Friday, October 4, 2024
10/4/2024
Boston Public Schools (BPS) is applying for Improving Adolescent Health and Wellbeing Through School-Based Surveillance and the What Works in Schools Program CDC-RFA-DP-24-0139 Component One: Local Implementation. The BPS grant program will be called Empowering Teens Through Health (ETTH) and will reach 22,998 adolescents in grades 6-12 in 65 schools. BPS will implement the What Works in Schools program to provide quality health education, connect students to health services, including sexual, mental, and behavioral health services, create safe and supportive environments, and increase family, school, and community engagement. Our approach seeks to improve the behaviors and experiences of middle and high school students and reduce disparities in sexual risk behavior, substance use, experience of violence, poor mental health, and suicidality. The What Works in Schools Program is aligned with the BPS Wellness Policy and the structures and systems BPS uses to improve adolescent health across the district. Departmental and community partner collaboration, health promotions, youth participation, and family and community engagement will improve the implementation of policies and practices related to health education, health services, and safe and supportive environments. With this funding, BPS will increase access to comprehensive, age and developmentally-appropriate, medically accurate, and inclusive health education; access to quality school-based health services, specifically for sexual, mental, and behavioral health; and ensure that schools are inclusive and affirming of all students. Through the What Works in Schools Program, BPS will focus support on youth who have been marginalized, including youth with LGBTQ+ identities and Black and Latinx students, populations the YRBS surveys show are at higher risk for negative health outcomes. BPS will also continue our long-term work in School-Based Surveillance. The BPS High School and Middle School YRBS are the primary surveillance tool used in Boston to monitor youth health behaviors, including unhealthy risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of premature morbidity and mortality among adolescent youth. The resulting data is used to describe the prevalence of health risk behaviors among all youth; examine disparities among subgroups of students, and evaluate trends over time. YRBS is also used to make data-informed planning decisions and evaluate school programs and policies to address these health risk behaviors. Key community partnerships help us to maximize the dissemination and use of Boston YRBS results. BPS will use the School Health Profiles to inventory health programs, services, and policies in all BPS MS and HS to identify gaps in current health education, health services, and safe and supportive environments. Both surveillance efforts will help us to measure the impact of What Works in Schools. In collaboration with community partners, BPS will use this data to target efforts in schools lacking health programs, services, and policies and distribute resources to schools where the greatest need is demonstrated. ETTH will narrow the gap in access and the implementation of comprehensive health policies will ensure that all BPS students have equitable access to quality resources and systems, reducing health inequities and improving student learning and well-being.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
