Weekly Insider Nov 13-Nov 19 2007

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 this month at the Center

The Center for Health and Health Care in Schools is partnering with Action for Healthy Kids to help promote wellness within the school environment. Action for Healthy Kids is conducting an online survey to gather perspectives and opinions on the current state of school wellness. The 10-minute survey addresses critical issues in school wellness, including barriers and opportunities surrounding what’s working for and against school wellness, and what more it will take to insure adequate nutrition and physical activity for all children.  To take the survey, click here.

The Center for Health and Health Care in Schools (CHHCS) has updated its popular fact sheet, Childhood Overweight: What the Research Tells Us. The fact sheet includes findings from articles published through July 2007. To view the latest version, click here.

November 2007 E-Journal
--Where Schools Stand on Health and Wellness -- A Comprehensive Report
--School Health Issues: Contraceptives and Antibiotic-Resistant Infections
--A Report and Further Debate on School Drug Testing
--Why Millions of Eligible Children Lack Medicaid, SCHIP

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Important topic

November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month

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New resource

In response to the growing number of young people with type 2 diabetes, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has released new resources on their website for kids and teens living with diabetes.

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Upcoming meetings

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Previously posted meetings

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Job opportunities
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Grant alerts

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation -- New Jersey Health Initiatives 2008 (NJ) (Deadline: 1/24/08)
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is accepting applications for its New Jersey Health Initiatives 2008 grant program to support projects that work to prevent dating violence among adolescents using the "Safe Dates" curriculum.

Mercy Corps -- Global Action Awards (Deadline: 1/31/08)
The Mercy Corps is accepting applications for its Global Action Awards program. The purpose of the program is to honor high school students who have led projects that improved conditions for people in developing countries or that raised awareness in their own communities about global poverty.

Brookdale Foundation -- Relatives as Parents Program State Initiative (various states, DC, & PR) (Deadline: 2/7/08)
The Brookdale Foundation is accepting applications for its Relatives as Parents Program State Initiative. The purpose of the state initiative is to create and expand services needed for grandparents and other relatives to perform their surrogate parent responsibilities by each grantee completing the following activities: five new support, education, or social groups; a statewide network; increased development of services by linking local programs and interested agencies into the statewide network; and by creating an inter-system committee or task force.

The King Foundation -- Grants for Non-profits (Arkansas and Texas) (Deadline: 12/24/07)
The King Foundation is accepting applications for grants to non-profit programs to provide support for projects addressing their funding interests, including the physical and emotional needs of children and youth.

Changemakers -- Sport for a Better World (Deadline:1/8/08)
Changemakers, in partnership with Nike, is accepting applications for its Sport for a Better World competition to support projects that use sports to enact positive social change.

Changemakers -- Young Men at Risk (Deadline: 1/23/08)
Changemakers, in partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is accepting applications for its Young Men at Risk competition to support projects that enable young men, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to become healthy, successful adults.

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News alerts

CDC Says Chlamydia, Syphilis Increasing
In a telephone interview with reporters yesterday, the head of the division on sexually transmitted diseases in the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that while the number of cases of gonorrhea reported to federal authorities has declined in the last two years, there has been an alarming increase in reported cases of chlamydia and syphilis.

Vaccine-Preventable Diseases at All-Time Low
A report in today’s issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) indicates “striking” declines in illness and death from 13 vaccine-preventable diseases for which national immunization recommendations were issued in the years before 2005.

Tips for Teens with Diabetes
Noting that 154,000 youths under the age of 20 have diabetes in the United States, and that rates of type 2 of the disease are soaring in young people, the National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP), a joint project of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is releasing educational materials aimed at helping teens manage their illness.

States Urge Including Parents in SCHIP
In a letter to leaders in the U.S. Senate who are working on new legislation to continue the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), senators from five states that currently cover parents of children enrolled in SCHIP have urged that the new bill should include an option for states “to provide health care to this specific population.”

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New resource

In response to the growing number of young people with type 2 diabetes, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases has released new resources on their website for kids and teens living with diabetes.

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Job opportunities

Columbia University General Pediatrics -- Program Coordinator (New York, NY)
The Program Coordinator will manage all administrative aspects of the Healthy Schools Healthy Families program. He or she will oversee the school-based nutrition and physical fitness activities at each of the participating schools and provide technical assistance as needed to administrators, teachers and families.  For more information and to apply for this position please click here.

National Assembly on School-Based Health Care -- School Mental Health Intern (Washington, DC)
The School Mental Health Intern will develop web resources related to mental health. This position is for 10-20 hours per week and compensation is based on experience and academic background. Please email resume and cover letter by Friday, November 23rd to: Laura Hurwitz, Director of School Mental Health Programs; LHurwitz@nasbhc.org.

Government of the District of Columbia Department of Mental Health -- Social Worker (Washington, DC)
The Social Worker will work in the STOP Suicide at Eastern High School program, providing suicide screenings and leading classroom discussions about mental health. He or she will also perform outreach activities in neighborhoods served by the school. For more information and to apply for this position please click here and search for position “MHA-08-41.”