Dive Brief:

• U.S. Department of Education has announced a new SERV grant worth nearly $300,000 to the Baltimore City School District in order to help students "recover" from "unrest," referring to the April 2015 protests after the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray, a black man who died in police custody. 
• The funding is expected to be used to hire additional full-time social workers and psychologists, and the scope of the work should include visits to students' homes, sessions with groups or individuals, lesson plan preparation, and training and professional development for educators. 
• Representatives from Obama's administration visited Frederick Douglass High School and following that visit, the Department of Education, school officials, and community leaders have worked to shore up support systems for students and families.

Dive Insight:

SERV grants can be used in a variety of ways. They typically assist communities that have experienced traumatic or violent events that disrupted learning environments. Previously, a SERV grant in the amount of $325,000 dollars was awarded to the Pine Ridge Reservation after a rash of student suicides. "Since the project's launch in 2001, the Education Department has awarded more than $42.1 million to 129 grantees," notes U.S. News and World Report.

In Baltimore's case, funding will help students re-engage in the classroom following widespread civil unrest in the wake of Gray's death while being transported in the back of a police van.