AMCHP's 2020 Annual Conference is the perfect opportunity to connect and network with nearly 1,000 public health officials who share an interest in maternal and child health. The theme for the conference—to be held March 21-24 in Crystal City, Va.—is The Power of Connections: Building Equity for Healthy Generations. For additional information, please contact Samantha Freeman. We look forward to seeing you!

UPDATE: Sessions for Youth and Young Adults

Tuesday morning plenary at the AMCHP Conference: Inside a Teen’s Mind: Empower Youth Empower You! This Tuesday morning plenary session will focus on the emotional well-being and resiliency of adolescents.

#PressPlay: NC Department of Health and Human Services Youth Advisors on attending #AMCHP2020
North Carolina youth advisory committee members produced a short video, to encourage youth participation and share their personal views on the benefits of attending the annual AMCHP conference.

Child and Adolescent Health Discussion Roundtables

Monday, March 23, 2020, 10-11 a.m.; 3:30.-4:30 p.m.

Preliminary topics for these roundtables include the:

New age of school stressors (suicides of peers, active shooter drills, social media and bullying, and isolation)
Vaping epidemic

We need your help: Enlist program youth and network partners from your states and communities to facilitate discussions and express their points of view. Invite them to help with key conference activities and participate in networking opportunities with other young people and AMCHP leaders, concurrent workshops and poster sessions, and plenaries featuring presentations by youth panelists.

The Benefit to Them: A discounted rate of $430 for youth and young adults (including students) for the entire conference; a rate of $245 for partial registration (one- or two-day). Note that registration includes breakfast and lunch on Monday; breakfast on Tuesday. Airfare and accommodations are not included. Access the conference website here. For more information, contact Iliana Siarmalis-White.

New From AMCHP

Leadership Lab to Offer Two More Leadership Development Trainings

The Leadership Lab will be offering two more leadership development trainings for the 2019-2020 programming year. These trainings are offered in place of the typical cohort structure and are open to anyone interested in the designated topic for each training.

AMCHP will host the last training in April 2020. A save-the-date notice and registration link will be sent after topics, presenters, and specific dates are identified; please be alert for more information. If you have questions, contact Michelle Crawford.

Legislation and Policy

Join us on March 24 for AMCHP Hill Day & Congressional Reception!

In conjunction with the AMCHP Annual Conference, AMCHP is organizing two events this year on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. on Tues., March 24.

AMCHP Hill Day will take place on March 24 from 1:30 p.m.-5:00 p.m. To indicate your interest in participating in AMCHP Hill Day, please complete this Google Form as soon as possible. Once you complete the form, AMCHP’s Public Policy & Government Affairs Team will reach out by e-mail to help you set up meetings with your federal representatives.

Two training opportunities are available to help you prepare for your Hill visits. AMCHP’s Public Policy & Government Affairs Team will host a Hill Day Training Webinar as part of our monthly policy call on Thursday, March 5 from 2 p.m.-3 p.m., ET. Register for the webinar here.

We will also host an in-person training during the AMCHP Annual Conference on Monday, March 23 from 2:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m.; details are available on the conference schedule. If you’ve registered to participate in AMCHP Hill Day and AMCHP staff have confirmed your Hill visit meeting times with you, then your Hill Day packet will be available for pick up at the in-person training. The packet will include materials for your federal representatives and talking points for you.

AMCHP’s Congressional Reception will take place on Tues., Mar. 24 from 5:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. in the Capitol Visitor Center, Room HVC-201. If you’d like to attend, please RSVP by March 17 using this Google Form.

Questions? Please feel free to reach out to Amy Haddad and Alyson Northrup.

Board Corner

Vote for Board of Directors

The 2020 AMCHP Board of Directors election began on Feb. 5, 2020, and will conclude at 5 p.m., ET, on March 16, 2020. Candidate profiles from the open call for nominations are posted on this link; see their responses to the questionnaire as background information for voting. Please check your email (as well as the spam folder). All voting delegates received a SurveyMonkey link via email on Feb. 5 to cast their votes electronically. If you have not received an email or have any problems with voting, please contact Nikeisha Ogletree, Associate Director, Human Resources and Administration. Voting for the next cohort of AMCHP leadership is a key benefit of AMCHP membership. Please exercise your important right to vote.

National AMCHP MCH Policy Calls

AMCHP National MCH Policy Calls & Get Ready to Hit the Hill

Get up to date on federal MCH policy. The next event in the All-Member National MCH Policy Call series will take place Thursday, March 5, 2020 from 2-3 p.m., ET. Register here.

