The Department of Education cut $1 billion worth of “mental health” grants that were being used to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) ideology instead of mental health programs.
The department confirmed the cuts to The Federalist, some of which were made to grants that advanced “diversity goals” that explicitly sought “non-white” counselors. The department noted that the cuts are non-continuations of the grants as opposed to cancellations.
“The Department decided not to continue funding these grants beyond the initial award terms. These grants are intended to improve American students’ mental health by funding additional mental health professionals in schools and on campuses,” Madi Biedermann, deputy assistant secretary for communications at the Education Department, told The Federalist in a statement.
“Instead, under the deeply flawed priorities of the Biden Administration, grant recipients used the funding to implement race-based actions like recruiting quotas in ways that have nothing to do with mental health and could hurt the very students the grants are supposed to help. We owe it to American families to ensure that tax-payer dollars are supporting evidence-based practices that are truly focused on improving students’ mental health.”
Some examples of the grants provided by the department include grants advancing the idea that “training counselor educators have the responsibility to prepare the next generation of counselors to recognize and challenge systemic injustices, antiracism, and the pervasiveness of white supremacy to ethically support diverse communities.”
Another states that “training for practitioners applies a critical compassion perspective — as opposed to a colorblind perspective (race and color do not matter) or deficit-based models applied with a sense of pity.”
“Developing an understanding of the historic, relational, and systemic impact of racism will equip trainees to develop culturally responsive and supportive relationships with the young people they serve,” it continues.
Another grant funded “social Justice learning objectives that assessed personal goals for anti-racist pedagogy practice, deconstructed the role personal identity and positionality plays in education, examined the influences of racism and white privilege in education practice, developed the skills for mindful facilitation and conversational ‘brave spaces,’ and facilitated conversations on best practices in anti-racist pedagogy.”
Manhattan Institute Senior Fellow Christopher Rufo posted other grant documents on social media, showing initiatives seeking “greater than 50%” of providers who “are of diverse backgrounds,” selecting for “race/ ethnicity, disability, or LGBTQ+.”
Another grant document states that certain training programs will be focused on having faculty and staff “interact effectively with the wide range of young people and families they encounter in their work, in areas such as diversity, equity, and inclusion, institutionalized racism, examination biases, attitudes, values, and beliefs related to race/ethnicity and other differences, and culturally and linguistically responsive pedagogy and other services.”
It further notes that “our organizations also hire staff that reflects the ethnic/cultural/linguistic backgrounds of our service populations,” or, in other words, they also have racial quotas in hiring.
The money came from a gun violence bill signed by former President Joe Biden, which created a “slush fund for activists,” according to Rufo, in order to advance DEI ideology “under the guise of mental health.”
The Education Department found that the programs being cut violated civil rights law, and in a notice to members of Congress, the department said it “plans to re-envision and re-compete its mental health program funds to more effectively support students’ behavioral health needs.”
Breccan F. Thies is a correspondent for The Federalist. He previously covered education and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.
