Duncan Announces $327,408 In Grants for School Based Health Centers and Home Visiting

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Contact: Mary Anderson, 240-777-6534
Denise Ridgely, Collaboration Council for Children, Youth and Families 301-840-2874

For Immediate Release: December 12, 2000

Duncan Announces $327,408
In Grants for School Based
Health Centers and Home Visiting

County Executive Douglas M. Duncan today announced that the Montgomery County Collaboration Council for Children, Youth and Families has been awarded a total of $327,408 in grants from the Governor's Office of Children, Youth and Families for school based health centers and home visiting.

The Collaboration Council is the local management board with shared responsibility for improving the well being of children, youth and families. Partnering with the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services and the Montgomery County Public Schools, the grant will be used to expand Linkages to Learning's school-based health centers. The grant will also fund efforts by the new collaborative Home Visiting Consortium, to provide home visiting services to families with young children in the Gaithersburg area, and to develop a child behavioral and developmental screening and assessment tool.

"I am pleased that the Collaboration Council has been awarded this funding to expand services to children and their families," said County Executive Douglas M. Duncan. "The early years are critical to building a foundation for a successful life. Expanding Linkages to Learning's capabilities will help do that." The Linkages to Learning program will receive $126,951 with additional funding possible over the next two years. "Health services provided through Linkages to Learning and the School-Based Health Centers have done so much to support the academic success and well-being of students in Montgomery County Public Schools," said Superintendent Jerry D. Weast. "I am very pleased that this grant will continue and expand services to our students."

Linkages to Learning's mission is to improve the well-being of children and their families through a collaborative delivery of school-based services that address the social, economic, health and emotional issues that interfere with the academic success of a child. The grant will also support expanding dental health care and preventive education, and increasing community awareness to practice healthy behaviors and lifestyles. It will fund a full-time nurse manager to enhance and increase health care services at the School-Based Health Centers-an effort to support the award-winning community health model piloted at Linkages.

The Home Visiting Consortium will use the $200,457 grant to develop a child behavioral and developmental screening and assessment tool for use by all programs as an integrated, interagency approach to providing child development, child health and family support services. The Collaboration Council convened the Montgomery County Home Visiting Consortium, comprised of public and private partners, to develop the proposal. The creation of the Home Visiting Consortium was a major recommendation of the Early Childhood Initiative, which was chaired by the Collaboration Council, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Montgomery County Public Schools.

"These grants will build on the momentum of the Children's Agenda by focusing on integrating family-friendly services at the community level," according to Lorraine A. Rogstad, director of the Montgomery County Collaboration Council.

For more information on the Montgomery County Collaboration Council and how to get involved in improving the lives of children, youth and families, please call (301) 840-2880 or go to www.collaborationcouncil.org.

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