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January/February 2008 NEWSLETTER Topics in this newsletter:
The 2008 Steps Grantees Action Institute…Nominations for Steps Community Heroes The 2008 Steps Community Heroes Award Program received 23 nominations from 20 different Steps communities. A review panel met on February 14 to select the top 6 candidates to receive an award at a special ceremony on March 20, following the Steps Program Cooperative Agreement Action Institute being held March 18–20. ACHIEVE (Action Communities for Health, Innovation, and EnVironmental ChangE) Initiative Launched The ACHIEVE Initiative, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is a partnership between the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors (NACDD) and the YMCA of the USA (Y-USA) to support local health departments and YMCAs in advancing local community leadership in the nation’s efforts to prevent chronic diseases and related risk factors. Applications were received from 127 communities in 29 states. Ten communities have been selected to participate in this initial funding cycle: Acadia, Maine; Sedgwick, Kansas; Blackhawk, Iowa; Allentown, Pennsylvania; Stark, Ohio; Cleveland, North Carolina; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Harris County, Texas; Tacoma, Washington; and Cattaraugus, New York. Local health departments and YMCAs will immediately begin composing teams consisting of 8 to 10 local leaders. CDC will host a coaches meeting in Atlanta, February 25–26, and an Action Institute in Washington, D.C., June 10–12, to provide the selected communities with resources and tools for developing a community action plan and implementing policy, systems and environmental change strategies to build healthier communities. NACCHO Compendium…Steps Community Success Stories CDC is partnering with NACCHO to develop a “Success Stories” compendium highlighting 18 policy and environmental change strategies implemented by the Steps Program communities. NACCHO surveyed the selected health programs to determine key elements that lead to programmatic successes in their local communities. NACCHO is now compiling these key elements into a report and developing individual case studies from each selected health program. NACCHO will develop an online case study compendium that highlights each site’s successes and a research brief that shares lessons learned, which will be disseminated and marketed. SOPHE Special Issue…Lessons Learned from Steps, Pioneering Healthy Communities, and Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) Programs The Steps Program, in collaboration with the Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE), is organizing a special issue on the lessons learned related to policy, systems, and environmental change strategies at the local level from the Steps Communities, Pioneering Healthy Communities (PHCs), and REACH programs. The purpose of this project is to add to the peer-reviewed literature the unique policy and environmental change strategies that are implemented by these three programs, and to disseminate these strategies to public health practitioners, academics, and the public and private sectors. These articles will be published in a Health Promotion Practice’s (HPP) supplemental issue in January 2009, and will provide readers with concrete examples of what it takes to promote community health through policy, systems, and environmental changes at the local level. Twenty-four articles were submitted to the HPP special issue; 12 articles are from Steps communities, 4 articles are from PHC's communities, and 8 articles are from REACH. CDC should be notified of the selected publications by the first of March. Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs—2007 CDC's Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs—2007 is an evidence-based guide to help states plan and establish effective tobacco control programs to prevent or reduce tobacco use. This document updates Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs, August 1999. This updated edition describes an integrated programmatic structure for implementing interventions proven to be effective and provides the recommended level of state investment for reaching these goals and reducing tobacco use in each state. Resource highlight…CDC Announces the Initial Release of the Health Education Curriculum Analysis Tool (HECAT) The Health Education Curriculum Analysis Tool (HECAT) can help school districts, schools, and others conduct a clear, complete, and consistent analysis of health education curricula based on the National Health Education Standards and CDC’s Characteristics of Effective Health Education Curricula. The HECAT results can help schools select or develop appropriate and effective health education curricula and improve the delivery of health education. The HECAT can be customized to meet local community needs and conform to the curriculum requirements of the state or school district. Currently, the HECAT is available only in PDF format. It includes an overview chapter; instructions to guide the overall coordination and organization of a curriculum review using the HECAT; and chapters about analyzing preliminary curriculum considerations (accuracy, acceptability, feasibility, and affordability) and curriculum fundamentals (teacher materials, instructional design, instructional strategies and materials). This tool also includes modules to assist in analyzing concepts and skills in curricula that address alcohol and other drug prevention (AOD); promotion of healthy eating (HE); promotion of physical activity (PA); and tobacco use prevention (T). Other modules will be made available in the future, as they are completed. Steps Program Office Updates…Team Name Changes The Steps Program staff recently changed its team names. After several rounds of voting, staff members decided on the following: - Translation and Dissemination Team (TDT)
- Program Services and Evaluation Team (PSET)
Upcoming Conferences of Interest…For Steps Grantees and Partners
*Links to non-Federal organizations are provided solely as a service to our users. Links do not constitute an endorsement of any organization by CDC or the Federal Government, and none should be inferred. The CDC is not responsible for the content of the individual organization Web pages found at this link.
Page last reviewed: May 2, 2008 |
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