Antioch College awarded $100,000 grant
- Published: December 7, 2023
To address what U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy has called “the defining public health crisis of our time,” 13 small liberal arts colleges, including Antioch, have each been awarded $100,000 this year and $75,000 next year as part of a multiyear collaborative project to address campus wellness, particularly mental health.
Funded by New York City-based The Endeavor Foundation, the first phase of the initiative is titled “Enhancing Student Learning and Experience through Campus Wellness, Student Wellbeing, and Mental Health Initiatives.”
“We are grateful to The Endeavor Foundation for this opportunity to strengthen the liberal education we offer by formally teaching student mental health, wellness and well-being in our curricular and co-curricular programs,” Antioch College President Jane Fernandes said in a press release.
In addition to Antioch, the other colleges included in the grant are Bennington, in Vermont; Blackburn, in Illinois; College of the Atlantic, in Maine; Northland, in Wisconsin; Prescott, in Arizona; Randolph, in Virginia; St. John’s, in Maryland; St. John’s, in New Mexico; Sterling, in Vermont; Unity Environmental University, in Maine; Warren Wilson, in North Carolina; and Wells in New York.
According to Lori Collins-Hall, the grant project director, vice president and chief operating officer at Sterling College, “Many colleges and universities are driven to prepare their students for a particular job or professional role. Given the mental health crisis we are witnessing among young people on our campuses, we are united in our aim to equip students with the curiosity, creativity, interpersonal communications skills, resilience and capacity for critical thought and self-efficacy that are essential for successful careers, meaningful lives and engaged citizenship in today’s world.”
2 Responses to “Antioch College awarded $100,000 grant”
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A response to Richard Campbell, as a student on LOA (I fear the value of Antioch) (I grieve its potential), I can tell you that currently it’s unethical to recruit students. However admission continue to blame enrollment. From a student prospect the poor crumbling infrastructure, the lack of meaningful Co-op experiences , the lack of student success learning tools (the learning hub is just a magical non existent place and the lack of any basic healthcare on campus turns away prospective students and retention. Ask students why they leave and it’s a million little things that are big things that could be prevented. The grant is already being mismanaged. The grant needs to be used for proven results of improving health including well being. Currently the survey to students asking how it should be used offers up suggestions as visiting speakers and workshops, not direct hire of trained professionals or access to these professionals. One Licenses therapist and her intern is not health care. We should know by prior example Antioch can not balance a checkbook or use grants constructive. The old student building still stands, with it’s one time grant and fundsraised not used. Antioch needs to be run like a business. Donors demand to know how your hard earned dollars are spent, every penny and how they can be spent more efficiently. Wake up it’s not the legacy of exception education education . Some issues were inherited some are do to not holding people accountable . We don’t only need money we need responsible spending . Next time they ask for your money donors decide to advocate for the long-term health and life of the college. Question everything this will be a another grant with little to no results at the current ideology. Mental health 1010 you have to provide basic need before providing services .
Congratulations to the college staff for obtaining this important grant. This is a good start for building community at Antioch College. College admissions still lag because the essentials of recruiting students have not been tackled seriously. The college still needs more students to become sustainable. The college should be welcoming 200 students each year to the college as it finishes the campus restoration. It might be time for Antioch to apply for another grant to reform its admissions policies and learn how to do outreach. This effort to attend to the well-being of the students will hopefully be one more piece in the puzzle to restoring Antioch College. In the meantime, a ten-year comprehensive plan to rebuild campus facilities should be made before President Fernandes leaves.