National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention

Welcome New Grantees
Congratulations on your Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) grant award! The National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention (National Center) is eager to offer support, information, and resources as your school district works to provide students with a safe and nurturing learning environment. We e-mail our newsletter once a month to all SS/HS grantees. It contains important information regarding National Center events; new additions to the Web site (http://www.promoteprevent.org); research highlights from the mental health, education, and public health fields; and selected grants and events.

On our Web site, you will find technical assistance specialist (TAS) contact information, and resources for implementation, sustainability, evaluation, and evidence-based interventions. The Web site can be an important addition to the technical assistance services you receive from your TAS.

To get started, visit the SS/HS Grantee Survival Guide for the First 6 Months at http://www.promoteprevent.org/new-grantee-map/map.html. This welcome site, published by the National Center, maps out planned meetings and recommended activities for the first six months of the grant.

Finally, the New Grantees Meeting will take place October 28-29, 2008, in Washington, D.C. This meeting is required for all 2008 SS/HS grantees. More information about this event is available at http://www.promoteprevent.org/events/center-events/#newgrantees.

New Brief and Teleconference Examine the Benefits of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and Implications for SS/HS Grantees
The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) and the National Center have published a new brief titled Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and Student Benefits: Research Implications for the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Core Elements. This brief was issued in conjunction with a teleconference hosted on August 27, 2008, which discussed benefits of SEL on student learning and strategies for implementing SEL. The brief serves as an extension to the teleconference by sharing the latest research on the effects of SEL and explains how it can be an integrative prevention framework that addresses the SS/HS core elements. Download the brief at http://www.promoteprevent.org/Publications/SELbenefits.pdf.

Need to Contact Your TAS? The TAS Contact List Has Been Updated
Visitors to the Grantee Toolkit on our Web site will find a table of contact information for each grantee site. This list, recently updated to include information for 2008 SS/HS grantees, includes e-mail addresses and telephone numbers for the TAS and Federal Project Officer (FPO) assigned to each site. Contact information for Communication Specialists will be available shortly. Visit this list at http://www.promoteprevent.org/toolkit/TAScontact.

Latino Networking Group Teleconference
The Latino Networking Group will host a teleconference on strategies for gang prevention on September 18, 2008 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. ET. Please save the date for this event. Details and registration information will be sent out shortly.

The following is a summary of key findings from the fields of education, mental health, violence prevention, and/or youth substance abuse prevention.

Report on Mental Health Financing
Towards Better Behavioral Health for Children, Youth, and their Families: Financing that Supports Knowledge, by Janice Cooper, is a comprehensive report on funding sources and policies that affect children’s behavioral health services.

While SS/HS grantees and their partners should find much of interest in this publication, several sections explore issues directly relevant to SS/HS initiatives. For example, Towards Better Behavioral Health points out the following:

Several SS/HS and Systems of Care projects are used as examples in the report, including the Dawn Project (Indiana), Wraparound Milwaukee (Wisconsin), and THINK (Florida). Detailed implementation cost estimates are provided for a number of evidence-based programs popular with SS/HS grantees, including the Incredible Years, Multisystemic Therapy, and Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care.

Towards Better Behavioral Health can be downloaded from the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University Web site at http://www.nccp.org/publications/pub_804.html.

In thinking about sustainability, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has published a new toolkit that aims to help grassroots organizations plan for the sustainability of their programs past grant-funding periods. Sustaining Grassroots Community-Based Programs: A Toolkit for Community- and Faith-Based Service Providers contains planning resources on the topics of organizational assessment and readiness, effective marketing strategies, financial management, fund development and fund raising, and results-oriented evaluations. This toolkit is available for download at http://download.ncadi.samhsa.gov/prevline/pdfs/SMA08-4340.pdf.

This section highlights a few updates from the prevention field. Please go to http://library.promoteprevent.org for more news items and resources.

SAMHSA Releases Report on Mental Health Reimbursement Policy
A report recently released from three agencies of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services examines barriers to reimbursement of mental health services provided in primary care settings and suggests actions to reduce these barriers. Reimbursement of Mental Health Services in Primary Care Settings highlights research that confirms positive effects of providing mental health services in primary care settings. Suggested actions include policy clarification, collaboration among national stakeholder organizations, education and technical assistance, and provision of additional services. Read the report at http://download.ncadi.samhsa.gov/ken/pdf/SMA08-4324/SMA08-4324.pdf.

Annual Report on the Well-Being of Children and Families Now Available
America’s Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2008 is a report published by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. Released once a year, the series aims to provide an accessible collection of indicators from the most reliable official statistics across topics. The 2008 report includes detailed information on the welfare of children and families in the domains of family and social environment, economic circumstances, health care, physical environment and safety, behavior, education, and health. Access this report at http://www.childstats.gov/americaschildren/index.asp.

Toolkit for Creating a Truancy Reduction Program
Visitors to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) Web site can now download the Tool Kit for Creating Your Own Truancy Reduction Program. The toolkit begins with an overview on the problem that is intended to increase one’s knowledge base on the issue. This section includes research on the extent of truancy, its consequences, and its contributing factors. The toolkit then turns its attention to program development in outlining critical components of truancy programs and how these programs are evaluated. Later sections of the toolkit include examples of different campaigns to promote school attendance and achievement, ways in which school policies can engage students and families, information on the evaluation of school engagement, and challenges involved in tracking attendance. This toolkit is available in PDF at http://www.ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/publications/truancy_toolkit.html.

The Grant Opportunities page is updated regularly with announcements of current public and private grant competitions. Here is one of the listings you will find:

Title: Verizon Foundation Grant Programs
Funder: Verizon Foundation
Description: Verizon Foundation invests in programs and organizations that help law enforcement officers investigate Internet-related crimes against children; educate parents and caregivers about measures they can take to help children use the Internet safely; teach teens and young children how to protect themselves and avoid putting themselves in danger or breaking the law; and warn adults about the pitfalls and dangers online.
Award: N/A
Eligibility: Eligible tax-exempt organizations in certain 501(c)(3) subsections as defined by the IRS and elementary and secondary schools (public and private) that are registered with the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).
Deadline: November 1, 2008
For more information: http://foundation.verizon.com/grant/guidelines.shtml

We regularly add to a detailed listing of conferences and events occurring within the National Center and across the nation. For example,

Date: October 11–16, 2008
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Title: International Association for Truancy and Dropout Prevention Conference
Sponsor: International Association for Truancy and Dropout Prevention (IATDP)
Description: The 2008 IATDP conference will bring together school and community professionals to encourage team building and to recognize outstanding achievements in service to at-risk youth and families. The conference will serve as an opportunity to share information about effective strategies, techniques, and programs in truancy, dropout, and delinquency prevention.
Web site: http://www.iatdp.org/new_site/conference2008.html

Please visit the Events and Opportunities page at http://www.promoteprevent.org/events for a complete listing.