Workshop: D4 - SBHC Integration: A Cross-Agency Quality Improvement Collaborative Model

This workshop will be held on Tuesday, June 28th from 8:00am to 10:45am in Belmont.

Learn how to better integrate your SBHC into the school community using a quality improvement process. Network with other conference participants while exploring new integration concepts, tools, and strategies developed by a collaborative of five Oakland, California SBHCs.



Samantha Blackburn, RN, MSN, PNP
Field and Technical Assistance Director
California School Health Centers Association

Workshop: D7 - North Carolina's Youth Advocacy Toolkit

This workshop will be held on Tuesday, June 28th from 8:00am to 10:45am in Ballroom H.

Friends, Advocates, Countrymen and women, lend me your ears! No seriously, check it out!

This year, the NC State Association teamed up with Youth Empowered Solutions (YES!) to collaborate on a really unique workshop aimed to help adult and youth leaders alike. It's no secret that engaging youth in school-based health care advocacy work is a major key to success for any local center or even state association, but what does it even mean to engage youth in this work we are so passionate about?



Our session is going to map out the Youth Empowerment Model (The Model) as an evidence-based methodology for engaging youth in creating community change around access to care issues. In North Carolina, the Model is being applied within both statewide and local communities...because let's be honest... you can't simply bring people to the table and expect miracles to happen. You have to create infrastructure, you have to provide a deeper understanding of the issues you are addressing and you have to rethink how you are defining success. Also, you have to have FUN! In Chicago, we are going to unveil our new YES! Youth Engagement Toolkit that is going to help you do just that (mostly have fun).



The adults will explore the value of The Model as, not just, a philosophy, but also an outcomes plan and an organizational infrastructure. Adults will leave with resources to help them facilitate an Access to Care training with TONS of fun and interactive games as well as an evaluation tool that adults can tailor and use to measure impact.

The youth will dig deep down into the field of school-based health care and explore "access to care" as a social justice issue to have a deeper comprehension of the issues they are advocating for as well as get some ideas for some new online and offline advocacy campaigns. All activities done will also be facilitated in a train-the trainer method so that youth participants will leave with the ability and know how to use them within their own community.

As well, we will talk briefly about a brand new organizational assessment tool called the YES! Appraisal. The Appraisal is a tool to help your organization understand its own capacity to engage in youth empowerment as well as create tangible and clear stepping stones for how to more deeply involve youth within the organizational structure.

Parrish Ravelli
Youth Empowerment Solutions (YES!)

***Following the session, the participants will receive an electronic version of the NC Youth Engagement Toolkit to begin using to create community change in their local community! Copies can be requested by emailing Parrish@youthempoweredsolutions.org***

Meet the Social Media Fellows: Kristin Anderson

I am looking forward to being in Chicago for the NASBHC conference next week. This is my third NASBHC convention and I always leave with new ideas and connections to strengthen our work in California. (Exploring Chicago won’t be too bad either! Be sure to check out Kyle’s blog post on what to see while in the city if you haven’t done so already.)

As the Associate Director of the California School Health Centers Association (CSHC) I am especially looking forward to connecting with the other State Affiliates to hear about their latest challenges and initiatives. I oversee fund development, communications, board engagement and operations for CSHC – and I am always interested in hearing how other organizations are tackling these critical areas.

I loved the social media coverage during last year’s conference in D.C. Seeing workshop highlights being tweeted directly from the sessions, knowing that colleagues were watching key speakers via the internet live streaming and being tagged in Facebook photos taken minutes earlier on the exhibit floor added energy to the event and broadened its reach beyond the hotel walls. I look forward to being a part of the social media team at this year’s conference. I am especially interested in sharing conference highlights with those who are unable to attend and reporting back to California school-health stakeholders about things of special interest to my fellow west-coasters. Watch for my tweets and Facebook posts throughout the event. Better yet, add your own comments to my entries to share your perspectives and highlights. (Visit the social media booth if you want to learn more about how to join in the fun.)

My dream is that someday school-based health centers will be a household concept. Parents will clamor for them right along with other critical school programs and services and students will get the much-needed services they too often have to do without. I have no doubt that expanding our presence through social media will move us closer to this goal. So, watch for my posts – and join in the dialogue. Together we can work toward a future where all children and youth are healthy and achieving at their full potential!

See you in Chicago.

Kristin Andersen
Associate Director
California School Health Centers Association

Workshop: A1 - The Big Tent: Local and State Experiences with Implementation of School Health Services

This workshop will be held on Monday, June 27th from 9:45am to 11:00am in Ballroom A.

