its inception in 1948. This gift to the Scanlan Center is the first it has dedicated specifically to youth mental health.
Since its founding in 2021, the Scanlan Center for School Mental Health—which is a partnership between the University of Iowa College of Education and the Iowa Department of Education—has become a leader in providing social, emotional, behavioral, and psychological services to schools. Bringing together experts from across campus, the state, and the nation, the Scanlan Center for School Mental Health is the only mental health center in the country to provide clinical support and intervention services, administer professional development training for educators, train future school mental health professionals, and conduct research in the field—all in an effort to help teachers and youth develop critical skills for improving their mental health.