National Center for Mental Health Promotion and Youth Violence Prevention

With only one month to go before our national conference, Strengthening Our Future: Developing Healthy Children and Youth, Strong Families, and Safe Communities , we're pleased to report that we will offer more than 200 workshops distributed across three tracks:

Track One: Strengthening Our Future: Building and Engaging addresses six themes: Coalitions, Poverty, Families, Cultural Competence, Youth and Children, and Program Management
Track Two: Strengthening Our Future: Working in the Field addresses six themes: Choosing and Implementing Evidence Based Interventions, Challenges and Successes in Program Implementation, Prevention and Intervention, Mental Health Promotion, Issues and Strategies in School and Community Collaborations, and Partnering with Law Enforcement
Track Three: Strengthening Our Future: Establishing the Legacy addresses four themes: Technology, Communications, Evaluation, and Sustainability

Along with the workshops, the conference features four keynote speakers and eleven cornerstone sessions. Each keynote speaker will address the entire grantee audience and share a unique perspective.
On Tuesday, Kevin Carroll , an ex-high school teacher who went on to become lead trainer for the Philadelphia 76ers and now serves as the "Katalyst" for Nike, will bring energy and enthusiasm to the conference as he helps each of us understand how to use the spirit of play to enliven our work lives and how to appreciate the strengths and leadership that we each bring to our work.
Wednesday's interactive keynote will feature William S. Pollack, PhD and Meda Chesney-Lind, PhD. Dr. Pollack is the Director of the Center for Men and Young Men and the Director of Continuing Education (Psychology) at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts and is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. A nationally known author, Dr. Pollack offers advice on how to connect with and listen to boys; recognize hidden signs of depression, suicide and violence; and genuinely "bullyproof" society. Dr. Chesney-Lind is Professor of Women's Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and a noted expert in the field of criminology. She is an outspoken advocate for girls and women, particularly those in the criminal justice system, and has served as Vice President of the American Society of Criminology.
Lewis M. Feldstein will be Thursday's keynote speaker. Mr. Feldstein is a civic activist and president of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, the states' principal source of venture capital for its nonprofit community. Mr. Feldstein's inspirational book Better Together, co-written with best-selling Bowling Alone author Robert Putnam, shines a light on people who are re-weaving the social fabric in America through social activism and community renewal.

Cornerstone sessions highlight expert practitioners and researchers presenting on essential themes for each track. The full conference agenda will be e-mailed to grantees shortly.

The National Center collaborates with an experienced group of prevention specialists that we call technical partners. You'll have an opportunity to interact with many of these partners at the National Conference:

In other technical partner news, Marty Blank from the Institute for Educational Leadership, was recently quoted in a CNN.com article entitled "Trend grows for schools as community centers". The article profiled the concept of establishing public schools as centers for medical care, social services and academic aid for adults and children. "Communities are realizing that partnerships among educators, health and social service agencies and others can turn traditional schools offering only the standard curriculum into facilities that serve everyone in the community and better support the academic, social, physical and emotional needs of urban children." For full text, please contact news@promoteprevent.org .

For more information about the center's technical partners, please visit: http://www.promoteprevent.org/about/partners/default.asp

The Importance of Stakeholder Involvement
Patricia Chavez Anaya
Esperanza del Pueblo
Oklahoma City, OK
Youth Violence Prevention Program

The center is pleased to include a paper from an Oakland, California, Youth Violence Prevention Program, Youth Alive!, recently published in March's Journal of Adolescent Health. For full text, please contact news@promoteprevent.org .

The University of Iowa College of Public Health is soliciting nominations for the fourth annual Richard and Barbara Hansen Leadership Award.
This Award recognizes persons who have demonstrated exemplary leadership in the health field - in public service, executive management, higher education, and/or research. The Department and Office of the Secretary Incentive Awards Program Coordinators are currently soliciting nominations.
All nominations must be submitted through Lynne Klein, Room 13C24, Parklawn Bldg. no later than C.O.B. April 31, 2004. The Department needs an original and fourteen (14) copies of the nomination form, which Lynne can send or FAX to all those interested. For further instructions on the nomination procedures please call Lynne on (301) 443-8860 and she will be happy to send this to you in hard copy. Nominations not in the proper format will be returned.