In addition to our standard policy updates, the March 5 Policy Call will feature a training on conducting meetings with your federal representatives and their staff on Capitol Hill. The training is to prepare for AMCHP’s upcoming Hill Day on Tuesday, March 24 from 1:30 p.m.-5 p.m., ET. To indicate your interest in participating in Hill Day, please complete this Google Form as soon as possible.

Get Involved

Register to Attend the 2020 Preparedness Summit in Dallas

Registration is now open for the 2020 Preparedness Summit, to be held March 31-April 3, 2020, in Dallas. The theme, Fixing Our Fault Lines: Addressing Systemic Vulnerabilities, will focus on methods to identify systemic weaknesses and highlight tools and policies that can empower all communities, and particularly the ones that are most vulnerable, to address those weaknesses and become more resilient.

Request for Applications Open for PRISM (Promoting Innovation in State & Territorial MCH Policymaking) Learning Community!

The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials and AMCHP are accepting applications for organizations seeking to participate in Cohort Two of the PRISM Learning Community. The Promoting Innovation in State & Territorial MCH Policymaking (PRISM) Learning Community will provide technical assistance, capacity-building, and peer learning to help states advance policy solutions that address substance use and mental health disorders in reproductive-age women. State teams will participate in a Fall 2020 Policy Academy in Washington, DC. Each will benefit from in-state technical assistance and ongoing virtual learning opportunities. Applications are due April 17th. For more information, see the full RFA here.

Register to Attend the 7th Annual Conference on Adolescent Health in Detroit – Now a Two Full Days Event!

The Adolescent Health Initiative (AHI) has announced that registration for the 2020 Conference on Adolescent Health is officially open. Join more than 400 adolescent health professionals across the country on April 20-21, 2020 in Detroit for dynamic breakout sessions, poster sessions, youth-led sessions, and networking events. The conference is designed for physicians, nurses, social workers, dieticians, public health professionals, and others who work with adolescents in a health care capacity. In addition, the AHI call for nominations for the Excellence in Adolescent Health Award is now open. View the agenda, register, learn about sponsorship and exhibiting opportunities, and/or nominate a colleague or yourself for the excellence award by clicking here.

Webinars

Improving Adolescent Health in Your Community: How the Adolescent Health Initiative Can Help You Meet Your Goals

Adolescent Health Initiative

February 28, 2020, 12 p.m., ET

This webinar provides information on the variety of training and support AHI provides on adolescent-focused topic areas. Join state adolescent health coordinators, providers, health professionals, health center manager, and youth-serving professionals. AHI offers support and training on several topics, including how to create or improve adolescent-centered health care environments; engage youth in assessing youth-friendliness of health centers; strengthening referrals and linkages to youth-friendly services; sustaining and engaging a thriving youth advisory council; providing confidential care for minors; integrating culturally responsive care; delivering LGBTQ+ inclusive care; improving quality measures for health screenings; implementing comprehensive risk screenings; enhancing school-based health services and partnerships; improving adolescent sexual health services; and identifying adolescent victims of human trafficking. Register here.

Sharing Your Achievements in MCH: An Overview of AMCHP’s Best Practices Submission Process

Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs

March 2, 2020, 3-4 p.m., ET

Do you have a program or practice that is working well in your state, territory, or community? Submit it to AMCHP’s Innovation Station and share your success with the MCH field. Each year, AMCHP reviews submissions from across the United States and designates accepted practices as Cutting-Edge, Emerging, Promising, or Best Practices. Accepted practices are showcased on our online Innovation Station Database to advance MCH practice and contribute to the evidence base. This webinar will provide a brief overview of the Innovation Station Database as well as discuss the benefits of submitting your programs and practices. The webinar also will discuss the process of submitting practices along with tips and tricks for completing your submission. Register for the webinar here. For more information, contact Lynda Krisowaty.

Parent Engagement in School-Based Clinics

Adolescent Health Initiative

March 3, 2020, 2-3 p.m.

Adolescents and parents go hand-in-hand when talking about teen health care. Learn strategies to enhance the clinic experience for youth and parents alike, no matter if they are the “over-engaged” parent or the “under-engaged” parent. Review best practices for adolescent confidentiality as well as how to navigate tricky conversations with parents and adolescents. Register here.

Young Adult Health: What Makes Them Unique? (First in webinar series)

The Adolescent & Young Adult Health National Resource Center

March 11, 2-3:00 p.m., ET

Registration details coming soon!

Promoting Youth-Friendly Environments in Family Planning Clinics

Family Planning National Training Center and Adolescent Health Initiative

March 12, 3-4 p.m., ET

This webinar provides health care professionals with the tools to promote a youth-friendly environment in family planning clinics. Participants will learn the elements of an adolescent-centered environment, and about key staff and provider behaviors that are essential to providing youth-friendly care. Speakers will offer strategies to create a more welcoming environment to young people, suggest possible avenues for improvement, and facilitate discussions about a range of issues related to providing patient-centered care for young people. Register here.

