National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention

Upcoming EBI Teleconferences
On Tuesday, August 1, 2006, at 2:00 p.m. ET, there will be a peer-to-peer teleconference on the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, a multi-level, multi-component school-based program designed to prevent or reduce bullying. This will be an opportunity to participate in a facilitated discussion about the successes and challenges of implementing and sustaining Olweus. Registration information will be sent to invitees by e-mail. Please contact Emily Doerr at edoerr@edc.org or (617) 618-2321 with any questions.

Funding for 2006 SS/HS Sites Announced
More than $31 million in grants have been awarded to 19 school districts in 14 states through the Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) Initiative. Since 1999, the SS/HS Initiative has provided more than $1 billion to local educational, mental health, law enforcement, and juvenile justice partnerships under the No Child Left Behind Act. 2006’s grant recipients are:

Safe Schools/Healthy Students Monograph Available
A new SS/HS monograph has been produced and will be sent to all SS/HS grantees. The new monograph captures the experiences of 25 grantees from the 1999, 2000 and 2001 grant years. Among the highlighted results are data about increases in school safety, improved academic achievement and increased attendance. The monograph will be available on the promoteprevent Web site in the next few weeks.

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

New Toolkit Explains the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that protects the privacy interests of students. It affords parents the right to access and amend their children’s education records, and gives them some control over the disclosure of information in these records. FERPA does allow the disclosure of student data without parental consent under certain, specified conditions. The National Forum on Education Statistics has recently developed a guide to help school and local education agency staff to better understand and apply FERPA. To read the guide, go to http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2006/2006805.pdf.

New Web Site Contains Resources on Child Welfare Issues
The Children’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has launched the Child Welfare Information Gateway, a new online service. This portal includes an online library of over 48,000 documents containing information and resources on a range of topics related to child welfare. To access the Child Welfare Information Gateway, go to http://www.childwelfare.gov/.

“Growing Community Schools: The Role of Cross-Boundary Leadership”
A community school is both a place and a set of partnerships between the school and other community resources. In these schools, there is an integrated focus on academics, family support, health and social services, and youth and community development. This report, produced by the Coalition for Community Schools, provides some background on community schools, and features eleven communities who are working to establish community schools. To read this report, go to http://www.communityschools.org/CCSDocuments/GrowingCommunitySchools.pdf.
For other helpful resources on community schools, visit the Coalition for Community Schools’ Web site at http://www.communityschools.org/index.php?option=
content&task =view&id=11&Itemid=33.

Brief Discusses the Importance of the Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) Program
A new brief, “Maximizing the Use of EPSDT to Improve the Health and Development of Young Children,” was recently developed by the National Center for Children in Poverty. This brief provides an overview of the research on Medicaid, EPSDT, and the role of EPSDT in Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems (ECCS). The brief also examines the role of EPSDT in financing services such as early intervention and mental health treatment, and presents opportunities for interagency collaboration to improve EPSDT performance and child health outcomes. The brief is available at http://nccp.org/media/tst06b.pdf.

New Journal Focused on Youth Development
The Journal of Youth Development – Bridging Research and Practice, is a new multidisciplinary journal that will focus on the development of youth from school-age through the transition to adulthood (ages 6–22). The journal is intended to further the mission of the youth development profession by facilitating the transfer and application of research-based knowledge. The first issue of the journal contains the following articles and is available at no cost at http://www.nae4ha.org/directory/jyd/current_issue.aspx:

The Family Environment and Adolescent Well-Being: Exposure to Positive and Negative Family Influences
This report, published by Child Trends and the National Adolescent Health Information Center, presents data on teens’ experiences with their families, identifies where interventions are needed, and discusses the implications for parenting and for policy. Highlights from the brief include the following:

To read this report, go to http://www.childtrends.org/Files/FamilyEnvironmentRB.pdf.

Gang Prevention Webcasts Available for Viewing Online
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), hosted a two-part webcast and satellite broadcast titled “Preventing Gangs in Our Communities.” Each webcast features a panel of gang specialists, and the discussion focuses on what law enforcement and communities are doing to share gang-prevention responsibilities. The webcasts, which were originally broadcast live on May 23 and June 6, are available for online viewing at www.DOJconnect.com. Transcripts of the webcasts are also available for download.

The Grant Opportunities page is updated regularly with new announcements of available public and private grant competitions. Here is just one of the listings you'll find:

Title: Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy 2007 National Grant Competition
Funder: Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy
Description: The Foundation's grant-making program seeks to develop or expand projects that are designed to support the development of literacy skills for adult primary care givers and their children.
Award: Up to $65,000
Eligibility: To be eligible, the organization: (1) must have current non-profit or public status and have been in existence for two or more years as of the date of the application; (2) must have maintained fiscal accountability; and (3) must operate an instructional literacy program that has been in existence for at least 2 years and includes one or more of the following components: literacy for adults, parent education, pre-literacy or literacy instruction for children pre-k to grade 3, and intergenerational literacy activities (Parent and Child Together time or P.A.C.T. time).
Deadline: September 8, 2006
For more information: http://www.barbarabushfoundation.com/nga.html

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

Date: September 28–30
Location: Baltimore, Maryland
Title: The 11th Annual Conference on Advancing School-Based Mental Health - Effective Work in Schools: A National Community of Practice on School Mental Health
Sponsor: University of Maryland School of Medicine's Center for School Mental Health Analysis and Action
Description: Participants will learn about: state-of-art approaches to promote mental health in schools; bridging the differences across education and mental health to support youth; and skills related to implementing empirically supported interventions in schools.
Web site: http://csmha.umaryland.edu/conf_meet/conference/index.html