This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Steve Goldberg, executive director of the WEA Member Benefits Foundation.
The foundation is linked to the company, which provides insurance and retirement services for about 90,000 educators in Wisconsin across more than 400 school districts. In recent years, the foundation has put a focus on student mental health in the state, aimed at addressing this rising challenge.
“We went to school districts all over the state and asked them what keeps them up at night, and the superintendents told us that student mental health was one of their top concerns and one of the top challenges that they were facing,” he said.
Goldberg discusses the foundation’s efforts to help raise funds for these school districts from the private sector, coordinating philanthropic donations from across the state.
He also highlights a statewide K-12 student art contest the foundation, underlining the importance of the arts for fostering better self-esteem, mental health and wellbeing. The contest gets between 200 and 300 entries every year through art teachers, and 11 awards are given out to recognize the winners.
The podcast explores the trend of students feeling increasing levels of stress, depression and anxiety, as Goldberg notes social media and political divisiveness are playing a role. He also references more recent developments around immigration enforcement and deportation threats.
“Those factors are relatively recent, but they just have added to the stress that young people are feeling historically,” he said. “That spiked during COVID, and some of that has diminished, but there are still a high percentage, about 23% of all students in Wisconsin schools, are diagnosed with mental health or behavioral health conditions.”
Of that number, only half received treatment last year, Goldberg said. He also noted a shortage of mental health practitioners both in Wisconsin and across the country, as well as “shrinking” budgets for mental health at school districts in the state.
“We’ve been providing them with starter grants to help strengthen their approach to student mental health, and then we’ve been helping them tell their story in their local community by opening doors for them to meet with funders,” he said. “And those funders are coming through with additional funding to supplement what we provide.”
Listen to the podcast below, sponsored by UW-Madison:
Find more information here:
Email: sgoldberg@weafoundation.org
WEA Member Benefits Foundation website: weafoundation.org
