PEF Highlights Ongoing $5 Million Kaiser Grant Supporting PUSD Student Health Services

Pasadena Educational Foundation is highlighting an ongoing $5 million Kaiser Permanente grant that is supporting mental and physical health services across Pasadena Unified School District as the three-year initiative enters its second year.

The grant, awarded to PEF for work with PUSD, runs from through Oct. 31, 2028, according to the district’s grant agreement. It is intended to expand school-based health services and trauma-responsive support following the Eaton Fire, including clinical staffing, restorative practices, staff training and crisis-response work.

PEF’s Fall 2026 newsletter said the funding has also extended into its Summer Enrichment Program, where wellness support was available across program campuses. The original grant plan called for five seasonal Response to Intervention teachers to maintain support for participating students during the summer.

The district’s November 2025 board report said the grant would fund 13 new full-time positions, including 10 clinical health professionals, a restorative practices specialist, a community liaison and a program assistant. The May 2026 public announcement said PUSD had already hired two clinical social workers and a restorative practices liaison and was continuing to recruit additional staff.

The hiring effort remained active in October 2026. PUSD posted two grant-funded licensed clinical social worker openings on Oct. 9, with the positions listed as full time and dependent on continued grant funding.

The grant also supports expanded hours at the PUSD Health Clinic, trauma-informed professional development for employees, confidential wellness spaces, equipment and materials at school sites, and broader restorative-practice and crisis-response capacity, according to the May announcement.

The funding is administered through PEF in coordination with PUSD. The grant agreement lists an initial payment of $1.66 million upon execution, a second payment of the same amount scheduled for November 2026 and a final payment scheduled for November 2027, with required interim and final reports.

The Fall 2026 newsletter is a reminder of the existing initiative, whose public rollout began in May 2026. The grant agreement runs through October 2028, leaving the program in its second year of staffing and service expansion.