The following bulletin includes information regarding the Well Connected Communities initiative for the week of June 15, 2020:
In this Edition
- WCC Health Action Plans
- Q2 Reporting
- PD Calendar
- Youth Leadership Resources
- News, Research, and Resources from the Field
WCC Health Action Plans
- The new date for communities to submit their draft action plans to Shay McNeil (smcneil@fourhcouncil.edu) is July 15, 2020. We hope that this added time will allow you and your community coalitions the time and space to develop your action plans. Please ensure that youth are engaged as equal partners as you work through and draft your action plans. Also, we ask that you continue to keep us posted on your progress as well as any challenges you may be experiencing as that will help us to provide appropriate technical assistance and support. We shall continue to monitor the situation and keep you informed of any changes.
RWJF Culture of Health Blog, 21 Jan. 2020
We combed through our research and identified the top five things your community can do to thrive in the next decade:
- Set a shared vision
- Use big data locally
- Practice resiliency
- Foster radical collaboration
- Lift up marginalized communities
Set your community up for success by taking on one or more of these strategies to promote health equity.
Q2 Reporting
- The Q2 report that was originally due June 15, 2020 has now been extended to June 30, 2020. The reporting will consist of each community submitting a community report (submitted here), one LGU financial report (submitted through WebGrants) and one Tobacco Separation Protocol staff validation (emailed tosmcneil@fourhcouncil.edu).
Please refer to the email “Q2 Reporting Due 6/30” that was sent May 29, 2020 for more information on how to submit your Q2 report.
PD Calendar
- Dialogue as a Change Tool: Understanding Community Needs Peer Circles – 2 Part Series
June 23, 2020, 1:00 – 2:00 PM ET
July 15, 2020, 1:00 – 2:00 PM ET
Recommended for WCC field staff, valuable addition for master volunteers.
Building the civic muscle needed for creating change starts by listening deeply to one another. Learn more about the practice of dialogue for building relationships, learning together, and understanding community needs. Across the two peer circle sessions you’ll build/on your foundational understanding of the practice of dialogue, create an opportunity to host a (virtual) session in your community, and return to reflect on what you heard and learned. Please register here for the first part (June 23) of this two-part peer circle.
- Youth-Adult Volunteer Leadership Team Office Hours – Building and Maintaining Your CV (Cohort of Volunteers)
July 20 at 1:00 – 2:30 PM ET
Your Cohort of Volunteers is very important to this work, but don’t forget about your other CV in the process! Trained volunteers can not only help advance Extension education in your communities but they can also help advance your Extension career. In addition to answering your questions about master health volunteers, youth involvement, youth-adult partnerships, and other WCC matters, we will also discuss incorporating your work with and through volunteers into your professional documents. Although the main theme of the 90-minute ZOOM session will be “Building and Maintaining Your CV (Cohort of Volunteers)” questions of any kind related to Youth Leadership, Youth-Adult Partnerships and the Master Volunteer Program are welcomed.
Youth Leadership Resources:
- Rural Youth Engagement Toolkit
The content contained in Rural Youth Engagement Toolkit was created to address substance misuse in rural communities through the meaningful engagement and involvement of rural youth in the process to enact lasting change that will contribute to healthy and safe communities throughout America. Much of the content was developed and refined by CADCA through three decades of experience in building capacity and creating change through community coalitions from all 50 U.S. states and 30 countries globally. In addition, significant contributions were provided by the Rural Youth Advisory Council, composed of rural youth trained by CADCA from throughout the country, through a series of focus groups and discussions. The contributions from the council assured that youth were involved in every step of the creation of this tool kit and were paramount to assure of the relevancy and quality of the content.
The toolkit was created by CADCA (Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America) in partnership with The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry with the generous support of the Rx Abuse Leadership Initiative (RALI), with content contributions from the STAND Coalition of Scott County, TN and the Rural Youth Advisory Council, composed of rural youth throughout America who care about positive community change.
Tool Kit Structure
- Part I: Background and How to Meaningfully Engage Rural Youth . The first section discusses the protective factors and risk factors that exist for rural youth and how to meaningfully engage them in the community change process.
- Part II: Application of CADCA’s Seven Strategies . The second section will discuss CADCA’s Seven Strategies for Community Change as a vehicle for increasing youth engagement and working to address substance misuse in rural communities.
- Part III: Policy and Advocacy . Section three is a guide for youth and organizations on how to systematically analyze and take specific actions through advocacy to achieve policy change to create safer and healthier communities.
URL for the Toolkit: https://www.cadca.org/resources/rural-youth-engagement-toolkit
URL for Introductory Webinar on YouTube, including what the toolkit is, how to use it, etc.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL5RNHbhSeM
News, Research and Resources from the Field:
· NEW Preemption & Public Health – Public Health Law Academy training
From ChangeLab Solutions
The legal concept of preemption may have little resonance outside of courts and legislative chambers, but what it describes — the authority of a higher level of government to limit, or even eliminate, the power of a lower level of government to regulate an issue — has profound significance for public health.
From RWJF
Residents of Broward County, Florida, are working together to heal the wounds of racism and achieve health equity for everyone. It’s one of the many reasons they won the RWJF Culture of Health Prize. If your community is working to tackle health equity obstacles, consider a few tangible lessons that helped Broward County achieve lasting change:
- Racism is a public health crisis that puts the entire community’s health at risk, not just people of color.Addressing systemic racism must be a part of the conversation.
- Look closely at the achievement and education gaps in your community. The process could be the problem.
- Use a racial equity lens to improve outcomes in such areas as health, economic well-being, and mental health-and apply it to policy decisions.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) provides data on social and economic factors that contribute to poor health outcomes in communities of color. A separate issue brief from SAMHSA presents recent data on the prevalence of opioid misuse and death in the Black/African American population.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) released a brief for state and local leaders with considerations for health equity in the public health response to the pandemic.
- NEW From eXtension
- eXtension is hosting a few events this week and next week. Registration is open for each of these:
- National Extension Response Resources Site to Include Resources for Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
eXtension Foundation
eXtension has updated virtual.extension.org with a collection of resources related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. This is just the start, if you have other similar resources to share, we invite you to submit them to contact-us@extension.org…Learn More
- ICYMI: A Virtual Tour – Explore Nutrition Tools & Resources from USDA & HHS Websites
eXtension Foundation
During the webinar, these panelists guided participants through the different nutrition tools and resources found on the USDA and HHS sites. There were a TON of resources that they covered, and as promised – we wanted to share that list here…Learn More
Please let me know if you have any questions about anything found in this week’s bulletin.