2008 Health Education Advocacy Summit

 

What is the Summit?

 

The National Health Education Advocacy Summit and Congressional Briefings comprise two to three day meetings during which participants receive either basic or advanced-level advocacy training, briefings on specific legislative issues by experienced professionals from the government relations staffs of key public health organizations, and arrange and conduct visits?either individually or in state delegations?with members of Congressional representatives or other Federal officials in Washington, DC. 

 

The specific legislative issues on which the advocacy summit focuses varies from year to year and are selected by the summit planning committee in advance of each year?s summit.  Specific issues have included appropriations for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including preventive health and health services block grants, tobacco prevention and control legislation, and school health programs; funding for the Minority Health and Health Disparities Research and Education Act; and reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.  Regardless of the specific issues addressed, both the summit advocacy training and the Congressional visits enable the health education profession to speak with a collective voice on priority legislative issues of vital interest to the health education community, often at a critical point in the development of each year?s Federal budget.

 

The organizations involved in the National Health Education Advocacy Summit and Congressional Briefings include:

American Academy of Health Behavior

American Association for Health Education

American College Health Association

American Public Health Association - Public Health Education & Health Promotion Section

Coalition of National Health Education Organizations

Council of Accredited MPH Programs

Directors of Health Promotion and Education

Eta Sigma Gamma

National Coalition for the Elimination of Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health

Society for Public Health Education

Society of State Directors of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation

 

For additional information on the Summit, contact the Society for Public Health Education at info@sophe.org or by phone at (202) 408 - 9804.