New CBC Taskforce on Youth Suicide and Mental Health to Launch on April 30

The Congressional Black Caucus Emergency Taskforce on Black Youth Suicide and Mental Health, chaired by Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, seeks to raise awareness and identify solutions to a growing problem

On Tuesday, April 30, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) will launch 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.

In 2018, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Pediatrics published a report that found that for the first time in the history of such research, the rate of suicides for Black children between the ages of five and 12 has exceeded that of White children, and more than a third of elementary school-aged suicides involved Black children. The taskforce will seek to identify causes and solutions, and will empower a working group of academic and practicing experts led by Dr. Michael Lindsey and the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research at New York University, with the goal of developing and producing a report from the Taskforce by the end of 2019. The Taskforce will launch with a panel forum at which members will hear from individuals on that working group.

Members of the Taskforce include:

• Alma Adams (NC-12)
• Emanuel Cleaver II (MO-05)
• Danny Davis (IL-07)
• Alcee Hastings (FL-20)
• Jahana Hayes (CT-05)
• Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX-30)
• Barbara Lee (CA-13)
• John Lewis (GA-05)
• Ilhan Omar (MN-05)
• Ayanna Pressley (MA-07)
• Frederica Wilson (FL-24)

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