Safe Schools Healthy Students (SS/HS)

The Safe Schools Healthy Students (SS/HS)
Initiative works to promote safe and healthy environments in which children can learn and grow.

• Since 1999, the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services, Education, and Justice have collaborated on the Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) Initiative.
  
  
• SS/HS is a comprehensive model that has proven to be successful in creating safe and secure schools in individual communities across the country.
  
  
• To date, SS/HS has provided services to more than 13 million youth and has offered more than $2 billion in funding and other resources to 365 communities in 49 states across the nation.
  
  
• The SS/HS mission continues to be supporting school and community partnerships in their efforts to develop and coordinate integrated systems that create safe, drug-free, and respectful environments for learning and to promote the behavioral health of children and youth.
  
  

• The SS/HS State and Pilot Community partnership model is designed to facilitate a closer relationship between state policy and local community implementation of policies and programs to address youth violence and promote the wellness of children, youth, and families.
  
  

• SAMHSA expects the SS/HS Initiative to build state- and community-level partnerships among educational, behavioral health, and criminal/ juvenile justice systems that promote systems integration, policy change, and sustainable policies, infrastructure, and supports (samsha/org).