Hope Squad Application

Bring a Hope Squad to your district.

Prevent youth suicide with education, training and peer intervention.

Suicide rates of those aged 10 to 24 years have increased steadily over the past decade. Further, rates have increased by 76 percent among 15 to 19-year-olds. Also, up to 24 percent of youth experience suicidal ideation. Recently, a variety of stressors have been identified that can contribute to suicide ideation, including mental illness, family dynamics, and other environmental factors. Due to growing concerns about the mental health and suicidality of youth, schools are often the target for prevention, intervention, and postvention programming.¹

Hope Squad is a school-based, peer-to-peer, suicide prevention program that empowers trained and mentored students who are nominated by their peers to perform acts of intentional outreach. This comprehensive program supports elementary, middle, and high school students through an evidenced-based gatekeeper curriculum making it a critical component within any MTSS platform.

AASA, The School Superintendents Association, and our government cooperative procurement partner, Sourcewell, will be awarding 5 districts the opportunity to install a Hope Squad into up to one High School, one Middle School and one Elementary School for three to four years². The awards will go to one district in each of the following time zones: Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific, plus one in Sourcewell’s Minnesota five-county service area, including Cass, Crow Wing, Morrison, Todd, and Wadena counties.

We are accepting applications through 11:59pm PT on April 15, 2024. For eligibility requirements, click here.

Awardees will be announced on May 6, 2024.

¹ Reducing Suicide-Related Stigma through Peer-to-Peer School-Based Suicide Prevention Programming", Jennifer L. Wright-Berryman, Devyn Thompson, and Robert J. Cramer
²The Hope Squad program and its curriculum builds upon itself each year. To the extent funds are made available and appropriated for this purpose, School commits to administering the Program for a minimum of 3 years for an elementary school or jr. high/middle school, or 4 years for a high school. After this initial Program period, Hope Squad program membership renews annually for a nominal membership fee required to maintain access to the Program's curriculum and resources.

Hope Squad Application

Superintendent Information

All superintendent information fields must be completed for your application to be considered.

Information for the Individual Completing This Form (If NOT the Superintendent)

Hope Squad Installation

The award may be for up to one high school, middle school and elementary school. The award supports 4 years of high school programming and 3 years of middle or elementary programming.

The district is required to have at least 1 licensed QPR trainer plus one advisor per school. The training costs are included in the award.

Please list the three schools you are considering. Note if they are a high school middle or elementary in your response.

Qualifying Questions

Understanding and Commitment

Hope Squad Affiliation Agreement districts will need to sign if awarded the installations.

District Demographic: Please provide some demographic details about your district.

In your district, about what percent of students are in each of the following categories:

Please Note: If you hit the submit button and are not taken to a confirmation message, you are missing a required field. Please review the form and fill out all required fields to successfully submit your application.