Dear Members and Friends,

The data are in! Some of you remember filling out the long national school health center census during the past year. Well, thanks to your efforts, we now have data that will be invaluable in advancing the school health center movement. One encouraging finding - in California , 78% of school health centers have been open for 5 years or longer (72% nationwide). That's great news in light of these difficult financial times. See the full article to learn more about the census results.

While many schools and health centers are winding down for the summer, CSHC is gearing up for NASBHC's Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C. on June 17. We'll be meeting with at least two dozen policymakers to remind them to support the important work you do in putting health care where kids are – in schools!

Sincerely,

Serena Clayton
Executive Director

Obama's Education Blueprint Prioritizes Student Support Services
In March, President Obama released A Blueprint for Reform: Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). ESEA, currently known as No Child Left Behind, governs federal involvement in education, providing billions of dollars in formula and competitive grants to states, school districts, and schools. We are encouraged to see that the Blueprint recognizes the critical role of support services. It calls for an increased federal commitment to student support services and promotes comprehensive approaches designed to foster positive school climate, improve parent engagement, and address student health and safety needs. Over the coming months, a bipartisan group of congressional leaders will work with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to propose revisions to ESEA. (Follow link to Secretary Duncan's testimony.) Obama's Blueprint will serve as a key input, and we will continue to advocate for the inclusion of SBHCs in overall education reform.

Unfortunately, it is not yet clear whether there is the political will to support ESEA reauthorization before Congressional elections in November. Recently, analysts have become less optimistic that legislators will want to tackle the issue during an election year. However, the Senate HELP committee, chaired by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) has been holding a series of reauthorization hearings. On Tuesday May 18th, the committee addressed the issue of health and schools. Dr. Barbara Levin, CEO of Chota Community Health Services, testified, explaining the link between SBHCs and academic success. (Follow link to Dr. Levin's testimony.)

White House Office of Urban Affairs Explores SBHC Opportunities
NASBHC met with the White House's Office of Urban Affairs recently to discuss ways to bring school health centers into their program. The office has an interagency workgroup focused on neighborhood revitalization that includes Dept. of Transportation, EPA, DOE, Dept. of Justice and HUD. This group is tasked with addressing urban housing and the surrounding environment. They see a number of areas where school health centers intersect with their priorities and will be looking for opportunities to incorporate school health centers into their programs. One opportunity is Promise Neighborhoods through the DOE. Urban Affairs staff encouraged school health centers to get involved with planning efforts around the RFP that is due June 21st. A second opportunity is the HUD project, Choice Neighborhoods , aimed to make neighborhoods livable and accessible. Other opportunities included the Weed and Seed program in DOJ.

Proposed State Budget Cuts Put Kids at Risk
The Governor's proposed budget contains cuts to Medi-Cal, Healthy Families, mental health, and CalWORKS that could be detrimental to school health center sustainability and to the health of the children and families we serve. For an overview, we suggest the excellent summaries provided by the following organizations:

Latino Coalition for a Healthy California
Insure the Uninsured Project
Western Center on Law and Poverty
Health and Human Services Network of California

The legislature has rejected a number of the Governor's proposed cuts, but as we know from recent difficult budget years, it's not over until it's over (and even then it's still not over). So stay tuned. CSHC is joining with other organizations to support a budget that protects children and includes a balanced mix of new revenues and cuts. We urge our members and supporters to support these efforts:

•  Please join the Children's Movement in sending a loud and clear message to the leadership of California : "Don't cut kids!" This is a quick and simple way that you can be part of the advocacy voice for children.

• 
Please join Community Health Councils, Inc. in their statewide budget postcard campaign to ask the Governor and state legislators to stop harmful cuts to California 's safety net and healthcare system, place revenue options back on the table, and reinvest in California 's economy and families.

NASBHC Census Data Are Here
The data have been collected. The numbers have been crunched. And the results are in. NASBHC has released the results of its triennial census of school-based health centers, and there is some encouraging news. Seventy-two percent of the nation's SBHCs are five years or older, up from 41 percent in 1998 and 67 percent in 2004 – attesting to the sustainability of the model. In California, it's 78 percent in 2009, up from 61 percent in 2004. “School-based health centers provide nearly 2 million children across the country with comprehensive medical care, mental health services, preventive care, social services, and youth development,” said Linda Juszczak, Executive Director of NASBHC. “This most recent data confirm that not only are SBHCs here to stay – they are more needed than ever.” Read more about the national data on NASBHC's website; and read about some of California's results on CSHC's website. If you would like to know more about California's results, please contact CSHC's Communications Director, Dara Tom at 510-808-4079 or dtom@schoolhealthcenters.org.