Serena Clayton and I are asking everyone who really wants to be the “Big Tent” to attend our session, A1 - The Big Tent: Local and State Experiences with Implementation of School Health Services. Serena will be talking about what it looks like at a state level and I am going to bring it right down to where the rubber hits the road—the local level. We are going to have fun talking about what it takes to bring more and very different providers to school. In Baton Rouge, in addition to the eleven school-based health centers, I will be talking about everything else that is going on—coordinating the school nurse program which gives us the vision of 45,000 children on 90 different campuses, mobile dental providers seeing students on most of the fifty elementary school campuses, and optometrists who come to school to perform dilated eye exams and bring glasses to kids that need them! In addition to that (and because we work with so many students), I will be discussing the 15-18 MOUs that we have with universities, technical schools, hospitals, the community college, and so on. Our training program for professional students who are learning their craft brought to our service delivery system an additional 1300 days of service that equates to 10,500 hours of time that we have students learning from us and assisting us in service delivery. I’ll be sharing how we work with the community to immunize thousands of students against influenza and bring kids to local dentists who provide oral health education on Give Kids A Smile Day! I hope all of you will be there—bring your energy pills; you’ll need them!

Sue Catchings, CEO
Health Centers in Schools

Workshop: C7 - Using Teen Theater for Youth Engagement

This workshop will be held on Monday, June 27th from 3:15pm to 4:30pm in Belmont.

Lights! Camera! Action! Come to our workshop "Using Teen Theater for Youth Engagement." (C7) Throughout the presentation, we'll share our experiences and give you a few pointers on how to do teen theater in your setting. Hear about our "lessons learn!" Do fun activities! This interactive workshop will get you started in no time. What are you waiting for? See you there!

Ariella Rubio, Youth Advisory Board member
Marcia Zorrilla, Staff and Adult Ally, Youth Advisory Board

Workshop: C2 - CHIPRA: Demonstrating Quality Health Care via School-Based Health Centers

This workshop will be held on Monday, June 27th from 3:15pm to 4:30pm in Ballroom B.

Begin with a visionary group of veterans from the SBHC field. Add in a generous helping of passion for healthy kids and adolescents. Mix in providers, administrators, evaluators, and managers from four states and three time zones. Sprinkle in a spirit of collaboration and boundless energy. Finally, add in funding from a CHIPRA demonstration grant and….VOILA! You have the School-based Health Center Improvement Project!

School-based health centers have a unique ability to provide quality, convenient, accessible and youth-focused health care. Yet, few recognize the critical role that SBHCs play in the health care delivery system, particularly in serving children with special health care needs. Recognizing this, a team of experienced SBHC providers and administrators pursued an opportunity to improve upon and showcase amazing work done by SBHCs in Colorado and New Mexico. In 2010, our team was awarded a five-year Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (CHIPRA) demonstration grant by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

In this workshop, we will share the trials and triumphs of developing a multi-phase, multi-state demonstration project with SBHCs, the School-based Health Center Improvement Project (SHCIP). Our project aims to highlight the ability of SBHCs to address the health care needs of children and youth and to expand on the understanding of how school-based health centers contribute to the overall health care system.

Specifically, workshop presenters will share our plans for accomplishing our overall Project goals:

1. Improve the quality of care delivered in SBHCs

The primary mechanism for supporting positive change in our partner SBHCs is continuous quality improvement , aimed at improving preventive care and screening for chronic conditions. In the workshop, we’ll share our quality improvement plan, share our new electronic student health questionnaire and talk about how we plan to use technology to engage youth and assist providers.

2. Integrate SBHCs into the medical home approach

Much of what SBHCs are already doing aligns with the medical home approach. Yet, there are still some stumbling blocks to integrating this approach in a consistent manner. Our workshop will include an overview of our plans to help SBHCs understand the medical home approach, assess their current level of “medical home-ness," and increase their readiness to become certified as medical homes.

3. Actively engage youth in their own health care

You can’t improve health outcomes among children and youth without involving them in their own health care. Since youth engagement is so important, we are developing a new survey tool to understand youths’ satisfaction with the care they receive at the SBHC and to measure youths’ health literacy. We call it the Youth Assessment of School Health Involvement -- or YASHI and we are excited to share the purpose, development, and plans for YASHIs implementation with you.

How will we know if we’re successful?

For those of you who love logic models and spreadsheets, we’ll share our plans for evaluating the project across 17 sites in two states. It’s no easy task, but our team members will walk you through the ins and outs of this complex evaluation effort.

Join the conversation!

Our team is excited to share what we’re doing and to learn from you! We hope the workshop will stimulate conversations around the role of SBHCs in the health care delivery system, the fit between SBHCs and the medical home approach, and strategies and successes towards engaging youth as full partners in their health and health care.

