Matthew McConaughey shares how his Greenlights Grant Initiative aims to make schools safer
A week after a 14-year-old student allegedly opened fire at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia and killed four people, the issue of gun violence and school safety remains at the forefront of parents' consciousness.
It's an issue Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey and his wife Camila Alves McConaughey are on a mission to change.
Last July, the McConaugheys co-founded the Greenlights Grant Initiative in a bid to improve school safety by providing school districts with free grant writing services and information on grants, aimed at boosting mental health and security resources in schools.
The co-founders joined "Good Morning America" Tuesday to open up about the program's successes and what they feel still needs to be done.
"We have to keep it on top of our consciousness," McConaughey said. "Lawmakers, with enough pressure, it helps them keep it on top of their desk and do something about it, and hopefully keep re-funding things like they did with the bipartisan Safer Communities Act."
According to the actor, the Greenlights Grant Initiative has helped schools across the U.S. identify and apply for federal grants, money earmarked from the bipartisan Safer Communities Act. The legislation was signed into law in June 2022, one month after the May 2022 Robb Elementary School shooting in McConaughey's hometown of Uvalde, Texas, which left 19 children and two teachers dead.
Out of 30 school districts so far, the Greenlights Grant Initiative says it has helped four districts successfully secure over $1 million dollars in grant money.
The Jasper R-V School District in Missouri is one of the districts that has benefited from a federal grant and launched a teacher-student walking club that's quickly gaining momentum.
"It makes a difference if kids feel seen and heard," Jasper R-V School District Superintendent Dr. Cindy Hansen said. "And the impacts of that will extend far beyond this time and place in the lives of those young people."
But the grant money isn't limitless and McConaughey said more support is needed to maintain grant funding for school security and mental health counselors.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, data shows guns remain the leading cause of death for children in the U.S., despite the bipartisan Safer Communities Act. Deaths by firearm accounted for 18% of deaths in children, in 2022, the latest year in which data was available, up from nearly 15% in 2018.
Co-founder Alves McConaughey also said a team effort is required to make schools safer for students, families, teachers and administrators.
"Every child should be able to go to school and feel safe at school. Every young adult should be able to walk into campus and feel safe. Every parent should be able to drop off their kids at school and not have to look over their shoulders," she said. "But if the schools cannot access the money, they can't make the change that they need on the ground."
