National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention

Upcoming Teleconference on Student Benefits of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)
Research demonstrates the significant role of SEL in promoting the healthy development and academic achievement of all students. It also shows that SEL reduces problem behaviors and emotional distress that interfere with the learning and development of some students. On July 15, 2008 from 2:00–3:00 p.m. (ET), the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), in partnership with the National Center, will host “Social and Emotional Learning and Student Benefits: Research Implications for the SS/HS Core Elements.” This teleconference will share the latest research on SEL effects on students and strategies for implementing SEL. It will elaborate on how SEL can be an integrative prevention framework that addresses the SS/HS core elements and will spell out implications of the research for SS/HS grantees. Speakers include Roger Weissberg from CASEL and Joe Durlak from Loyola University in Chicago. Registration information will be e-mailed to SS/HS grantees shortly.

Recordings and Resources from Recent Center Events Now Available
In May and June 2008, the National Center hosted various events on topics ranging from behavioral health in rural communities to prevention through social and emotional learning.

Visit http://www.promoteprevent.org/events/center-events/index.html to download recordings and resources from these recent events.

Crisis Communication Training
On Thursday, July 10, 2008, the Communication Team will offer a one-hour Webinar on crisis communication to Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) grantees. Participants will explore effective and essential strategies for crisis communication planning and hear from communication specialists and SS/HS grantees, who will share lessons learned about communication during times of crisis. The Webinar will be offered at the following two times: 11:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. (ET). Participation for each Webinar is limited and the deadline for registration is Monday, July 7. To register, please visit http://www.sshs.samhsa.gov/webinar/Default_Webinar_2008_07_10.aspx.

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

America’s Cradle to Prison Pipeline
America’s Cradle to Prison Pipeline, a report by the Children’s Defense Fund, details how a constellation of interrelated risk factors propel large numbers of American children toward lives of poverty, ill health, and, ultimately, prison or premature death. Many children’s initial disadvantage of being born into poverty is compounded by the fact that “at crucial points in their development . . . more risks and disadvantages cumulate and converge that make a successful transition to productive adulthood significantly less likely and involvement in the criminal justice system significantly more likely.” These risks are especially devastating at what the report calls the “intersection of race and poverty.”

While America’s Cradle to Prison Pipeline calls for a “comprehensive continuum of support from birth to adulthood,” many of the strategies and policies recommended by the report need to take place in the context of services that reflect the mission of SS/HS initiatives, including effective and inclusive educational programs, mental health services, fair and effective disciplinary policies, and broad partnership including schools, the juvenile justice system, mental health providers, the community, and parents.

The Children’s Defense Fund report includes case studies, statistics, photographs, and evidence-based practices presented in clear and compelling prose that can help persuade parents, potential partners, and policymakers of the value—and cost-effectiveness—of programs like SS/HS. Appendices include examples of promising approaches, a clear and comprehensive matrix of risk factors contributing to the cradle to prison pipeline (and their effect on poor and minority children), and a number of easy-to-understand state-by-state data charts on children and poverty, health and mental health risk factors and outcomes, educational outcomes, and incarceration rates.

America’s Cradle to Prison Pipeline can be downloaded, at no cost, from the Publications section of the Children’s Defense Fund Web site (http://www.childrensdefense.org).

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

“Rethinking How Schools Address Student Misbehavior & Disengagement”
The Spring 2008 edition of the UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools newsletter featured “Rethinking How Schools Address Student Misbehavior & Disengagement,” an article on schools’ response to student misbehavior. The authors discuss the effects of negative punishments on both the students being punished as well as their peers. They stress the importance of balancing punishments with the teaching of social skills and emotional regulation, which serves to address underlying motivational bases of misbehavior. The article highlights Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) as an initiative adapted by many schools to address factors in the environment that affect the causes and correction of problem behavior. The article can be accessed at http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/pdfdocs/Newsletter/spring08.pdf. For more information on PBIS, visit the PBIS Guide published by the National Center in partnership with the American Institutes for Research at http://www.promoteprevent.org/Publications/PBISguide.

Girls Study Group Examines Violence by Teenage Girls
Although data trends show that girls are currently arrested more often for simple assaults than they have been over the last two decades, the actual incidence of violent behavior has not changed. Instead, the increases may be more reflective of changes in enforcement policies. These conclusions come from a recent publication by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) that examines the involvement of girls in violent activity. Recent increases in the number of girls accounted for in juvenile arrests prompted OJJDP to convene the Girls Study Group, which used official arrest data, self-report data, and victimization to examine strategies to reduce girls’ involvement in violence and delinquency. Violence by Teenage Girls: Trends and Context is the first in a series of bulletins that presents the Group’s findings. It can be accessed at http://www.ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/publications/PubAbstract.asp?pubi=240649.

Report Highlights the Positive Effect of Community Organizing on Schools
Community organizing helps to expand school capacity to support student success; increase equity in the distribution of resources; and generate meaningful parent, youth, and community engagement focused on improved student learning, say researchers at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University. For the past six years, these researchers have been studying the effect of community organizing for school reform on student outcomes. Their data suggest that organizing contributes to school-level improvement as well as improved student performance. These, along with other findings, are presented in the research brief Organized Communities, Stronger Schools, available at http://www.annenberginstitute.org/pdf/OrganizedCommunities.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: Domestic Grantmaking Program
Funder: Mattel Children's Foundation
Description: Mattel Children’s Foundation seeks to fund programs that directly and effectively impact children with demonstrated needs (physical, financial, emotional, and health-related); programs that have demonstrated results; organizations that use creative and innovative methods to address a locally defined need directly affecting children in need; and programs that align with Mattel’s philanthropic priorities:

Award: $5,000–$25,000
Eligibility: 501(c)3 Public Charity organizations; preference is given to organizations that have an annual operating budget of less than $1 million.
Deadline: July 15, 2008
For more information: http://www.mattel.com/about_us/philanthropy/ci_mcf_philanthropy_grantmaking.asp

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

Date: July 24–25, 2008 and August 14–15, 2008
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Title: Sustainable Schoolwide Social and Emotional Learning Training
Sponsor: Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)
Description: In July and August, CASEL will be offering workshops that are designed to equip school administrators and their teams with the tools and skills needed to implement high-quality, sustainable, evidence-based social and emotional learning programming that is integrated into all aspects of schooling. Participants will learn about the newest research on SEL implementation and sustainability, explore the role of leadership, receive individual consultation from CASEL staff, interact with other schools implementing SEL programming, and leave the training with a comprehensive plan of action for implementing and sustaining SEL programming.
Web site: http://www.casel.org

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