The 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act is making strides in Delaware.
The $13 billion federal legislation aims to improve community safety, increase school safety, and invest in mental health care and services.
At a Friday roundtable discussion hosted by Congresswoman Lisa Blunt Rochester, she says all of those issues are intertwined.
“Schools are not in isolation," Blunt Rochester says. "What happens in a home, what happens in a community, children bring that to school. And by that same token, children are impacted by what is happening in the larger community.”
The Safer Communities Act includes support to expand treatment services and to implement the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
Red Clay School District Superintendent Dr. Dorrell Green says schools are a microcosm of the community and they have to better understand what students are going through to help them learn.
“What I know we’re seeing is an increase in the level of need post-pandemic," Green says. "Seeing the number of students that are having risk assessments or seeking out counseling services, seeing our school wellness centers, having an increase in behavioral health referrals rather than medical referrals.”
The bill also looks at addressing violence – providing funding for community-based violence intervention and gun safety measures.
Delaware Coalition Against Gun Violence Executive Director Traci Murphy says what happens in the community affects kids and their ability to learn in schools.
“We ask our schools to solve every problem," Murphy says. "Kids are hungry? Give them free lunches. Kids don’t have somewhere to go after school? Run an after-school program. Kids are unsafe in the mornings, they can’t get there? Give them a bus. We ask our schools and our school communities to solve every problem in our communities, and so it’s no surprise that then they see all of the impacts of all of the struggles in communities walking in their door.”
The legislation addresses gun violence by requiring an enhanced review process for gun buyers under 21 and creates federal straw purchasing and trafficking criminal offenses.
Murphy says the legislation is a step towards destigmatizing mental health and the impacts of trauma, and addressing the role that gun violence plays in that.
