Organizations in five communities throughout Illinois will divide $11.5 million to help treat children suffering from mental health problems.
The Illinois Children's Healthcare Foundation says in a news release it has awarded $200,000 planning grants to help the organizations develop ways to improve the mental health of children and then follow that up in November of next year with $2.1 million grants.
The private statewide foundation says that the programs are desperately needed in a state where only 20 percent of the children who suffer from mental illness receive mental health services.
The organizations that will receive grants are: Cornerstone of Illinois Inc.; Heritage Behavioral Health Center Inc.; Kane County Health Department; Community Foundation of Kankakee River Valley; and the Primo Center for Women and Children in Chicago.