Caught in the Crossfire: the Effects of a Peer-Based intervention Pprogram for Violently Injured Youth
Marla G. Becker , Jeffery S. Hall , Caesar M. Ursic , Sonia Jain and Deane Calhoun
Journal of Adolescent Health 2004 March; 34 (3): 177-183
Abstract
Purpose: To assess the effect of a hospital-based peer intervention program serving youth who have been hospitalized for violent injuries on participant involvement in the criminal justice system and violent reinjury and death after hospital discharge.
Methods: A total of 112 violently injured youth (ages 12-20 years; 80% male; predominantly African-American [60%] and Latino [26%]) hospitalized in Oakland, California participated in a retrospective case-control study. Clients were matched by age and injury severity. Treatment and control youth were followed for 6 months after their individual dates of injury. The outcome variables of rate of entry/reentry into the criminal justice system, rate of rehospitalization for violent injuries and rate of violence-related deaths were compared for treatment and control groups using an odds ratio analysis.
Results: Intervention youth were 70% less likely to be arrested for any offense (odds ratio [OR] = 0.257) and 60% less likely to have any criminal involvement (OR = 0.356) when compared with controls. No statistically significant differences were found for rates of reinjury or death.
Conclusion: A peer-based program that intervenes immediately after, or very soon after, youth are violently injured can directly reduce at-risk youth involvement in the criminal justice system.

Navigating Between Cultures: The Role of Culture in Youth Violence
Fernando I. Soriano, PhD, Lourdes M. Rivera, MA, Kara J. Williams, BA, Sandra P. Daley, MD, and Vivian M. Reznik, MD, MPH.
The purpose of this paper was to review three cultural concepts (acculturation, ethnic identity, bicultural self-efficacy) and their relationship to known risk and protective factors associated with youth violence. The investigators conducted a review of the relevant literature, which suggests that ethnic identity and bicultural self-efficacy can be protective factors, whereas acculturation can be a potential risk factor for youth violence. A summary table is provided with cultural risk and protective factors for violence prevention.
This paper appears in the March edition of Journal of Adolescent Health: Vol.34(3). For a copy, please contact news@promoteprevent.org .

Make Time to Listen, Take Time to Talk. About Bullying Initiative Launch
The 15+ Campaign has provided tools and guidance to parents and caregivers since 2000 on how to strengthen their relationship with their children by spending at least 15 minutes of daily, undivided time with them and focusing on them. The second phase of the campaign, About Bullying, is primarily focused on the role parents, caregivers, teachers, and school officials play in preventing bullying, and is designed to complement the "Take a Stand, Lend a Hand - Stop Bullying Now" Bullying Prevention Campaign. The campaign launched March 22 in Washington, D.C. and will run through December.
You can download all the campaign materials at no cost, including publications and public service announcements, at http://www.mentalhealth.samhsa.gov/15plus .

Getting to Outcomes 2004: Bridging the Research and Practice Gap and Improving Prevention Outcomes
The RAND Corporation recently released "Getting to Outcomes 2004: Promoting Accountability through Methods and Tools for Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation", a Web-based manual that lays out a 10-step process for planning, implementing, and evaluating any prevention model or approach. GTO 2004 helps users answer 10 key questions:

GTO 2004 is designed so that groups can work from the manual regardless of where they are in the cycle of their program planning and implementation. The manual is intended to help practitioners and communities learn to plan more systematically, implement programs with quality, and self-evaluate. The manual can be downloaded at http://www.rand.org/publications/TR/TR101/ .

For a complete listing of events, please visit http://www.promoteprevent.org/events/national_events.htm

April
April 20, 2004:Training Educators to Eliminate Stigma and Discrimination in High Schools (Free Teleconference)
Date: Tuesday April 20, 2004
Time: 4:00pm - 5:15pm (Eastern Time)
You are invited to participate in a free training session, via
telephone, on Training Educators to Eliminate Stigma and Discrimination
in High Schools. This training is presented by the Resource Center to
Address Discrimination and Stigma (ADS Center), a program of the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services.

The speakers include:
Kelly Jones, Powerful Youth Friends United
This North Carolina group includes youth between the ages of 13 and 21.
Some group members deal personally with mental health issues, or are
family members of people with mental illnesses. The group's goal is to
provide support for youth.

Steve Adelsheim, M.D., Director, New Mexico School Mental Health
Initiative
New Mexico's children face some of the highest rates of violence,
substance abuse, suicide, and school failure in the United States. More
than one third of students visiting school-based health centers in New
Mexico have primary mental health needs. Dr. Adelsheim is director of
this initiative, which operates at least six different programs for
students. In 2002, his organization trained 180 teachers and school
health professionals from 14 school districts in New Mexico as part of
its Behavioral Health Training Institute.
http://www.nmsmhi.org/programs_sbti.html

The presentations will take approximately 45-minutes, to be followed by
a 30-minute period of discussion between the participants and the
presenters. All participants will receive confirmation by e-mail after
responding to this invitation. Before the call, participants will
receive an online link to presentation materials and log-in instructions
for the call.

