LifeSkills Training (LST) Grants

LifeSkills Training (LST) is a universal social and emotional skills building/drug and violence prevention curriculum designed for all students in middle school (grades 6-8 or 7-9) and high school (grade 9 or 10). The programs are typically delivered by classroom teachers, but can also be delivered by other school staff, school resource officers, or mental health professionals. The middle school program is a three-year curriculum that contains 15 days of core lessons in Level 1, 10 days in Level 2, and 5 days in Level 3, plus optional violence prevention lessons. The high school program is a single-year curriculum that contains 10 sessions. LST aligns well with health topics, but can be taught in any class that is taken by all students, including advisory, social studies, English language arts, science, math, etc. The implementation area is determined by the school/district.

CSPV was accepting grant applications from schools, districts, or educational agencies in the following states to implement the Botvin LifeSkills Training Middle School and/or High School Program: AL, AZ, GA, IL, KY, LA, MI, NV, NM, OK, PA, TN, VA, and WV. A separate grant was being offered to support the Botvin LifeSkills Training High School program in Colorado and Ohio schools.

These Middle and High School grants provide funding for teacher training, teacher stipends or substitute-teacher reimbursement for trainings, teacher manuals, and consumable student workbooks as well as program sustainability planning and attendance at a Training of Trainers workshop (the last two are available to the grants offered to the 14 states). CSPV monitors program fidelity to ensure schools implement the program as designed, thereby increasing positive outcomes for students and schools.

Please see the Program Information page for documents describing both LST Programs, including lesson topics, sample lessons, and curriculum alignments including Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) competencies.

Typically, there is enough funding to support all schools that apply for these grants as long as they meet implementation fidelity requirements. The application deadlines for all grants closed in mid-February 2022.

MIDDLE SCHOOL

Grant Information

Grant Application Files
Along with completing an online application, a superintendent letter is required, and each school must submit a signed principal letter as well as an LST Participating Schools Form.

  • Application: Document containing instructions, application link, and all questions included on the application. Applications must be submitted online.
  • Application Letters: Letters to be signed by the superintendent as well as the principal(s) of each participating school.
  • Participating Schools Form: One form is to be completed by each participating school. These can be completed online (last part of online application) for up to 10 schools, or the form can be downloaded here and emailed.

Please see the Program Information page for documents describing the Middle School LST program content, as well as placement examples, curriculum alignment including SEL competencies, a sample lesson, and evaluation studies.

University of Colorado Boulder has been receiving funding from Altria Client Services for over a decade to help over 1,000 schools across 19 states implement the LifeSkills Training Middle School program.

Through funding from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), CU Boulder has been helping schools in Colorado to implement the LifeSkills Training Middle School program since fall 2017.

HIGH SCHOOL

Grant Information

Grant Application Files
Along with completing an online application, a superintendent letter is required, and each school must submit a signed principal letter as well as an LST Participating Schools Form.

Please see the Program Information page for documents describing the High School LST program content, as well as placement examples, curriculum alignment including SEL competencies, a sample lesson, and evaluation studies.

Altria Client Services began providing funding for CSPV to support the LST High School program in districts across 16 states with whom CSPV was already working to implement the LifeSkills Training High School program with fidelity for two years starting fall 2020.

In addition, the University of Colorado Boulder began an outcome evaluation study of the Botvin LifeSkills Training High School program starting fall 2021. Funding for this initiative is provided by Altria Client Services (program implementation) and by Arnold Ventures (program evaluation).