Nationwide Children’s Hospital Receives $2.5 Million Grant from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to Expand Teen Health Programs in Columbus City Schools
(COLUMBUS, Ohio) – The Office of
Population Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently
awarded Nationwide Children’s Hospital a $2.5 million grant to support and
expand its school-based adolescent healthcare services within Columbus City
Schools (CCS).
Together with partners including
CCS, The Ohio State University (OSU), the City of Columbus and CelebrateOne—a
community collaborative aimed at reducing the infant mortality rate—Nationwide
Children’s will lead the initiative resulting in measurable change in
adolescent health equity and access across Franklin County.
“Reproductive health education
provides many benefits for our young people and the community at large from
preventing unintended and unplanned pregnancies to helping reduce the number
premature births, infant deaths and the racial disparities associated with
them,” said Mayor Andrew J. Ginther.
During the three-year project,
7,000 seventh and eighth grade students in Franklin County are expected to be
impacted. This work builds on the existing collaboration between the
organizations, which includes 11 school-based health clinics in CCS and teen
reproductive health education. These school-based health services will be
surrounded by strong supportive programs to enhance their impact. OSU’s College
of Education and Human Ecology will play a vital role in the evaluation of the
project to determine the impact on Franklin County adolescents.
“We recognize this as an equity
of resources issue,” said CCS Superintendent/CEO Dr. Talisa Dixon. “This grant
and our strong partnerships will allow Columbus City Schools to further close
the health disparities in our community by improving and expanding services to
more students throughout the District who might otherwise not receive it.”
"As the founder of the
commission on black girls, I am committed to supporting the social, emotional,
and mental growth and well being of our girls,” said Columbus City
Councilmember Priscilla Tyson. “The TRHE Community Partnership + Federal HHS
Grant supports this vision by promoting health equity and providing girls the
information that they need during a critical period in their life development,
ultimately improving their quality of life."
Franklin County Jobs and Family
Services have funded the same curriculum in Columbus City Schools for the last
two years. This grant expands the reach of access to Get Real in middle
schools.
“Franklin County is elated at
the prospect of expanding student access to evidence-based reproductive health
education and additional supports,” said Joy Bivens, Director of Franklin
County Department of Jobs and Family Services. “This work is critical to
eliminating health disparities and it complements the goals of our
Commissioners’ Rise Together Blueprint to Reduce Poverty in Franklin County.”
The grant will expand Nationwide
Children’s work with CCS including:
· Implementation of Get Real, an evidence-based,
comprehensive reproductive health and teen pregnancy prevention curriculum that
emphasizes social and emotional skills as a key component of healthy
relationships and responsible decision making, in 12 Columbus City middle
schools
· Creation of a peer ambassador program for students
· Implementation of parent programs and summer programs
· Expansion of mobile health services to the districts’
middle schools
· Addition of a school-based health clinic, bringing the
total to 12 clinics in the district
“Franklin County adolescents
face a number of reproductive health challenges. There are elevated teen birth
rates in high-need communities, a growing racial disparity among teen birth
rates, a county-wide epidemic of sexually transmitted infections among teens,
and students’ lack of exposure to evidence-based health education curriculum,”
said Tim Robinson, CEO of Nationwide Children’s. “Nationwide Children’s
Hospital is committed to eliminating inequities in child health and shares a
commitment with many community organizations to improve health for all
children. This grant will help us achieve that goal.”
The Ohio State University, along
with Nationwide Children’s Hospital, will lead the research and effects of the
program.
Eric Anderman, Professor of
Educational Psychology at OSU’s College of Education and Human Ecology and the
project’s research lead, said “Most programs wait until high school to address
these topics; the fact that we have focused our project on middle school
students makes this an innovative model for the nation.”
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