National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention

Introduction to Communications Technical Assistance Webinar
The Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) Communications Team will be hosting a Webinar to introduce grantees to communications technical assistance and resources. The Webinar will review the communications technical assistance process, highlight online tools, and examine how communications helps grantees achieve their programmatic goals and objectives. Two afternoon sessions will be offered at 1:30 p.m. (EDT) and 3:30 p.m. (EDT) on March 6, 2008. To register, please visit: http://www.sshs.samhsa.gov/webinar.

For more information, please contact Marcela Aguilar at maguilar@sshscom.org or 240-747-4828.

2008 Safe Schools/Healthy Students Grant Application and Peer Reviewers
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools is inviting applications through March 14, 2008 for the FY 2008 Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) grant. The SS/HS program supports the implementation and enhancement of integrated, comprehensive communitywide plans that create safe and drug-free schools and promote healthy childhood development. Local educational agencies are eligible to apply. To view the full announcement, perform a search at http://www.grants.gov or click on the following link: http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=HYxSJN03B6ZGp332JSLnS9pBx6G
2wLNJSRyXs45x41k2WC9p2QC3!-1098938542?oppId=16603&flag2006=true&mode=VIEW.

In addition, the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Justice are currently seeking qualified peer reviewers to read and evaluate grant applications that will be submitted under the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative grant competition. Details and further instructions for prospective reviewers are available at http://www.promoteprevent.org/sshs_peerreviewers.pdf.

SS/HS Evaluation 101 Refresher Course
To complement the Evaluation Meeting for 2007 SS/HS Project Directors taking place in late February, the National Center has created a self-paced, online course that reviews basic concepts of evaluation. The main sections of the course address the two phases of planning and conducting an SS/HS program evaluation. This course can be accessed by all at any time at https://learn.aero.und.edu/pages.asp?PageID=93000.

Tips for Parents of Teens with Mental Health Problems
Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) has published a pamphlet for parents of teens with mental health problems who are unsure of where to turn for help. The pamphlet, Finding Help and Working with Schools: Tips for Parents of Teens with Mental Health Problems, includes advice from mental health experts, teachers, and other parents on how a parent can partner with the child’s school to determine if the child is eligible for accommodations and services. In addition, the pamphlet offers creative suggestions on where parents can turn for support for children who are ineligible for special education services. The pamphlet can be downloaded at http://main.edc.org/pdf/great-minds-parents.pdf.

Materials from the Project Director Consortia Meeting Now Available
SS/HS Project Directors from all cohorts met in Albuquerque, New Mexico, January 29–30, 2008, for the Project Director Consortia Meeting, where they shared and learned from each other’s experiences and participated in work sessions with TASs and other consultants. The various sessions available to participants included topics such as evaluation, mental health financing, and crisis management for schools. Materials from this event are available at https://learn.aero.und.edu/pages.asp?PageID=113036.

National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day—May 8, 2008
The theme of the May 8, 2008, National Children’s Mental Health Awareness Day (Awareness Day) event is Thriving in the Community. On March 13, 2008, at 2:00 p.m. EST, SAMHSA’s Systems of Care will introduce Awareness Day to SS/HS grantees in the first of a series of teleconferences that will encourage SS/HS grantees around the country to use Awareness Day to promote their youth violence prevention and mental health services and programs to the communities they serve. This teleconference will be followed by these three teleconferences:

More information and other materials on Awareness Day are available on the Systems of Care Web site at http://systemsofcare.samhsa.gov/nationalawareness/materials.aspx.

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

Community Risk and Protective Factors
A study published in a recent edition of the Journal of Community Psychology investigated whether community-level risk and protective factors from aggregated surveys predicted individual-level future substance abuse. It is essential to examine how accurately community levels of risk and protective factors can predict the levels of actual substance abuse in that community; if the community-level data are found to be a good predictor of future substance abuse, efforts can be directed toward developing and implementing community-based prevention programs (as opposed to, for example, treatment programs that identify and intervene in the behavior of specific individuals).

The study, in fact, provided evidence that “aggregate community levels of risk and protective factors are related to individual substance use” in later years. The relationship was stronger for the cohort of young people surveyed to determine the risk and protective factors, but also significant for other cohorts of young people. Risk factors shown to be especially significant because they predicted the use of multiple substances included community norms favorable to drug use, young people’s perceptions of how available drugs are in their community, and parental attitudes favorable to drug use. Protective factors shown to be especially significant include attachment to fathers and opportunities for pro-social involvement in the family. Other risk factors included low community attachment, community disorganization, laws favorable to drug use, poor family management, and parental attitudes favorable to delinquency. Other protective factors included opportunities for pro-social involvement in the community, rewards for pro-social involvement in the community and in the family, and attachment to mothers.

The study also supported the hypotheses that (1) risk and protective factors at work among younger and older adolescents (i.e., middle vs. high school age) and (2) the levels of risk and protective factors in a community change over time. The study’s authors thus recommend that (1) prevention efforts need to target interventions by age groups and (2) prevention programs survey young people at least every two years to learn how the risk and protective factors in their community may have changed.

