(The Hawk Eye)- Lack of resources, funding, and acknowledgment long have been contributing barriers to mental health care access in Iowa, but a group of high school juniors hope to change that
The Hawk Eye reports that twenty-nine juniors from 14 southeast Iowa high schools will travel this week to the Iowa State Capitol, where they will lobby legislators for changes in mental health legislation for K-12 schools, increased incentives for solar energy and enforcement of the state’s sexual education curriculum across all schools in Iowa.
The students, who were selected to participate in Southeastern Community College’s MPower U Youth Leadership program, have been preparing for Southeast Iowa Days for the past several months under the guidance of MPower U coordinator Carlene Woodside, by working with the Greater Burlington Partnership, experts in various fields and members of the community, as well as with each other, to decide which issues impacting Iowans they feel are in need of legislative action.
Student presentations made by MPower U students in past years during Southeast Iowa Days have made an impact, Woodside explained, pointing to the statewide smoking ban students argued for in 2007 that was signed into law in 2008 and a second language requirement for schools that made its way to a subcommittee after students advocated for last year. A bill allowing school to start no later than Aug. 23 was signed into law in 2015 after students presented to legislators the benefits it would have to Iowa’s economy
