Whitefish Community Foundation awards $100,000 to Nate Chute Foundation

Whitefish Community Foundation recently awarded a $100,000 Kids Fund Grant to Nate Chute Foundation to support peer-to-peer mental health and suicide prevention training in local public schools. 

Nate Chute Foundation is dedicated to promoting mental wellness and reducing suicide by offering evidence-based training and education to area schools, organizations and communities to help build resiliency and identify and intervene with suicidal behavior. The organization also aims to increase access to mental health support by providing financial assistance for professional counseling to those struggling with mental health challenges. 

Whitefish Community Foundation’s multi-year Kids Fund Grant will help Nate Chute Foundation expand mental health curricula in local schools, including Happiness for 6th Graders and Happiness for 9th Graders, as well as support an annual youth summit to empower high school students to become mental health advocates in their schools.

The grant will also help Nate Chute Foundation secure a licensed mental health service provider for the first time to support teachers and high school students who are delivering suicide prevention education in classroom and peer-to-peer settings. Nate Chute Foundation recognizes that leading suicide prevention education can be emotionally and mentally stressful for the educators, some of whom have unresolved trauma themselves due to a friend or family member’s suicide. The licensed mental health provider will ensure that the teachers and students who serve as mental health advocates in their schools receive the therapeutic support they need. 

"We are grateful to Whitefish Community Foundation for supporting our expansion of the older youth and educator engagement program," Nate Chute Foundation Executive Director Brad Ray said. "This grant allows us to continue increasing the number of suicide intervention services for teachers and high-school aged youth and provide these educators with the mental health support they need to do this difficult work." 

The Kids Fund was created in 2019 to support programs in the areas of health, safety and education that mitigate challenges and prevent local youth from becoming homeless. To date, Whitefish Community Foundation has awarded over $600,000 in Kids Fund grants to Flathead Valley nonprofit organizations, including Flathead Youth Home, CASA for Kids, Child Bridge, Land to Hand, Boys & Girls Club of Glacier Country and Center for Restorative Youth Justice. 

“The mental health of our youth is critically important,” foundation President/CEO Alan Davis said. “We feel fortunate that Nate Chute Foundation can provide training, tools and support for local students and their teachers. Their upstream approach will no doubt have a big impact on quality of life in our community, further accomplishing the goals of our Kids Fund.” 

To learn more about the Kids Fund, including requirements for applying for a grant, visit whitefishcommunityfoundation.org/the-kids-fund/.