Lee Foundation Partners with Four Colleges to Support Student Mental Health

Buffalo, N.Y., November 28, 2022.  The Patrick P. Lee Foundation has partnered with four colleges to address an increased need for mental health support services for students.  In recognition of the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on the mental health of college students, the Lee Foundation’s funding focuses on enhancing services offered on college campuses using approaches tailored to the needs of the individual schools. 

Utilization of college counseling centers has risen significantly since the start of the pandemic, with students reporting increased instances of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress.  One local college experienced a 59% increase in mental health counseling appointments between 2021-2022 and anticipates future demand to be ten times higher than pre-pandemic levels.  Compounded by recent data from the CDC that shows increasing suicide rates among college aged men and women, the Lee Foundation identified this as a critical moment to provide resources to schools to bolster their existing mental health services.    

The Lee Foundation awarded a total of $196,044 in grants to Niagara County Community College, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Saint Louis University. Funding will directly educate their broader campus-wide communities and enhance mental health services for students.  This support will allow partner schools to increase staffing of mental health clinics, provide educational trainings to faculty and staff on identifying signs of mental illness, and create initiatives to support students facing mental health challenges. 

“Once we heard the concerns raised by our college partners about the need for expanded mental health services on campus, we were compelled to act quickly and provide resources to support these students” said Jane Mogavero, Executive Director of the Lee Foundation. “We know from our work with the Think Bigger Do Good advocacy initiative that targeted programing, such as those planned by our partner schools, can be an effective way of intervening before a crisis occurs and has the added benefit of increasing mental health awareness.”    

As with all the college partners funded by this initiative, Niagara County Community College plans to provide these exact types of targeted services for the benefit of their campus-wide community.  In particular, the school is focused on increasing clinical staffing of their Wellness Center and providing educational mental health workshops throughout the academic year.

“Providing students with the proper tools to manage mental and emotional well-being will help create a supportive campus culture,” said William J. Murabito, President of Niagara County Community College.  “We are grateful to the Patrick P. Lee Foundation who recognized this growing issue, and through their funding, will allow us to offer a more comprehensive approach to address the crisis.”

The Patrick P. Lee Foundation is a private, family foundation committed to achieving immediate and measurable impacts in the areas of mental health and education.  Since its creation in 2007, the Foundation has awarded over $20 million in mental health grants and scholarship funding for STEM students.