Vallejo USD Opens Second School Health Center
Alexa Hauser, Principal at Elsa Widenmann Elementary School in Vallejo, can attest to the value of health services for students. A 2nd grader who was recently evaluated got much needed glasses and was finally able to read a book cover to cover without struggling to see the words. A 4th grader who received medicine for his asthma and started sleeping through the night passed a spelling test for the very first time. Both children are on the road to academic success thanks to receiving the accessible, affordable health care they needed. These types of stories are sure to multiply now that the Elsa Widenmann Student Health Center has officially opened its doors. An enthusiastic crowd of supporters was on hand May 18th as the second school health center in the Vallejo City Unified School District (VCUSD) opened. Located on the campus of Elsa Widenmann Elementary School, the opening ceremony attracted a host of students, parents, school administrators past and present, supporters and sponsors. The new center will provide medical care, immunizations and screenings for students and the community.

(Photo: H1N1 vaccines were provided on opening day of Elsa Widenmann Student Health Center in Vallejo.)

School Health Center Construction and Equipment Funding
We want to alert you to an important upcoming funding opportunity for construction and equipment for school-based health centers resulting from health care reform. The total funding in 2010 will be $50 million, and we are hearing that the guidelines will come out in early June. The process will move quickly and applications will be accepted over the summer. There are still many questions about exactly what and who will be eligible for funding, but we urge you to begin thinking about how you might use these funds and pay close attention to our e-mails announcing the release of the guidelines. Until the guidelines are released, everything we know about this opportunity is captured in the language passed in the bill. Please see "Health Care Reform: Here's What's Passed" on our Policy page.

Changing Lives, Saving Lives
A new resource, Changing Lives, Saving Lives: A Step-by-Step Guide to Developing Exemplary Practices in Healthy Eating, Physical Activity and Food Security in After School Programs, is now available. It was developed as part of the Center for Collaborative Solutions' Healthy Behaviors Initiative. The guide is designed to help after school program and site directors, members of leadership teams and program partners systematically–and in an intentional way–strengthen their own nutrition, physical activity and food security practices using step-by-step guidance together with examples from ten after school programs across the state that have implemented the practices at an exemplary level. Learn more about the Healthy Behaviors Initiative.

CDC Asthma Webinar
Sponsor: CDC
Date: 8 June 2010
Contact: California Asthma Public Health Initiative
Dr. Findley's work is dedicated to finding creative strategies to expand opportunities for the disadvantaged, particularly mothers and their children, and most notably, strategies that facilitate the adoption of improved health promotion practices or increase adherence to recommended treatment programs, such as daily medications for asthma. Her work grows out of the needs of her partner organizations and currently includes childhood asthma. All her work utilizes a community-based participatory approach. Throughout her work she seeks to embed a strong training component that empowers partners to carry on both the interventions and the evaluation of those interventions as they evolve.

Ask the Experts: Cultural and Linguistic Competency
Sponsor: FamilyPACT
Date: 10 June 2010
Place: Webcast
Contact: Registration Flyer (PDF)
Responding to the Linguistic and Cultural Needs of Family PACT clients; presenter will be Veronica Estrella Murillo, MPH.

Making the Connection: Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and Family Planning, Birth Control Sabotage, Pregnancy Pressure and Unintended Pregnancy 
Sponsor: FamilyPACT
Date: 15 June 2010
Place: Webcast
Contact: FamilyPACT
Presenters will be Rebecca Levenson, MA and Elizabeth Miller, MD, PhD.

Promoting Healthy Transitions: Tweens, Teens and Young Adults
Sponsor: California Adolescent Health Conference
Date: 28-29 October 2010
Place: Oakland CA
Contact: Conference website
This is a conference for all who work with and support youth and will explore issues in the areas of: Issues faced by our youngest teens; Emotional transitions and forming relationships; Social, cultural, environmental and economic issues; From Teen to Adulthood. This conference, coordinated by the California Adolescent Health Collaborative and our conference partner, University of California San Francisco School of Nursing, will offer interactive workshops, poster sessions, plenary sessions, discussions, and performances. Plenary sessions will focus on: Resilience; A New Paradigm of Adolescent Sexuality; Doing the Same with Less. Over 30 workshop sessions will help you guide your learning to meet your needs. A Youth Track for teen health educators is a special part of the conference and will create unique youth-to-youth interaction including a youth plenary.