This session is sponsored by the Resource Center to Address
Discrimination and Stigma (ADS Center), a project of the U.S. Department
of Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration, Center for Mental Health Services. The session is free to participants.

To register for this teleconference, please reply via e-mail to
info@adscenter.org indicating that you want to participate. Please keep
the subject heading as it is here (ADS Center High School
Teleconference). Please also feel free to pass this invitation on to
others who might be interested.For more information, please contact Jennifer Melinn at info@adscenter.org . Please let us know if you will be calling from outside the Continental United States, as we will need to make special arrangements for your participation.

- Resource Center to Address Discrimination and Stigma (ADS Center)
www.adscenter.org

April 22-24, 2004: Atlanta, Georgia
Boys and Girls Clubs of America's (BGCA) 10th Annual Symposium on Youth Gangs and Delinquency
The symposium will provide community leaders and Club professionals with best practices, along with the latest research and trends from top national experts.
http://www.bgca.org/gangsymposium/

May
May 6-8, 2004: Portland, Oregon
11th Annual "Building on Family Strengths: Research and Services in Support of Children and their Families" Conference
The goal of this annual conference is to showcase culturally- competent, family-centered research and innovative programs and practices. The conference features workshop and panel presentations related to improving services for families and their children who are affected by emotional, behavioral, or mental disorders.
http://www.rtc.pdx.edu/pgConference.shtml

June
June 23-27, 2004: San Francisco, CA
Training Institutes 2004: Developing Local Systems of Care for Children and Adolescents with Emotional Disturbances and their Families
National Technical Assistance Center for Child and Human Development (sponsor)
The 2004 Training Institutes will include a special emphasis on early intervention, with a dual focus on providing mental health services to young children and their families and on identifying mental health problems at an earlier stage and providing appropriate interventions.
http://www.georgetown.edu/research/gucdc/pctrain.html

June 24-27, 2004: Boulder, Colorado
National Association for Rural Mental Health 2004 Annual Conference
This year's conference title is: "The Changing Faces of Rural Mental Health". The meeting will provide a unique venue where participants from diverse backgrounds and experiences can share ideas, exchange knowledge, and develop networks to promote behavioral healthcare services in rural settings.
http://www.narmh.org/pages/conframe.html

For a complete listing of funding opportunities, please visit http://www.promoteprevent.org/resources/funding_resources/default.asp

As previously noted, SAMHSA has revised how they will announce funding opportunities. A brief Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) will be published in the Federal Register and on their website (go to www.samhsa.gov and click on grant opportunities to view NOFA's). Each NOFA will be linked to one of four standard grant announcements, including one called 'Service to Science'. An initial announcement of the Service to Science grants has recently been published. This announcement includes detailed instructions for the application contents and process. Although no Service to Science NOFA's have been released, you may want to be prepared to apply when one is announced. The initial announcement can be found at http://www.samhsa.gov/news/newsreleases/040308nr_standardgrant.htm

April
Title: Early Reading First
Funder: U.S. Department of Education
Description: This program supports local efforts to enhance the oral language, cognitive, and early reading skills of preschool-age children, especially those from low-income families, through strategies, materials, & professional development that are grounded in scientifically based reading research.
Award: $750,000-$4,500,000
Eligibility: (a) One or more local educational agencies (LEA) that are eligible to receive a subgrant under the Reading First program (title I, part B, subpart 1, Elementary & Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended (ESEA)), (b) one or more public or private organizations or agencies (including faith-based organizations) located in a community served by an eligible LEA; or (c) one or more of the eligible LEAs, applying in collaboration with one or more of the eligible organizations or agencies.
Deadline: (Pre-application) April 22, 2004 (Application) July 1, 2004
For more information: http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/announcements/2004-1/030804a.html

May
Title: Migrant Education Program (MEP) Consortium Incentive Grants
Program
Funder: U.S. Department of Education
Description: The purpose of the MEP Consortium Incentive Grants program is to provide incentive grants to State educational agencies (SEAs) that participate in high-quality consortia with another SEA or other appropriate entity to improve the delivery of services to migrant children whose education is interrupted.
Award: $45,997 - $91,995
Eligibility: State educational agencies (SEAs) receiving MEP Basic State Formula grants.
Deadline: May 28, 2004
For more information: http://www.ed.gov/legislation/FedRegister/announcements/2004-1/030304d.html