Project AWARE

The Colorado Department of Education has two concurrent cohorts of funding from The Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Association (SAMHSA) through the 2025/2026 school year to build infrastructure and expand the capacity of the state and district partners around mental health. Colorado’s Project AWARE works to build a comprehensive, coordinated, and integrated school behavioral health services system that supports every student in Colorado in reaching their fullest potential in school and life.

The Colorado Department of Education collaborates with behavioral health stakeholders across the state, including the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment's Violence Injury Prevention and Mental Health Promotion Branch and The Behavioral Health Administration's Office of Children Youth and Families to improve mental health awareness and response. In addition to broader, statewide activities, Project AWARE partners with seven local education partners to support best practices to inform Colorado schools and communities interested in accomplishing similar goals.

Our 2025-2026 school year partners are Poudre School District, The Southern Ute Education Department, and Westminster Public Schools.

Other local partnerships have included Archuleta School District, Ignacio School District 11-JT, Colorado Springs D11 Schools, and Littleton Public Schools. Project AWARE had a former round of funding that ended in 2019. Local partnerships included Aurora Public Schools, Fountain-Fort Carson School District, and Thompson School District.

In addition to our local partners, Project AWARE collaborates and aligns with other CDE departments to focus on improving school climate, safety, and social-emotional learning within a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) model to build capacity for high-impact school and community-behavioral health interventions and supports.