15th Annual Health Education Advocacy Summit: March 3-5, 2012, Washington Court Hotel, Washington, DC.

The Coalition of National Health Education Organizations invites seasoned professionals, first-time advocates, and students to join us, along with partners, for one and a half days filled with educational advocacy workshops and trainings all leading up to a full day of congressional hill visits. Click here to learn more and register: http://www.sophe.org/advocacysummit.cfm.

Are you…

• A health professional interested in learning more about policy advocacy and systems change?
• A professor in search of innovative ideas for improving your curriculum in health education advocacy?
• A seasoned health advocate motivated to advance your advocacy skills to the next level?
• An impassioned citizen or energized student who wants to advocate for school & community health education?

…Then the Health Education Advocacy Summit is the place for you!

Whether you’re a first-time advocate or have been involved in health policy for years, there never has been a more critical time to promote the public’s health.

Let the Health Education Advocacy Summit help you polish your advocacy skills in just 48 hours. This event offers basic, intermediate, and advanced-level advocacy training, and features issue-specific seminars by skilled government relations staff. The Summit culminates with visits with legislators or key staff on Capitol Hill —either individually or in state/district delegations.

A report from Trust for America's Health http://healthyamericans.org/reports/prevention-fund/

The New Prevention Fund: An Invest in the Future of Future Health of America - A STATE-BY-STATE LOOK AT PUBLIC HEALTH FUNDING AND KEY HEALTH FACTS

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) included the creation of a Prevention Fund – to provide communities around the country with more than $16 billion over the next 10 years to invest in effective, proven prevention efforts, like childhood obesity prevention and tobacco cessation.

Preventing disease and injury is the most effective, common-sense way to improve health in the United States. Too often, however, we focus on treating disease and injury after they occur instead of preventing them – providing sick care instead of health care.

Gather Your Stories about the Impact of Proposed CDC Budget Reductions:

Your assistance is urgently needed!

Policymakers are considering major cuts to federal funding for public health and prevention. CDC received an overall $574 million cut to CDC core health education-related programs. Details are available in the justification document (see esp. reductions, pages 10-12):

http://www.cdc.gov/fmo/topic/Budget%20Information/appropriations_budget_form_pdf/FY2012_CDC_CJ_Final.pdf

Policymakers are less likely to support deep cuts if they understand how it would affect their states and constituents.

You can play an important role in educating policymakers about the health and economic impact of reduced support for public health and prevention by interviewing representatives from state/local funded programs and completing this survey.

We are attempting to answer----"What is the health and program impact if your capacity to serve is reduced to previous federal funding levels or eliminated all together?"

Once you gather the info, the survey will only take 10-12 minutes to complete.

Data from this survey will help inform and drive our own individual, organizational, and collective advocacy approaches at the Health Education Advocacy Summit and for the 2012 federal fiscal year.

The data will be summarized and reported on the www.healtheducationadvocate.org  website and those of other CNHEO organizations.

Thank you in advance for responding and helping us to protect the public's health.

You can find the survey here!

For advocacy background info, see slides and audiocasts and slides of 2 recent webinars available online at: http://www.sophe.org/webinars.cfm

• ·       Advocacy 101

• ·       Making the Most of Attending the Summit

HHS Announces $750 Million Investment in Prevention

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Wednesday, February 9, 2011

http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2011pres/02/20110209b.html

New health care law provides new funding to reduce tobacco use, obesity and heart disease, and build healthier communities. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced a $750 million investment in prevention and public health, funded through the Prevention and Public Health Fund created by the new health care law.  Building on $500 million in investments last year, these new dollars will help prevent tobacco use, obesity, heart disease, stroke, and cancer; increase immunizations; and empower individuals and communities with tools and resources for local prevention and health initiatives. - - - read the entire New Release at http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2011pres/02/20110209b.html

E-mail advocacy updates to
Jim Grizzell
jvgrizzell@csupomona.edu