The 2010 annual meeting will be held in Baltimore, MD at the Inner Harbor.  The meeting will be held at the Hyatt Regency Baltimore just across the street from the Inner Harbor. 

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Gillings School of Global Public Health annouced the MCH ole'! website is now open for applications for our new online Certificate in MCH Leadership. You can go to our Department's homepage and select MCH ole'! from the right lower menu. 

The United States Breastfeeding Committee (USBC) works to ensure that every mother is empowered to give her child the best start. We are now offering a unique and EASY way to be a part of our efforts!
USBC aims to raise One Dollar for Every New Mom in the United States. With these funds, we will make mothers' voices heard in ongoing national debates on health care, work-life balance, and consumer safety. The closer we come to representing each mother in America, the more clearly we can show the President and Congress: "Americans believe that EVERY MOTHER COUNTS." Help us reach the goal of one dollar for each new mother.

ASTPHND News Summer 2009

HP 2010 and USDA End Childhood Hunger Update

Remember the ASTPHND publication Moving to the Future: Developing Community Based Nutrition Services? Check out the recently updated website Moving to the Future. Use this website to develop successful community programs that promote healthy eating and physical activity. The site provides Step-by-step instructions for conducting a community assessment, writing objectives, developing a plan, or evaluating your program.

• Forms, surveys, and worksheets in MSWord for you to download and adapt to your own needs
• Discussion forums to network with colleagues around the country doing this same work

Maternal and Child Health: An Employers' Toolkit
Blueprint Seed Grant 2007 Final Reports
Knowledge paths on maternal and child health (MCH) topics
American Indians and Alaskan Natives
Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans

The Physical Activity Collaborative (PAC) consists of national public health organizations including the Directors of Health Promotion & Education (DHPE), National Association of Chronic Disease Directors (NACDD), and National Society of Physical Activity Practitioners in Public Health (NSPAPPH), with support from the CDC’s Physical Activity & Health Branch. PAC also has a liaison with the Association of State and Territorial Public Health Nutrition Directors. PAC provides support to physical activity efforts in public health agencies nationwide. Read the Call to Action for Public Health Professionals by Clicking Here

The publication many of you have been waiting for, Personnel in Public Health Nutrition in the 2000s, has just been released. To download a PDF of this document  click here.

The ASTPHND Board of Directors met on Jan 8th.  The following is a summary.

• Welcome Amy Meinen (WI) to the Board of Directors.  Amy replaces Susan Pohl (IA) who retired from the State of Iowa in December.
• Welcome to the following new members: 
  • Susan White (VT)
  • Molly Holland (MO)
  • Leslie Lewis (LA)
  • Joan Bowsher (MT)
  • Ann Barone (RI)
  • Janet Hill (CA)
  • Sangi Rajbhandari (CA)
• ASTPHND sent comments concerning HP2020 Objectives
• The Board approved the Advocacy Committee’s comments for Child Nutrition Reauthorization
• 2009 ASTPHND Training Needs Assessment Final Report is now available

We Can!^TM (Ways to Enhance Children's Activity & Nutrition) a national movement to promote healthy weight in 8-13 year olds through improved food choices, increased physical activity, and reduced screen time.

Register for a We Can!^TM Regional Training Today! www.wecantrainings.org 

See below for two new We Can^TM resources. 

Online Training - We Can!^TM Energize Our Families: Parent Program This condensed yet informative online version of the Parent Program training provides an A-Z guide on running the program.  Registered Dietitians and certified health education specialists (CHES) may apply for and receive 2 and 3 hours continuing education credits respectively.

Reaching the Media: A Toolkit for We Can!^TM Communities This downloadable toolkit provides background, pointers, and examples of both materials and ways to build bridges with the media, so that community sites can get the word out about their We Can! programming.

The State Indicator Report on Fruits and Vegetables, 2009 provides for the first time information on fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption and policy and environmental support within each state. Fruits and vegetables are important for optimal child growth, weight management, and chronic disease prevention. Supporting increased F&V access, availability, and reduced price are key strategies towards the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) objective of improved F&V consumption and thus improved nutrition among all Americans.

National and state-specific information is reported in the State Indicator Report for behavioral indicators and policy and environmental indicators. The behavioral indicators are derived from objectives for F&V consumption outlined in Healthy People 2010, a framework for the nation's health priorities, and data is from CDC's health surveillance systems. The policy and environmental indicators are from multiple data sources and measure several aspects of a state's ability to support the consumption of F&V.

Throughout states and communities, many groups play a role in supporting policy and environmental change to ensure that individuals and families can easily purchase and consume F&V. When state officials, health professionals, employers, retail owners, farmers, school staff, and community members work together their efforts can increase the number of Americans who live healthier lives by increasing the availability of affordable healthier food choices such as F&V.

Additional resources related to the indicator report are available in the Resources section of this website.  Included are talking points for F&V Nutrition Coordinators when discussing the State Indicator Report on Fruits and Vegetables with colleagues and state partners to move data to action, click here.

Continue this story to learn how states are using this report.

On July 27-29, 2009, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity, held its inaugural conference on obesity prevention and control, Weight of the Nation.

The Alabama Department of Pubic Health provided live satellite and webcasts of a number of sessions during the meeting.

Click here to see options for distance learning if you were not able to attend the sessions.  To view you must follow the directions to create a log in.  After participating in the distance learning you will be able to obtain a transcript of your participation. 

Click Here to view and/or listen to a variety of sessions from the conference thorugh the Alabama Public Health Training Network pages.

ASTPHND has a number of copies of the Supplement to Pediatrics, December 2007, Assessment of Child and Adolescent Overweight and Obesity. In addition, the National Business Group on Health produced An Employer Toolkit: Reducing Child & Adolescent Obesity. If you would like to receive a copy of either publication, contact Cyndi Atterbury.

A new resource website has been launched.   The website is the home of the MCH Training Grantee Network, funded by the HRSA/Maternal and Child Health Bureau's Training Program. The MCH Training Grantee Network provides grantees of the HRSA/MCHB Training Program with technical support and services including web development, collaboration tools, and technical assistance. This project is designed to meet these needs by creating a family of grantee-group oriented web sites. In addition to creating these group-specific web sites, the site also provides a number of services including, eLearning systems, email discussion groups (aka listservs), discussion forums, and other collaboration tools. Check it out here.