Sarah Nickels

Workshop: A3 - Using Yoga in School-Based Health Centers

This workshop will be held on Monday, June 27th from 9:45am to 11:00am in Ballroom C.

This year, I have the good fortune of presenting a Success Story to the participants (and readers) of the NASBHC national conference. The “story” is really about our delightful social worker, who was already doing expert mental health work with adolescents in Durham, North Carolina. A specialist in therapy for adolescent anxiety, depression, stress-related disorders and substance abuse, Donna was well known to adolescents at our health center where we have worked together for several years. She is skilled in motivational interviewing and anticipatory guidance among teens and is a trusted provider that the adolescents enjoy. Donna was using yoga for her own health and relaxation, and eventually progressed to becoming a certified instructor. Together, she and I began to consider the possibility of using gentle yoga as an effective non-pharmacological tool for teens with anxiety and depression at our SBHC. The clinic had enough space for a class, the students (and their caregivers) were more than willing to try gentle yoga practice in the safe and secure setting of the clinic and the school faculty supported students learning this “life skill” to reduce anxiety during a one-hour session each week. The happy marriage of Donna our skilled mental health provider/yogi and the SBHC resulted in relaxation/health and improved well-being for more than a dozen adolescent women.

A very basic pre-test/post-test evaluation of the yoga initiative (using a 10-point likert scale evaluation tool) was completed by participants. While disappointed in these results, we believe the “insignificant effect of yoga” was due the less-than-optimal timing of the post-test evaluation—done more than a week after the final yoga practice, right when the participants were needing (and wanting!) another hour of yoga most. What we can tell you is that the practice resulted in a lifting of the spirit…the girls participating would literally drag into the clinic looking downcast and “blah” and FLOAT out of it, glowing and refreshed….the combination of Donna’s soothing voice, the opportunity to clear their minds of all worry and anxiety and the final moments of rest at the end of the hour were obviously restorative and healing. The fact that each of the participants returned week after week for yoga sessions also indicated an effective therapy had been found. Interestingly, in the time period that yoga practice was provided in the SBHC, none of the teens became pregnant, were suspended from school, or performed self-harming behaviors. Best of all, each of the girls asked to continue yoga practice. THEY found value in it and wanted to continue.

The story does not end here. More and more research indicates that yoga is an effective means of reducing anxiety and stress in adolescents. It is being used successfully in substance treatment programs (adult and adolescent), and as an adjunct therapy. Yoga training is being encouraged for mental health providers who come so well equipped with skills of mental health assessment, motivational interviewing and basic relaxation therapy.

Check our links from the conference presentation for more information and research data and think strongly about USING YOGA in your SBHC, especially if you have a staff member or community resource that is willing to share their talents and expertise. You can contact me or Donna with any questions.

Namaste,

Anne Derouin (anne.derouin@duke.edu)
Donna Eash (donna.eash@duke.edu)

Opening Plenary - Storytelling as Best Practice

NASBHC's 2011 Annual Convention will kick off at 8:00am on June 27th with a workshop on storytelling from The Goodman Foundation's Andy Goodman.

Ever since we began talking to each other, telling stories has been the most powerful way to capture attention, engage an audience, and motivate them to act. Steadily advancing technology keeps handing us shiny new tools to communicate faster and farther – think iPads and Twitter to name just two – but in our fervor to remain current (and appear professional) we often ignore our natural inclination to tell a good story. In my presentation “Storytelling as Best Practice,” I will tell you why I believe storytelling remains the single most powerful communication tool you possess, how to tell a story that your audience will remember, and I’ll give you six categories of stories to collect that will help your organization advance your mission. I hope you will join me on Monday, June 27th, at 8:00 am for a session that may fundamentally change the way you communicate. (And if you’d like to read more about me and my work around storytelling, please visit my website, http://www.agoodmanonline.com/.)

Andy Goodman
Cofounder and Director
The Goodman Foundation

Workshop: PC1 - Improving Adolescent Health by Effectively Motivating Behavior Change

This pre-convention workshop will be held on Sunday, June 26th from 1:00pm to 5:00pm in Ballroom A.

Make a difference in the lives of teens!

Are you frustrated with identifying risky behaviors in your teenage clients and feel like nothing you say is helping them change those behaviors? If so, come to the pre-conference workshop entitled “Improving Adolescent Health by Effectively Motivating Behavior Change” at the NASBHC conference next week! This workshop is focused on improving health professional’s capacity to effectively motivate adolescents towards positive change around common risky behaviors (substance use, unsafe sex, mental health, nutrition/physical activity). You will learn about risk assessment and counseling workshops focused on using motivational interviewing strategies effectively in Michigan and their outstanding results; as well as be an active participant in learning some basic motivational interviewing strategies that you can take home and use when talking with teen clients (or your own teens) about their risky behaviors. This is a workshop that you don’t want to miss!

