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April

News from ASTPHND

August 2011
In This Issue
SNAP-Ed Research Articles on Public Health Strategies
New ASTPHND Board
ASTPHND Photo Challenge
MCH Council Call Materials Available on Website
Increasing Program Participation Among Latinos
Call for Proposals
Local Health Departments Face Steep Budget Cuts
Public Health Accreditation Materials Available
About ASTPHND
SNAP-Ed Research Articles on Public Health Strategies     
The USDA is considering significant changes to the SNAP-Ed program, through the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, including incorporating public health strategies.  These changes will have a major impact on the public health nutrition field.  ASTPHND submitted comments in June to the USDA on its proposed regulations for the new SNAP-Ed program.  USDA will release the new regulations in December.  We now have an excellent opportunity to become involved in state-level planning efforts to include public health approaches in the new SNAP-Ed plans.

To support states' plans, the Journal of Nutrition Education and Child eating vegiesBehavior has published a July/August supplement, Network for a Healthy California: Evaluation Results of Multi-Level Nutrition Education through SNAP-Ed.  Network for a Healthy California commissioned this supplement to present the strong evidence base for SNAP-Ed.  The supplement presents sixteen articles that describe diverse interventions and evaluation results for public health and social marketing approaches.  The supplement also includes additional educational materials.  Click here to view the titles of the seven research articles included in the supplement.

For a copy of the supplement, contact Christopher Florendo at 916-449-5373 or by email.

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New ASTPHND Board Takes Over the Reins  
On August 1, the 2011 - 2012 Board of Directors officially began its duties.  Your Board members are:

Phyllis Crowley (UT), President

Diane Golzynski (MI), President-Elect

Sandy Perkins (KS), Past-President

Molly Killman (AL), Secretary

Takako Tagami (MO), Treasurer

Sharon Sass (AZ), Director-at-Large  

Suzanne Haydu (CA), Director-at-Large  

Donna McDuffie (MN), Director-at-Large
Peggy Trouba (NE), Director-at-Large  

Heidi Scarpitti (OH), Director-at-Large  

Patricia Daniluk (CO), Board Member and Chair, Maternal 

and Child Health Nutrition Council

Donna Speed (MS), Board Member and Chair, National Council of  

Fruit and Vegetable Coordinators 

 

Welcome to the incoming Board members!  We thank the 2010-2011 Board members for their hard work and especially thank last year's Board members who are continuing for another year.

 

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    Meet the ASTPHND Photo Challenge!

Congratulations to ASTPHND members at the Arizona Department of Health Services!  ASTPHND members gathered outside the Health Services building to have Mary Ann Souch take their pictures for the ASTPHND membership directory on our website.
 
We challenge each state to populate your member list with pictures of your state agency staff.  The ASTPHND member directory is a great networking tool.
 
Meet our challenge today!  Send JPEG photos to show off your staff to Cyndi Atterbury.

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MCH Council Call Materials Available on Website   
watermelonMaterials and audio files from each quarterly MCH Nutrition Council education and training calls are available on the ASTPHND website.  Click here to view call materials.

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USDA Webinar on Increasing Nutrition Assistance Program Participation Among Latinos   
One out of four Hispanic households is food insecure, but in 2006 just 56 percent of the eligible Hispanic population participated in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), compared with a 67 percent national average SNAP participation rate.

To increase participation among Latinos in nutrition assistance programs, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is hosting a free webinar from 2 to 3 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, August 17.  The webinar will highlight organizations around that country that are successfully reaching Latinos and discuss their promising practices.  FNS will also provide an overview of outreach materials, toolkits, and other resources that are available in Spanish to help organizations in their Latino outreach.

Click here to register for the webinar.

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Call for Proposals for the
2012 Weight of the Nation Conference   
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's next Weight of the Nation Conference on obesity prevention and control will be May 7-9, 2012.  The conference theme is Moving Forward, Reversing the Trend.  Conference organizers are inviting people and organizations engaged in developing, implementing, and evaluating policy system and
environmental strategies to address obesity to submit proposals for the conference.  Organizers will use the proposals to select conference panelists and presenters.  Proposals are due by October 2, 2011.  Click here for complete information on proposal submissions.

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    Local Health Departments Face Steep Budget Cuts 

Recent survey findings illustrate the uphill battle that local public health departments are fighting as they struggle to provide Americans with basic disease prevention and emergency preparedness services. The  survey, conducted by the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), found that from 2008 to 2010, local health departments lost 29,000 jobs to layoffs and attrition, roughly 19 percent of the entire 2008 local health department workforce.  Click here to view the full report, Local Health Department Job Losses and Program Cuts: Findings from January 2011 Survey and 2010 National Profile Study.

NACCHO represents the nation's 2,800 local governmental health departments.

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Public Health Accreditation Materials Now Available 
The Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) now has accreditation pcmaterials posted on its website.  All health departments planning to apply for accreditation between fall 2011 and December 2012 should review these materials carefully for any changes from previous versions.

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About ASTPHND 
The Association of State & Territorial Public Health Nutrition Directors (ASTPHND) is a non-profit membership organization that develops leaders in public health nutrition who work to strengthen policies, programs and environments so everyone can make healthy food choices and achieve healthy, active lifestyles.  We seek to create new environmental norms where healthy eating and active living are the easy and natural choices for all Americans.  We welcome your involvement in our growing organization.  Learn more about us at About ASTPHND.

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