Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced a new public-private partnership this week — but this time it’s not focused on transportation, and it doesn’t involve one particularly troubled light rail project.

To help kids mentally and emotionally recover from the impacts of the pandemic, the state is launching Project Bounce Back, a $25 million collaboration between state agencies like the education department, and private companies like LinkedIn and Microsoft. (A public-private partnership is a contractual agreement between a public agency, like an education department, and private companies working a long-term project, typically involving infrastructure or transportation.) 

“This global pandemic has been an extremely difficult time for nearly everyone, but it has been perhaps most difficult for our children,” Hogan said at a press conference on Thursday. “The uncertainty and isolation of the past year, combined with prolonged school closures, has been devastating for their emotional health, educational progress and developmental well being.”

The project will create six regional “crisis teams,” to bring additional counselors and psychologists into local school systems, and will expand the state’s alliance of Boys & Girls Clubs into every county in Maryland. The private companies on the project — Microsoft, LinkedIn Learning, KPMG, Discourse Analytics, and eCare Vault — will be working with the Boys & Girls Clubs and other local youth organizations to build “job opportunity” platforms. The Maryland State Police will also be collaborating with the Boys & Girls Clubs in mentorship programs aimed at improving the relationship between police and communities.

According to Hogan’s office, the funding for the project came from the federal CARES Act, in the Coronavirus Emergency Supplemental Funding program.

In launching the new partnership, Hogan simultaneously signed an executive order declaring it a responsibility of the state to address adverse childhood experiences — or ACEs. ACEs is a term defined by the Centers for Disease Control as traumatic events that occur in a child’s life before age 18, like experiencing abuse or neglect, witnessing violence, or being separated from a parental figure due to incarceration. Experts have warned that the challenges of the pandemic, like isolation, loss of loved ones, and economic instability, could impact children for years to come, if treatment is not quickly provided.

Hogan, joined by Lieutenant Gov. Boyd Rutherford, State Superintendent of Schools Karen Salmon, and a public school principal, called the public-private partnership (or P3) the first of its kind on Thursday. Other P3s aimed at addressing mental health have worked with state agencies like Veteran’s Affairs departments and private behavioral health companies.

Generally, Maryland’s P3s have not seen stunning success in the infrastructure realm. The Purple Line project, the largest infrastructure P3 in the country, dissolved disastrously last year, when a group of construction contractors pulled out of the project amid cost disputes. Another P3 is currently in the works to expand high-occupancy toll lanes on the Capital Beltway and Interstate 270, and could potentially cost the state $50 million if it doesn’t move forward. And despite concerns, Prince George’s County recently approved a P3 plan to build six new public schools by 2023.

Lawmakers have tried to regulate P3s with legislation — but their attempts have failed. Last month, a bill that would’ve created an oversight review panel for P3 decisions and required a risk assessment of the state’s financial picture before entering into any agreements failed to make it out of the General Assembly.