New approaches to school safety and well-being funded by William T. Grant Foundation awards

September 29, 2026

Michigan State University has received funding from the William T. Grant Foundation for two research projects focused on youth safety and well-being. This marks the first time the university has earned dual recognition from the foundation’s highly competitive awards in a single round.

Founded nearly a century ago, the William T. Grant Foundation invests in high-quality research focused on reducing inequalities in young people in the United States. The projects funded at MSU in the Colleges of Human Medicine and Education examine changes in practices in a school setting that could improve outcomes and create better environments for students to succeed.

Each research team received a nearly $600,000 award to advance their work. The achievement underscores MSU’s growing national research impact and reflects the dedication to advancing the common good.

Addressing Violence and Suicidality Among Black Youth

For Black youth, interpersonal violence accounts for 42% of deaths in the US. Krista Mehari, PhD, associate professor in the College of Human Medicine’s Charles Stewart Mott Department of Public Health, and her colleagues will examine whether SOAR (Strengthening Opportunities for Achievement and Resilience), a school-level intervention, can reduce violence and thoughts of suicide by promoting school climate and student engagement.

Mehari’s findings may provide a novel strategy for effectively reaching Black youth, which are disproportionately affected by violence and suicide. Her team will combine data on discipline, violence, suicidal ideation, and completed suicides with survey data from school personnel and students to examine intervention effects.

Existing violence and suicide prevention strategies have limited effectiveness in predominantly Black communities and among Black youth, likely due to their focus on the individual level and their failure to address social contexts. The issue is of critical importance as suicide rates have increased 250% among the generational cohort from 2001-2020.

Reducing Inequalities in Discipline to Improve Educational Experiences

Data suggest that students of color and students with disabilities are suspended or expelled at disproportionately higher rates than their peers. Could different approaches to correcting behavior help reduce these concerning statistics? College of Education Assistant Professors Tasminda Dhaliwal, Jerome Graham and Kaitlin P. Anderson from the American Institutes for Research are leading the investigation with a nearly $600,00 grant.  

They will partner with three Michigan school districts to explore how restorative practices — "efforts that emphasize relationship building, reparation of harm and non-punitive responses to behavior” — are implemented over time, with the aim of reducing inequalities and improving educational experiences for all students. 

By Emily Linnert and Lauren Knapp

Media Contact | Emily Linnert