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YouthCentric wins $375,000 Cobb County ARPA grant to expand college-led high school mental-health program
Summary
YouthCentric, an after-school program started by Scott Solana, was awarded $375,000 from Cobb County ARPA funds to expand a college-student–led mental health and resilience program that has served about 350 high school students and will extend to neighboring counties.
YouthCentric, an after-school mental-health program started by Scott Solana, was awarded a $375,000 ARPA grant from Cobb County to expand peer-led resilience programming for high school students.
The grant, awarded under Cobb County’s ARPA community health priority category, supports a program that pairs college students with high schoolers to teach stress-management and other coping skills; YouthCentric organizers say the program has served about 350 students and has secured an additional, unspecified grant to support expansion over the next two years into Cherokee, Paulding and Bartow counties.
Scott Solana, who started YouthCentric, said the number of high school students who signed up showed a clear need and that Cobb County’s ARPA opportunity prompted the application that led to the $375,000 award. Solana said the ARPA funds have allowed the program to develop and refine its offerings over the last two years and to increase its reach.
Organizers describe YouthCentric’s model as college-student led because students told program staff they were more likely to accept mental-health guidance from peers than from adults who did not grow up with social media. An unnamed program presenter summarized that approach as delivering “voices they wanna hear from.”
Amber Hudgison, a Kennesaw State University student who volunteers with YouthCentric, said the program fills a gap she saw when she was in high school. "Especially when I was in high school, there was never anything like this," Hudgison said. "Getting this grant will help us expand to a ton of different schools across Georgia." The transcript identifies Hudgison assisting with an icebreaker activity at Osborne High.
Program organizers reported serving about 350 students so far and said a recently received additional grant (amount not specified in the transcript) will underwrite expansion into neighboring counties. The transcript does not specify the additional grant’s source or amount beyond the two-year term mentioned.
YouthCentric materials and a closing statement in the recording direct listeners to Cobb County’s ARPA webpage for more information: cobcounty.gov/arpa.
The remarks about YouthCentric occurred as part of a presentation about ARPA-funded community health programs; the transcript does not record a formal county meeting motion or vote on the grant during the excerpt provided.