AMCHP-NACCHO Webinar

Addressing Substance Use Disorder in MCH: Local Health Department responses to NAS and strategies for state Title V to support these efforts

March 12, 3-4p.m. ET

As the United States is in the throes of an opioid crisis, methamphetamine and other stimulants are still some of the most commonly used substances in communities across the country. Both opioid and methamphetamine use during pregnancy can lead to neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) and an increased risk of negative birth outcomes such as low birth weight and stillbirth. Local health departments have responded to the need to address substance use during pregnancy, for the health of both pregnant people and their infants, in a variety of ways. This webinar will feature presentations from the Unified Government Public Health Department of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, KS, which implemented a screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) model specific to high-risk substance use in their STI and family planning clinics, and the Prince William Health District in Virginia, who will share their experience with high-risk pregnancies, following Virginia’s passage of a law requiring NAS reporting. The webinar will conclude with a discussion of concrete strategies for state Title V agencies to support these local-level efforts.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:

Review the effects of substance use during pregnancy, including NAS
Consider innovative responses to addressing substance use during pregnancy, including clinical approaches
Discuss how policies impact responses to addressing substance use during pregnancy
Discuss the role of state Title V in supporting LHD efforts to address NAS

Please register for the webinar here.

Publications and Resources

Child & Adolescent Health

The Adolescent & Young Adult Health National Resource Center is excited to share a newly released resource, Improving Young Adult Health: State & Local Strategies for Success. This guide outlines five key strategies to improve young adult health in your state. It is based on a review of young adult health policies and programs across all 59 states and territories as well as on interviews with Title V leadership in states that have adopted a YA measure. The guide provides real-world examples and lessons learned from states that have implemented young adult health activities. The Adolescent & Young Adult Health National Resource Center will also launch a webinar series this spring focused on young adult health. (See “Webinars” section above for information on the first webinar in the series.)

Title V: Your Help is Needed to Count all Kids in the U.S. Census!

AMCHP is pleased to release a package of materials to promote an accurate count of all children in the 2020 U.S. Census. Census results determine the allocation of billions of dollars in federal funds. It is critical to achieve an accurate count of children so that your state and local communities receive a fair share of funding to support MCH populations. Children are routinely undercounted in the decennial census.

The AMCHP 2020 Census package (http://www.amchp.org/Policy-Advocacy/health-reform/resources/Pages/default.aspx) includes three resources:

Counting Kids in the 2020 Census –a fact sheet for MCH programs and advocates
2020 Census Social Media Resource Guide
Parent fact sheet: “Shape Your Children’s Future – Include Them in the Census! (English and Spanish)

We encourage you to disseminate these resources broadly. Please direct any questions to Jess Cohen

New PRAMS Data Are Available to Researchers by Request

Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) State-level 2018 Data. PRAMS provides data on maternal attitudes, experiences, and behaviors around the time of pregnancy. PRAMS is currently funded in 50 sites and covers about 83 percent of all live births in the United States, including 47 states, New York City, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico. Learn more.

Check out the #ScreenToInterveneForAYAs: Adolescent and Young Adult Behavioral Health Blog!

The #ScreenToInterveneForAYAs blog has published several new posts in a series highlighting the state-level efforts of various Maternal and Child Health Programs toward improving the rates of depression screening with an appropriate follow-up plan among AYAs. Check out the latest post in the series, to learn how the Wisconsin team is leveraging their state’s Child Psychiatry Consultation Program to support primary care physicians in caring for their AYA patients’ emotional well-being. Sign up here to receive updates from the #ScreenToInterveneForAYAs blog. To write a guest blog post or if you have any questions, please contact Anna Corona.

On Your Behalf

AMCHP 2019-2020 Fiscal Year Membership Dues

AMCHP memberships are vital for individuals, organizations, state, and territorial programs with an interest in maternal and child health. Membership due notices have been distributed for the 2019-2020 fiscal year. If you have not yet had the chance to submit payment for your dues, click here for payment options.

Commemorations

March

National Endometriosis Awareness Month

National Kidney Month

Bleeding Disorders Awareness Month

International HPV Awareness Day- March 1

National HPV Awareness Day- March 4

National Women & Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day- March 10

World Kidney Day- March 12

National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day – March 20

Calendar

AMCHP 2020 Annual Conference

March 21-24

Crystal City, Va.

2020 Preparedness Summit in Dallas

March 31-April 3

Dallas, Tx.