Madison Cares wins Program of the Year Award

Having launched in the Fall of 2019, the mission of Madison Cares is to promote the safety and well-being of the JMU community through early intervention strategies, educational initiatives and ongoing care. This program has allowed the Dean of Students team to respond to and support students experiencing varying levels of social, emotional, academic, medical or mental health concerns. During its first year, Madison Cares had a total of 306 Cases. In Fall of 2022 to Spring of 2022, referral numbers doubled, then doubled again from Fall of 2022 to Spring of 2023, reaching 1,066 cases. This past academic year, staff developed and created new approaches to their outreach, timelines and overall processes to better serve students and maintain a manageable workload for staff.  

To handle the increased number of referrals being submitted, a new priority level scale was created alongside the creation of new teams, with each case assigned to the appropriate team based on a High, Moderate and Low scale. This program has significantly transformed the way JMU supports and cares for our student community, making a profound impact on the overall well-being of our campus. Student needs, encompassing social, emotional, academic, and mental health stressors, are all addressed by Madison Cares. This past summer, the Madison Cares program was streamlined to be more efficient, enhancing the outreach process, and developing better execution timelines. This program exemplifies the standards of innovation, collaboration, and impact, serving as a model of excellence that universities across the nation have emulated.