Weekly Insider 26.11.2008
The Center for Health and Health Care in Schools Weekly Insider is a web-enhanced
newsletter that offers news alerts,
grant announcements and general web site updates delivered directly to your email box on a weekly
basis. The Center is located at the
School of Public Health and Health Services at
The George Washington University Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
New Resources
Child Trend’s research brief, The School Environment and Adolescent Well-Being: Beyond Academics, examines how the school environment affects multiple aspects of adolescent development.
The Public Policy Analysis and Education Center for Middle Childhood, Adolescent & Young Adult Health at the University of California, San Francisco has released the 2008 update of its brief on Tracking Adolescent Health Policy: An Annotated List.
Adding to the growing body of research on adolescent development, The Future of Children’s policy brief, Keeping Adolescents Out of Prison advocates for less severe punishment of juvenile offenders.
New from the Center
Results from our survey on Immigrant and Refugee Children are in! The 189 survey respondents came from 46 states and 97.9% worked with students from other countries. Over 50% of respondents were part of a school nursing program. Translation difficulties and different cultural interpretations of health or mental health issues were reported as common problems facing school personnel. Of the respondents, 80% worked in schools that made a special effort to reach out to the families of immigrant children and 71% worked in a school that hired more multicultural/multilingual staff to address the needs of students from other countries.
Detailed results of this survey, as well as surveys we have conducted in the past, are available on our website at
http://healthinschools.org/publications%20and%20resources/polls%20and%20surveys/web%20based%20surveys.aspx
Important Topic
December is Safe Toys and Gifts Month
Toy Safety Resources: American Academy of PediatricsToy Hazard Recalls: US Consumer Product Safety Commission
Toy Safety: National Network of Child Care
Tips on Toys: Toy Industry Association
Upcoming Meetings
- National Harbor, MD: 20th National Conference on Chronic Disease Prevention and Control: Cultivating Healthy Communities. February 23-25, 2009. For more information, please visit http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/conference/
Previously Posted Meetings
- National Harbor, MD: Third National Leadership Summit on Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health. February 25-27, 2009. For more information, please visit http://www.omhrc.gov/npasummit2009/
Job opportunities
Chicago Public Schools – Officer of Medical Affairs and Health Policy (Chicago, IL)
NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene – Director, Pre-Kindergarten (New York, NY)
NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene – Farmers Market Nutrition Education Coordinator (New York, NY)
Save the Children/US – Director, Child Hunger and Food Security (Washington, DC)
Peer Health Exchange – National Director of Program Development (San Francisco, CA)
Communities In Schools of the Nation’s Capital - Executive Director (Washington, DC)
Grant Alerts
National Science Foundation -- Developmental and Learning Sciences Research Grants (Deadline: 1/15/09)
The National Science Foundation’s Developmental and Learning Science grants support fundamental research that increases our understanding of cognitive, linguistic, social, cultural, and biological processes related to children's and adolescents' development and learning.
Rubbermaid -- Community Investment Grants (Deadline: Rolling)
Rubbermaid’s mission is to strengthen communities by investing in programs that matter to their employees and enrich the lives of their consumers, from childhood to adulthood. Community Investment Grants focus on three key strategies: (1) growing up; (2) getting ahead; and (3) giving back.
Abell Hanger Foundation -- Health, Human Services, and Public Benefit Grants (TX) (Deadline: Rolling)
The Abell Hanger Foundation seeks to support benevolent, charitable, educational, or missionary undertakings, and makes grants to organizations which are involved in public welfare, including, but not limited to, health services, human services, and community or societal benefit.
Limited Brands Foundation -- Grants for Children (select locations) (Deadline: 3/1/09)
The Limited Brands Foundation’s Grants for Children focus on the following three areas: (1) improving and promoting children’s health and safety; (2) working to prevent child abuse and neglect; and (3) supporting mentoring opportunities that build self-esteem, life skills and positive values in children.
The San Francisco Foundation -- Community Health Program Grants (Bay Area, CA) (Deadline: 1/16/09)
The goal of the San Francisco Foundation is to improve the health of communities, particularly underserved populations, by expanding access to services, promoting prevention to reduce illness, and advancing health policy reform. Within this focus area, the San Francisco Foundation offers three main types of support: project support; capacity building support; and core operating support.
The Gerber Foundation -- Social Service Grants (Deadline: 6/1/09)
The mission of the Gerber Foundation is to enhance the quality of life of infants and young children in nutrition, care, and development. The primary focus of grantmaking is on health and nutritional issues affecting infants and young children. Of particular interest are programs offering a substantial promise of meaningful advances in prevention and treatment of diseases and those with broad applicability to the general population.
