The Vashon community will soon benefit from King County’s Best Starts for Kids initiative with funds that will support the creation of a school-based health clinic at the high school and a program aimed at creating healthier environments for island children.

Two agencies that serve the island, Neighborcare Health and Vashon Youth & Family Services (VYFS), were among the organizations awarded grants. At a Seattle press conference last week, King County Executive Dow Constantine announced nearly $4 million worth of funding, which will create three school-based clinics in the area and support agencies working to increase access to healthy foods, create more opportunities for physical activity and reduce exposure to firearms and harmful substances.

“We are delivering on the promise I made to the people of King County — to create safer, healthier, better-connected communities where all children and youth can flourish,” Constantine said.

Of the $2 million awarded for three school-based clinics, Neighborcare will receive $766,000 to construct and operate a clinic at Vashon High School. Neighborcare and school district officials say the clinic — set to open during the upcoming school year — will provide medical, mental health and dental care to students who are part of the public school system.

Noting that school-based clinics have been in existence for decades, Vashon Island School District Superintendent Michael Soltman said he is pleased the Vashon school district will be able to offer the services and benefits they provide.

“I am really enthused,” he said. “I think it is a huge win for the community and for the students and our families to have that that kind of access to primary medical care, mental health services and dental care.”

At Neighborcare Health, which operates a dozen school-based clinics in Seattle, officials expressed similar enthusiasm, saying they are excited to expand to Vashon and address health care barriers, especially around transportation.

In a conversation following the announcement of the news last week, Gabrielle Douthitt, the medical director of Neighborcare Health’s school-based health program, noted that research shows considerable benefits to having clinics in the schools. Time in class increases, she said, as do grade point averages and graduation rates.

In fact, materials provided by King County show that a study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health found that youth are 21 times more likely to access mental health services when those services are located in the schools and not elsewhere in the community. Similarly, research published in the Journal of School Health found that school-based clinics cut the absentee rate in half among students who had three or more absences.

Douthitt referred to school-based clinics as a “cutting-edge model of care delivered in a humble package.” The focus is on providing comprehensive care, she said, noting that a child might come in with stomach problems, but the root of the problem could be related to anxiety, so the child might be best served by working with a counselor.

“The focus is on treating the whole child,” she said. “Whatever they are coming in for might not be the whole story.”

Neighborcare’s school-based health program manager Alyssa Pyke said that when Neighborcare first expanded to Vashon she and her colleagues discussed the possibility of providing a school clinic on the island and hoped funding would come along.

Earlier this year, opportunity presented itself when Best Starts for Kids issued a request for proposals for operating school-based clinics. In March, Neighborcare reached out to the school district about a proposal, and the board worked with the agency on it. With the funding secured, Soltman said, the district and Neighborcare Health will work together on the details of launching the clinic in the next school year.

Vashon will also benefit from a $100,000 grant to VYFS, which will use the money in its work with the Vashon Early Learning Coalition, a group of early childcare providers. In particular, Executive Director Kathleen Johnson said coalition members will work with VYFS’ Family Education and Support Services program to help improve their support of island children and families. Specifically, VYFS will provide training to the coalition in a range of areas, including healthy eating, injury prevention and safe gun and medication storage. In turn, the educators will pass that information on to families in their programs.

Johnson noted the grant will enable the agency to work with other organizations on the island, including the Vashon Island Growers Association (VIGA). She said that partnership will include seasonal cooking demonstrations, menu creation and ideas for healthy, low-cost snacks.

An additional important element of the grant is that VYFS will also work to increase the number of licensed childcare providers on the island. With the closing of Vashon Children’s Center earlier this year, the island is back to having only two licensed daycares. In all, Johnson said, the centers can care for only 22 children, and those two centers are the only providers that can accept government subsidies to offset the cost of childcare. To help address this shortage, Johnson said VYFS will work with coalition members who wish to become licensed by the state, helping them overcome licensing barriers.

The grant money is allocated for a period of 18 months; Johnson said she is not certain that anyone will be ready to be licensed by then, but she is hopeful.

“If we could get one additional program licensed, or poised to achieve licensure … that would be phenomenal,” she said.

VYFS has struggled some financially in recent years, and last week Johnson called the grant well-timed and exceptionally helpful.

“It will help to make our Family Education and Support Services sustainable and will focus our work on the child care community,” she said.

She noted that other granting opportunities through Best Starts for Kids will come up this year, and VYFS will apply for funding then as well.

Johnson also expressed gratitude that the county funded initiatives on Vashon. Previously, she and other service providers have stressed to King County officials that agencies on the island are not eligible for the city funds that many other nonprofits in the region have access to, leaving them chronically underfunded. In December of 2015, she met with King County Councilmember Joe McDermott to discuss her concerns, and he made clear then that he understood the issue.

Last week, McDermott praised the Best Starts for Kids legislation, which will provide up to $400 million over the next six years for the benefit of youth and families. He called it the most progressive piece of legislation he has been involved with because it focuses on prevention and invests in good outcomes.

He also noted that the previous conversations about the financial needs social service agencies on Vashon and in other parts of unincorporated King County face is reflected in this grant cycle and where the money was awarded.

“We acknowledged and gave preference to rural areas in ways that we did not always in the past,” he said. “It (the funding) acknowledges that rural areas have unique needs.”

Johnson succinctly summed up her reaction to the funds awarded for Vashon.

“This is concrete evidence the situation has been understood, and it is a reversal of a pattern of disinvestment,” she said. “It was the county saying, ‘We hear you.’”