With funds from the Children's Fund of Connecticut (CFC), CHDI is continuing its collaboration with the William C. Graustein Memorial Fund (WCGMF) to award grants to 31 Connecticut communities for another year as part of the larger WCGMF Discovery Initiative. WCGMF awarded CHDI $100,000 to match CFC's $100,000 to support the health aspects of this initiative. This funding partnership began in 2008.

Jeff Vanderploeg and Jeana Bracey were invited to join Governor Malloy for the "Second Chance Society" bill signing. The bill aims to further reduce crime and successfully re-integrate nonviolent offenders in society. It includes expanded funding for the School-Based Diversion Initiative, a model which CHDI helped develop. Learn more about SBDI or view a newly released short version of the SBDI video.

On August 18, CT Children's Continuing Medical Education (CME) Oversight Committee approved all 17 Educating Practices In the Community (EPIC) modules for CME credits. Pediatric health care providers can earn 1 CME credit for each EPIC training they complete, whether in their office or online.

CHDI received other good news this week about EPIC incentives. The American Board of Pediatrics approved CT Children's Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Portfolio Sponsorship for another two years. This means that CT Children's can initiate, approve and provide credits for MOC activities. Several MOC programs offered through CT Children's are related to CHDI initiatives and EPIC training including:

• autism screening
• developmental surveillance and screening
• hearing monitoring
• infant mental health
• lead poisoning
• maternal depression

The CHDI - CT Children's Office for Community Child Health partnership has enabled both the extension of CME credit for EPIC training and the success of the MOC portfolio program.

Be sure to visit the newly designed and improved  KidsMentalHealthInfo.com. It connects parents to information and local resources and provides free training for health and child care professionals in Connecticut. Some new features include:

• Website is mobile-friendly in English and Spanish
• Pediatricians can access free online training modules on Infant Mental Health and Maternal Mental Health
• Early care and education providers can access free training information, videos and important links to help promote social and emotional learning

Judith Meyers was appointed to the new Connecticut Home Visiting Consortium by the Office of Early Childhood Commissioner Myra Jones-Taylor. The Consortium is tasked with advising the Office of Early Childhood, Department of Children and Families, Department of Developmental Services and the Department of Education regarding the implementation of the recommendations for the coordination of home visitation programs within the early childhood system. It was created by Public Act 15-45.

Congratulations to Sarah Oravecz on achieving recognition as Certified in Public Health (CPH). With this accomplishment, she demonstrates not only a mastery of the core sciences of public health, but also a strong commitment to staying on the cutting-edge of public health issues.



CHDI welcomes Brian Padilla as a Postdoctoral Fellow on the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based child and family treatment modalities across Connecticut. He joined CHDI this month, following completion of his pre-doctoral fellowship at the Yale School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry. In his primary rotation at Yale, Padilla provided community-based mental health services in Spanish at the Connecticut Mental Health Center's Hispanic Clinic. In his secondary rotation, he provided similar mental health services in both English and Spanish for children, adolescents and families at the West Haven Mental Health Center. Padilla graduated this month with a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.

Cesalie Stepney is CHDI's new Predoctoral Fellow from The Consultation Center at Yale University. She is completing her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Rutgers University. Cesalie's research has primarily focused on social-emotional learning and the development, implementation and evaluation of school-based prevention programs for at-risk youth. She will be working primarily on CONCEPT.