News AlertsYouth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) - Step Program Intervention Comparisons Find Differences in Priority Health-Risk Behaviors
In 2007, the YRBSS survey included a sub-analysis of high school students in communities where the Steps Program, a chronic disease prevention program coordinated by the CDC, has been implemented. Since the Steps program focuses on addressing three related risk behaviors: tobacco use, unhealthy dietary behaviors, and physical inactivity, the sub-analysis focused on 29 behavior indicators around these subjects.
New Resources
To examine the relationship between school environments and adolescent development, Child Trends produced the research brief, The School Environment and Adolescent Well-Being: Beyond Academics. Health, safety, social support, academics, and civic engagement are addressed. This brief is designed for school principals, district staff, and others who are responsible for aspects of school functioning.
The UCSF Public Policy Analysis and Education Center for Middle Childhood, Adolescent & Young Adult Health’s recently updated brief, Tracking Adolescent Health Policy: An Annotated List provides a list of organizations and agencies that monitor trends in policies related to the areas covered by the 21 Critical Health Objectives for adolescents. This brief focuses on state and federal legislation.
The Future of Children’s policy brief, Keeping Adolescents Out of Prison examines research that concludes adolescents who serve time in adult facilities have an increased chance of committing violent crimes in the future. Instead, prevention and treatment programs to provide services to youth within the context of their community and family have been shown to reduce future criminal behavior. Authors Steinberg and Haskins recommend the adoption of policies to match these findings.
Job opportunities
Chicago Public Schools – Officer of Medical Affairs and Health Policy (Chicago, IL)
Chicago Public Schools (CPS) seeks an Officer of Medical Affairs and Health Policy to serve in a strategic health-promoting position for the nation’s 3rd largest school district. The Officer of Medical Affairs and Health Policy will launch and direct efforts to advance the goals and objectives of the Chicago School Health Collaborative: a shared endeavor of CPS and the City of Chicago’s Department of Public Health. For more information, please email mlongjohn@gmail.com
NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene – Director, Pre-Kindergarten (New York, NY)
The NYC Department of Mental Hygiene has an opening for a Pre-Kindergarten Director. Reporting to the Director of the Vision and Hearing Program, the Director of the Pre-Kindergarten Program will oversee the Vision Screening Program in which Public Health Advisors will use the Welch-Allyn Sure Sight autorefractor to screen pre-kindergarteners for vision problems.
For more information and to apply to this position, please visit http://www.publichealthjobs.net/search/detail.cfm?jobID=7235
NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene – Farmers Market Nutrition Education Coordinator(New York, NY)
The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene seeks a Farmers Market Nutrition Education Coordinator who will plan, develop, direct, administer, and evaluate the Stellar Farmers Market Program. Specifically, the coordinator with manage the implementation of the Just Say Yes to Fruits and Vegetables Curriculum in Farmers Markets in New York City via a federal Food Stamp Nutrition Education grant.
For more information and to apply to this position, please visit http://www.publichealthjobs.net/search/detail.cfm?jobID=7236
Save the Children/US – Director, Child Hunger and Food Security (Washington, DC)
Save the Children/US seeks a Director of Child Hunger and Food Security. The Director will be responsible for the strategy, management, and growth of Save the Children’s food security portfolio, including the quality and impact of programs, and the effectiveness of Save the Children’s child hunger and food security policy advocacy. For more information and to apply to this position, please visit
http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/320291-109
Peer Health Exchange – National Director of Program Development (San Francisco, CA)
Peer Health Exchange (PHE) is a national non-profit organization whose mission is to give teenagers the knowledge and skills they need to make healthy decisions. The primary responsibility of the PHE National Director of Program Development will be to drive the development of the PHE program as the organization works to leverage innovation and strengthen the elements of the PHE model that measurably affect teens’ ability to make healthy decisions. For more information and to apply to this position, please visit
http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/320290-75
Communities In Schools of the Nation’s Capital - Executive Director (Washington, DC)
Communities In Schools of the Nation’s Capital is a district-wide dropout prevention and youth development organization based in Washington DC. The Executive Director is responsible for establishing the organization’s short-, medium- and long-term goals and objectives; for developing and implementing district-wide strategies, partnerships and procedures for accomplishing those goals and objectives; for ensuring that the organization has individual, district and federal financial resources that sustain and allow for the deepening of its impact; and for actively participating in Communities In Schools’ national network initiatives. For more information and to apply to this position, please visit
http://www.idealist.org/if/i/en/av/Job/320270-135