California Project LEAN houses the School Health Connections (SHC) program, which is a joint program between the California Department of Public Health and the California Department of Education. SHC’s goal is to ensure that children are healthy and ready to learn. SHC takes advantage of the pivotal position of schools in reaching children and families by combining health education, health promotion and disease prevention, and access to health-related services in an integrated and systematic manner.
SHC actively supports a coordinated school health system, which consists of eight components:
Simply put, learning comes easier to a healthy child. Health problems, such as hunger, poor vision, dental problems or child abuse, interfere with learning. Physical and mental health problems cause children to miss school, lack energy, be distracted, or have other problems that impair their ability to learn.
Coordinated School Health programs are a comprehensive way to address to whole child.
COORDINATED SCHOOL HEALTH RESOURCES
Building Infrastructure for Coordinated School Health: California's Blueprint (Download)
California Blueprint for Coordinated School Health is the result of a year-long process to identify goals and prioritize action steps that can be initiated by California Department of Education, Department of Public Health, county offices of education, local health departments, school districts, schools and community partners. The purpose of the Blueprint is to:
Create a joint effort of public and private agencies, individuals, and communities;
Strengthen the four infrastructure supports (authorization and funding; personnel and organizational placement; communications and linkages; and resources); and,
Improve implementation of coordinated school health.
For more information about CSH, contact Andrew.Manthe@cdph.ca.gov or (916) 449-5393.
View SHC's Achieving Academic Success Through Coordinated School Health brochure
