Following months of listening events and meetings in Washington, DC and across multiple Congressional districts, The Congressional Black Caucus’s Emergency Taskforce on Black Youth Suicide and Mental Health today released a report, “Ring the Alarm: the Crisis of Black Youth Suicide in America,” outlining the state of Black youth mental health and detailed policy recommendations for consideration by Congress. Chaired by Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, the task force was formed in April to explore the causes of and solutions to increasing rates of suicide among Black children. The report was assembled with the help of the task force’s working group, led by Dr. Michael Lindsey, PhD, MSW, MPH, Executive Director of the NYU McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research.
Adding to what is known about the growing crisis of suicide among American teens, a team led by researchers at the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research at New York University have uncovered several troubling trends during the period of 1991-2017, among Black high school students, in particular. Their findings were published in the November 2019 issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research at New York University continued to ring the alarm about rising suicide rates in Black youth on Tuesday, June 4th. Our Executive Director, Dr. Michael A. Lindsey, testified at a New York State Senate Joint Public Hearing on Suicide and Prevention before the Senate Standing Committee on Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, chaired by Senator David Carlucci; and the Senate Standing Committee on Health, chaired by Senator Gustavo Rivera.
Testimony by Dr. Michael A. Lindsey, Executive Director of the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy And Research at New York University, on mental health, suicide and black youth before the New York State Senate Committee on Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities
The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) launched a new, emergency taskforce focused on the growing problem of suicide and access to mental health care among Black youth. Chaired by Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), The CBC Taskforce on Black Youth Suicide and Mental Health will convene experts in Washington, DC and around the country, raise awareness among Members of Congress and staff, and identify legislative recommendations to address this mental health crisis.
The McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research at New York University has received a three-year research grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to study the effectiveness of a novel treatment intervention for keeping Black adolescents engaged in depression treatment.
