Developing the Next Generation of Public Health Leaders and Promoting Emotional Well-Being in Schools

Impact Brief – November 2022

NACDD was recently awarded two new cooperative agreements – Public Health AmeriCorps (PHA) and the CDC’s National Initiative to Advance Health Equity in K-12 Education by Preventing Chronic Disease and Promoting Healthy Behaviors.

As part of the PHA program, NACDD is leveraging the Building Resilient and Inclusive Communities (BRIC) program and a partnership with YMCA of the USA to enhance public health resources across the country and support state and local public health settings respond to and recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Beginning mid-November, NACDD will initiate recruitment of 20 Service Members across 10 BRIC states to advance state- and community-level efforts around food and nutrition security, safe physical activity access, and social connectedness through policy, systems, and environmental change approaches. Selected Service Members will begin their year of service mid-March 2023. NACDD is honored to be part of the nationwide effort to create pathways for quality public health-related careers, address the current and future public health needs of local communities, and advance health equity outcomes.

In partnership with Child Trends, Mental Health America, and other subject matter experts, NACDD is partnering with State Education Agencies (SEA) and Local Education Agencies (LEA) to advance health equity in schools through supports for developing, implementing, and evaluating evidence-based policies, practices, and programs focused on the emotional well-being of students and staff. Each year, NACDD will engage a cohort of up to two to four SEAs, their respective State Health Department partners, and a minimum of five LEAs collectively across all SEAs’ states to participate in a five-step process over the course of an estimated 18-24 months focused on assessment, learning, planning, implementation, and evaluation. During the first year of the project, NACDD’s Learning Collaborative Cohort will consist of state and local education teams in Washington, Nebraska, Missouri, and Delaware. In addition to enhancing school-based mental and behavioral health for students and staff, NACDD will focus on addressing social determinants of health and interrelated barriers to learning and teaching, implementing strategies and activities to promote health equity and generate culturally responsive systems in settings of greatest need.