• Over 40 colleagues and partners attended the meeting!!
• Reminder to all Seed Grant applicants, please submit by Monday, Nov. 15th
• The new ECIC Practicum Program begins this January, all injury organizations are encouraged to apply for a public health practicum student
• Don't miss the next Brown Bag lecture: January 20th from 12 - 1pm
• Submit an article for the next ECIC issue of WestJEM!!!
• The 2010 Summer Student Scholarship recipients presented their injury prevention research

• This has been an exciting fall for research.  First and foremost, we are looking forward to receiving the proposals for the ECIC Seed Grant Program. The proposal applications are due on November 15th. We have received many questions about projects, potential collaborators, and availability of funds and we can tell that our community of researchers are coming together to think about new and important projects.  Funding decisions from the seed grant review process are anticipated no later than January.

• The release of the ECIC special issue of WestJEM was a great success. The issue showcases a range of projects underway by researchers associated with the ECIC. Hard copies of the journal were shared with injury departments within state health departments, other Injury Control Research Centers (ICRCs) and federal officials working in injury prevention. However, since this is also an open access journal, we encourage you to share the link with other people who may also be interested in any of the topics published. WestJEM Vol.11 Issue 3 The journal also tracks how often articles are viewed and downloaded from its site so we can measure our reach. Because the issue was so well received we will collaborate with WestJEM to prepare another special issue. Thank you again to all who participated in this issue as authors and reviewers to help make it come to fruition.

• A Call for Papers for a new Special Issue of WestJEM has been released. Papers are due to the journal by January 15th. The thematic focus of this issue will be on Policy and Impact, broadly defined. We are particularly looking for manuscripts that describe issues of policy and impact related to injury and violence prevention, but manuscripts on other topics are welcome as well and will be considered for inclusion in this special issue. Manuscripts should follow the format guidelines outlined by WestJEM.  Please contact Deb Houry directly, she will serve as the Guest Associate Editor for this special issue, if you have any questions.

• Last but not least, we are looking for additional ways to showcase our research and projects and would like your input on how we can further disseminate findings and increase visibility of our work. If you have ideas and suggestions, please let me know.

• The Metropolitan Atlanta Violence Prevention Partnership (MAVPP) members are gearing up for the evaluation of the Hip Hop-based violence prevention capacity building curriculum for high school age youth, Sixteen BARZ.  The anticipated date for initiation of the evaluation is February 2011, after obtaining Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval.

• The MAVPP members will soon conduct another regional breakfast.  The event will build upon the many successes that originated from the 2007 breakfast. Based upon the Regional Violence Prevention Service Delivery Plan, the event will convey various roles, tactics and strategies that different categories of stakeholders can employ to prevent violence.
  

• MAVPP members are working with the regional office of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), the Georgia Black Caucus, the Georgia Latino Caucus, and the Global Peace Festival Foundation to conduct a Youth Summit and a Strengthening Families and Communities Summit.  The youth summit is planned for Saturday, December 4, 2010, at the Morehouse School of Medicine, and the Strengthening Families and Communities Summit is planned for December 9, 2010, at the Georgia International Convention Center.  These events will help to reinforce relationships across coalition members in four areas:  Violence Prevention, Teen Pregnancy, Teen Dropout, and Economic Development. 
  

• The Division of Aging Services and Injury Prevention Program had a successful Fall Prevention Awareness Day, September 22, 2010.  The five major risk areas for falls among older adults were addressed: poly-pharmacy with pharmacy review of prescription lists, environmental with an aging in place specialist, changes in blood pressure with standing and sitting blood pressure measurements, gait assessment with physical and occupational therapists, and bone density with bone density screening.  Participation was high for an inaugural event, an estimated 250-300 persons came through the event space.  More than 70 participants engaged in one or more of the screening opportunities.  The outcome evaluations were overwhelmingly positive.  One person, as a result of the blood pressure screen, was referred directly to the hospital.

• The Trauma Amendment, to fund a statewide Trauma Network by raising dedicated funds from a $10 tag fee, failed on November 2nd, 2010.  The IPP CODES staff had contributed to data and mapping to assist in arguing for the amendment.

• The partnership with Maternal and Child Health is progressing.  As a result of Brian Castrucci's presentation at the last meeting, we have scheduled and had a meeting with the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, Safe Kids Georgia, Child Fatality Review and have put in requests to schedule meetings with Emory Center for Injury Control, WIC and Division of Aging Services.
  

• Brian Castrucci also invited Dr. Nancy Weaver to present the Safe N Sound Program as a potential pilot project.  We are recruiting interested committee members for input into how this project might be developed and implemented in Georgia.

Thanks to all for their input on our strategic planning process.  We have compiled the input we have received and have major focus areas as a result.

Does your organization need help with an injury-related project?

Do you need staffing support but don't have the resources or capacity?

Apply for a practicum student for your organization!

The Emory Center for Injury Control is launching the ECIC Practicum Program in January 2011. Through the program, the ECIC will match community-based and state-level organizations with MPH students to work on injury-related projects. The program is designed to provide students with hands-on public health and injury-related experience and assist organizations with limited funds and capacity in completing much-needed projects. The ECIC will post positions, interview candidates, check references and place a student within your organization for a 10 week practicum period. There are 2 paid practicum positions for Spring 2011 semester so please be thinking about projects you need help with at your organization and consider applying.

To request a practicum student, please have the following:

1. A clearly defined project
2. A space for the student to work
3. A staff member to manage and support the student
4. A completed Student Request Form -  submit forms to ECIC by Dec. 15^th 2010

The Student Request Form will be distributed via the listserv and available via the website. Questions can be directed to Natasha at nobolen@emory.edu or call 404-616-6090. The student will work with you from February to April 2011 for about 20 hours a week. We are looking forward to helping you complete projects while exposing students to real-world injury prevention!

It has recently come to our attention that the pilot grants must be subject to the usual federally agreed upon indirect rate for the respective institution.  In order to accommodate this, the ECIC is augmenting its budget requirements. 

All pilot project budgets should use the usual F&A costs charged by their university.  The maximum award amounts should include direct costs only (e.g. a $20,000 pilot project will be all direct costs).  Indirect costs should be calculated over and above the maximum award amounts listed in the RFA.  As such, project budgets should include total direct costs, as well as a line item for total costs including their institution's  F&A charges. 

This is our attempt to ensure that investigators have the most money available to implement their projects while also accommodating university F&A charges.  For those of you who have already prepared your proposals and budgets under the old guidelines and routed them, continue as planned and we will make the necessary adjustments post-award.  We are sorry for the late notice and any inconvenience this may cause. 

Please contact Shakiyla Smith with any questions you have.