Taking A Statewide Approach
n a significant change, the Board in 2008 approved expansion of the Foundation’s Information Program from Bay Area to statewide, with the goal of making the Foundation more influential in improving children’s health in California.
The new program’s work is guided by four principles: a) support advocacy regarding key children’s health issues; b) have statewide impact. c) focus on fostering systemic change; d) leverage the work of Packard Children’s Hospital.
In keeping with promoting systemic change and working in alignment with Packard Children’s, the Board decided that a key target area would be focusing specifically on improving community systems of care for children with special health needs.
A second major decision was to expand www.kidsdata.org, the Foundation’s flagship website, from Bay Area to all 58 counties in California. The statewide site is expected to go live in late 2009.
During 2008, the Information Program began ramping up for these new efforts,while maintaining the Foundation’s prior attention to providing data for the Bay Area and promoting the emotional and behavioral health of preteens.
Having recently expanded kidsdata to the Bay Area from its original two counties, the Information Program continued to promote the website, and also enhanced it with new information on children whose parents are immigrants, data about child resiliency and family structure, and other new information.
In May, the Foundation convened representatives from city and state government, advocacy organizations, research institutes, web companies, and foundations to address the topic: “Using Data to Advance Public Policy in California: How Can the Web Contribute?”
On the preteen front, former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher delivered the keynote address at the Preteen Summit. More than 300 people attended this educational event, which also featured Dr. Satcher in conversation with a panel of preteens. Dr. Denise Pope, founder of Stanford’s Stressed Out Students project also was a speaker. As part of the summit, professors from the University of Illinois at Chicago and Loyola University discussed the findings from a Foundation-funded research project. This study assesses effective in-school and after-school programs nationwide that promote social-emotional learning, which is associated with academic success. The findings will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal and national dissemination.
The Foundation also continued to support mini-conferences on topics of significance in the preteen years, including weight issues and alcohol and drug use.
In the new special health care needs arena, the Foundation hosted two convenings of experts on children with special health care needs, to begin to develop strategies for addressing this complex issue. Additional data on this population were added to kidsdata.
More information is available on the program’s website.