This Research Note is based upon “Using Community and Family Risk and Protective Factors for Community-Based Prevention Planning,” by A. Fagan, M. Van Horn, J. Hawkins, and M. Arthur. Journal of Community Psychology 35(4):535–555 (2007).

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

New Publication Explores the Current Status of Mental Health in Schools
The need for enhancing mental health in schools to increase student success has long been a concern of school policymakers who have introduced a range of health, social service, counseling, and psychological programs to schools since the end of the 19th century. In a new publication, Mental Health in School & School Improvement: Current Status, Concerns, and New Directions, the Center for Mental Health in Schools reflects on current and past initiatives that have sought to improve mental health in schools. In addition, it discusses future directions for the field, such as addressing systemic change, creating necessary infrastructure, expanding the framework of school accountability, and weaving together community resources. This publication is available at no cost at http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/mhbook/mhbookintro.htm.

Family and Neighborhood Risks: How They Relate to Involvement in Out-of-School Time Activities
Previous research has shown that participation in an out-of-school time program is related to better outcomes for children, yet children from high-risk families are less likely than their peers to participate in out-of-school time programs. This new Child Trends fact sheet analyzes data on family and neighborhood risks for children aged 6 to 17 from the 2003 National Survey of Children’s Health. The findings suggest that active recruitment of children in high-risk families may be necessary for children to become involved in out-of-school time programs and that these programs may need to be more comprehensive and long-term than those serving more advantaged children. Visit the fact sheet at http://www.childtrends.org/Files//Child_Trends-2008_02_05_Risks.pdf.

New School Emergency Response and Crisis Management Publications Now Online
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools has released two new Helpful Hints publications that provide overviews of various school emergency preparedness topics based on previous reader feedback and suggestions. Families as Partners in School Emergency Management provides strategies for forming partnerships and communicating with families to create positive working relationships before an emergency occurs. Doing so strengthens a school’s emergency management capacity as it ensures that the “experts” on each child’s needs are involved from the beginning.

Establishing and Developing Strategic Partnerships with Media Representatives recommends that schools create communications plans and train a public information officer to be the primary liaison to the public. These, along with other strategies described in the publication ensure that when a school emergency occurs, the media can enhance the school’s transition into the recovery phase rather than hinder it.

Visit Families as Partners in School Emergency Management at http://rems.ed.gov/views/documents/HH_Vol2Issue7.pdf and Establishing and Developing Strategic Partnerships with Media Representatives at http://rems.ed.gov/views/documents/HH_Vol2Issue8.pdf.

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: Grants for School-Based Student Drug-Testing Programs
Funder: U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools
Description: The Department of Education awards grants to local educational agencies (LEAs) and other public and private entities to develop and implement, or expand school-based drug-testing programs for students in one or more grades 6 through 12.
Average Award: $150,000
Eligibility: LEAs, including charter schools that are considered LEAs under state law, and public and private entities that do not currently have an active grant under the Department of Education’s School-Based Student Drug-Testing Programs
Deadline: March 21, 2008
For more information: http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do;
jsessionid=HGxMnJvFKv9347LphfJT2nLrJDntym07vn2vW1jwdzsn9ldS1T4X!-
1643228702?oppId=16260&flag2006=true&mode=VIEW

Title: Full Service Community Schools Program
Funder: U.S. Department of Education
Description: The Full-Service Community Schools (FSCS) program encourages coordination of educational, developmental, family, health, and other services through partnerships between (1) public elementary and secondary schools and (2) community-based organizations and public or private entities. This collaboration will provide comprehensive educational, social, and health services for students, families, and communities.
Estimated Average Award: $415,000
Eligibility: Eligible applicants under this competition are consortia consisting of a local
educational agency (LEA) and one or more community-based organizations, nonprofit
organizations, or other public or private entities.
Deadline: April 15, 2008
For more information: http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20081800/
edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/pdf/E8-2934.pdf

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

Date: March 17–19, 2008
Location: Denver, Colorado
Title: Blueprints Conference
Sponsor: Blueprints for Violence Prevention at the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence
Description: The goal of the conference is to disseminate science-based information on youth violence, delinquency, and drug prevention programs that are effective. This conference will motivate the prevention field to adopt evidence-based programs and provide support, guidance, and tools by program experts to help practitioners implement these programs successfully in their own communities.
Web site: http://www.blueprintsconference.com

Date: April 30–May 2, 2008
Location: Portland, Oregon
Title: Community Schools for All
Sponsor: Coalition for Community Schools
Description: The 2008 Coalition for Community Schools National Forum will focus on strategies that aim to help communities and school districts develop more effective community schools. Participants will learn how to mobilize local leadership, increase their capacity, utilize research data and information for community schools, and learn to apply best practices across the range of supports and opportunities that should be available in community schools. For the video invitation, visit http://www.kclincvideos.org/pages/ccs/ccs2008promo.html.
Web site: http://www.communityschools.org