NNED Highlights

Steward Group : The NNED Steward Group convened on Friday, March 6th to work on refining the NNED structure, policies and procedures. A current focus is on outlining processes and criteria for selecting Knowledge Discovery Center's for NNED Learning Clusters.

NNED Network in Action Forum Call: The NNED is plased to offer NNED Forum Calls for our NNED partners/members.  NNED Forum Calls will provide an interactive opportunity for presentation, dialogue and information sharing on relevant resources or hot topics that addres disparities in behavioral health.  The first call, offered through a new partnership with the Technical Assistance Partnership, is on "The Impact of Problem Gambling on AANHPI Families: Cultural Considerations."  NNED partners/members will receive a separate invitation and information regarding the call.

What's New

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: The economic stimulus package (ARRA) provides potential areas for partnering with agencies and projects to address behavioral health disparities. Excerpts from the ARRA are available for download here .  A spreadsheet of appropriations to the Department of Health and Human Services is available here .
 
Labor Department Recognizes CHW's: The Labor Department has decided to include a distinct category for Community Health Workers in the new revision of the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system.  This marks another major step in the recognition of CHW's as a distinct and legitimate occupation.  To download the full SOC click here .

Reflection on ACMHA Summit: In February the American College of Mental Health Administration released an Armchair Reflection that summarized topics presented at the 2003 Summit and provided updates on developments since the summit, including the creation of the NNED.  For full article by Richard Dougherty entitled Reducing Disparities click here .

Learning Clusters

Community Defined Evidence Project: Leading the national discussion on community defined evidence, this ongoing study of best practices in Latino communities reviewed information from 42 organizations and selected 19 organizations for site visits and interviews.

Indigenous Best Practices for Pacific Island and Native American Indigenous Communities: The planning group for this Learning Cluster met, reviewed frameworks for identifying best practices, and developed a strategy for the creation of a Compendium of Best Practices for Pacific Island and Native American communities. Future work will include finalizing selection criteria for identifying best practices, developing and disseminating a nomination form for best practices, and coordinating site visits to the Pacific Jurisdictions.

Integrated Care: The Learning Collaborative for this Learning Cluster will involve 5 community behavioral health and community health center teams. These teams will be brought together for co-training on strategies for integrating behavioral health and primary care. Next steps include determining criteria for the selection of the community mental health and community health center teams and developing the Request for Applications.
 
Public Education Campaigns in Mental Health and Substance Abuse to Reach Diverse Communities:   The Campaign for Mental Health Recovery is currently in creative development. Members of the Multicultural Steering Committee (MCSC) for this campaign will be asked to review the creatives and provide feedback before final production. The Prevention of Underage Drinking campaign is now in final production phase for the African American, Chinese, and Latino groups. The American Indian creatives are undergoing revisions based on MCSC feedback.

For Learning Cluster background and additional detail, visit the Learning Cluster page

Funding Opportunities

SAMHSA Conference Grants: Every year SAMHSA accepts grant proposals from programs that are working to disseminate knowledge about practices within the mental health services and substance abuse prevention treatment fields. Application deadlines are March 31st and September 30th. For more information click here .

Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment Grants: SAMHSA is soliciting applications for the development of Family-Centered Substance Abuse Treatment for Adolescents and their families.  Grants must be submitted by April 24, 2009.  For more information click here .

NIH Challenge Grants in Health and Science Research: As a part of the economic stimulus package (ARRA) the National Institutes of Health is accepting applications from organization proposing novel research in areas that address specific knowledge gaps, scientific opportunities, new technologies, data generation, or research methods that would benefit from an influx of funds to quickly advance the area in significant ways. Applications are due April 27, 2009.  For more information click here .

Calendar Items

CASA Conference : The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse is holding a conference on May 20, 2009 in New York City on substance abuse and veterans. More information is available at the CASA website .
 
American Journal of Public Health (APJH) Call for Papers: The AJPH intends to publish a collection of papers on Asian American, Native American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Health. Submit manuscripts to http://submit.ajph.org by June 30, 2009. To download the informational flyer click here .

Resources

WHO Releases Report on Mentalh Health, Resilience and Inequalities: The World Health Organization released a report entitled Mental Health, Resilience and Inequalities that shows how the gap between rich and poor affects the mental health of individuals by causing psychological and phsyiological changes.  To download the report click here .

Asian American Cultural Competency Article: Taking Cultural Competency Into Account when Approaching the Asian American American Community produced by the Community Oriented Policing Services.  For full article click here .

Evidence Based Practice for Adolescent Substance Abuse: A Primer for Providers and Families published by the University of North Carolina Greensboro as a part of the Adolescent Substance Abuse Treatment Project.  For full article click here .

National Quality Forum (NQF) Releases Cultural Competency Standards: NQF has endorsed 45 practices to guide the delivery of culturally appropriate and patient-centered care. For more information click here .
 
Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Maps of Social Determinants: The CDC has posted social determinants of health maps along with downloadable pdf files on the Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention website.  To access the maps click here .

The Research and Training Center Releases Focal Point: The Portand-based Research and Training Center released their Winter 2009 issue of Focal Point focused upon the issue of "Stigmatization."  To access full issue click here .

Thank you for your ongoing interest in and support of the NNED.