The School District of Philadelphia’s (SDP) Promoting Adolescent Student Health Program (PASH) proposes the use of the requested grant funding to develop, enhance, implement and sustain processes and initiatives that support students receiving comprehensive and culturally responsive health education, education and access for students to health services, creating and maintaining safe and supportive environments within school settings and engaging family and community stakeholders to increase the sustainability of these strategies. Additionally, funding will be used to conduct school-based surveillance activities, such as the YRBS and School Health Profiles, to gather data on the outcomes aligned to the PASH strategies and activities.
PASH staff will partner with internal offices such as the Office of Health, Safety and Physical Education (HSPE), the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities (SRR) and the Office of Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI), as well as key community partners, to provide funding and resources to strengthen established strategies engaging students in a deeper connection to their school communities. Under the framework of the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) “What Works In Schools” approach to school-based health, we will use these strategies and partnerships to increase positive short-term and intermediate outcomes including teacher comfort in delivering health education, student awareness and access to health services, student perception of the school environment as safe and inclusive and overall student engagement. We hypothesize that effective health education, increased utilization of accessible health services, and safe and supportive school environments will positively impact students' mental health and high risk behaviors.