Jennifer Salerno
Director/Nurse Practitioner
University of Michigan/RAHS

Meet the Social Media Fellows: Amanda Forsmark

Greetings from Saginaw, Michigan!

My name is Amanda Forsmark and I am the Health Educator for both Saginaw High and Arthur Hill SBHCs. As a recent college graduate, I am VERY familiar with the Social Media world. I have seen Facebook evolve from something that was just a basic profile and you had to have a college email to sign up (that’s how MY account was set up!!), to newsfeeds, fan pages, and the infamous “Like” button. I know personally what it is like to check Facebook more often than email, and to use Status Updates as a way to communicate my emotions, weekend plans, or share news with my network. I’ve Tweeted, texted, Liked, blogged, followed, shared, posted, changed relationship status, friend requested, and even blocked all in the name of social media.

Our health centers are in the process of developing Facebook pages for both sites, and I am very excited to be a part of this process. Our ultimate goal is to reach student through a channel that they use on a daily basis.

At the NASBHC Conference in Chicago, I will be taking different videos throughout the week and posting them to our social media sites. Some of these videos may include asking you how you are enjoying the conference, or something that you took away from a session. So, if you see me coming with the camera, don’t be shy! We’d love to hear from you!

Meet the Social Media Fellows: Parrish Ravelli

Hello NASBHC Supporters and Advocates!

I wanted to write this blog post talking about how I've used social media and online organizing strategies for advocacy and activism, in the past, in a way that would really reflect my experience. I also wanted to do it in a way that fit within the confines of "effective" social messaging. You know what I'm saying...140 characters or less! A little factual information, mixed with some thought provoking ideas, maybe topped with what I may or may not have had for lunch today, and wrapped up with a quick convenient call to action.

I thought a while about it. Should I write about some of the online advocacy campaigns I've been a part of...like the Facebook Olympics recruitment campaign with the North Carolina Teen Health Alliance, that helped drive over 500 new followers to our pages during a two week period...it's definitely something that is easily replicable. Maybe highlight some of the quick petitioning campaigns where we have gotten hundreds of signatures in just hours. Our Action Now team actually won the SmartOn Mobile App Contest!

I thought about even writing about this crazy theory I have about social media and advocacy and how it resembles the ripples on a lake when it rains. That moving messages across a platform involves quality as much as quantity, well that and location, location, location. But I find when I talk about this I usually end up confusing myself.

Maybe it would help to know more about me as person, that I had a fantastic shrimp taco for lunch today from local restaurant in Durham.

So here goes my best shot:

Empowered young people are the social network. The internet is just the platform. #actionnow #northcarolinateenhealthalliance

Please share.

Parrish Ravelli
Youth Empowerment Solutions (YES!)
Parrish@youthempoweredsolutions.org

Meet the Youth Track: Becky Lee

As a third year UC Berkeley student, I am studying Public Health and Public Policy. My six-year involvement with SBHC policy and advocacy influenced my academic path and life goal to serve low-income communities. Even after graduating from high school three years ago, my school-based health center remains one of the most powerful forces in my life.While in high school, I tirelessly devoted my time advocating comprehensive health education and promoting the John Marshall Health Center. Partaking in the clinic’s student advisory board and Policy Leadership Program allowed me to remind Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of his promise to open 500 school clinics with hundreds of signature-filled pages from our petition campaign. Currently as a youth board member of the California School Health Centers Association, I have the opportunity to train and work with high school youth to become political activists for health reform. Successful moments like these enticed me to study Public Health at the collegiate level and continue to contribute to my community.

Meet the Social Media Fellows: Linda Lam

Hello! My name is Linda Lam and I am one of the 2011 NASBHC Convention Social Media Fellows! I work for Asian Pacific Heath Care Venture (APHCV) in Los Angeles where I am the Clinic Coordinator of the John Marshall High School Health Center. What gave me a solid foundation of using media in community work was the team service project I was involved with through my Public Allies Los Angeles fellowship in 2005. My team service project, called Unearth Media, taught young people about media literacy and how to create their own media (digital storytelling- pictures/videos set to a narrative) to tell their own stories that are often not covered by mainstream media. Since then at APHCV, I’ve used myspace, e-newsletters, facebook, and our website to promote and create an online community where teens have another avenue to gain access to health and youth development services. Currently at JMHS Heath Center, the Student Advisory Board members are using social media as a part of the MO project with CANFIT and California School Heath Centers Association to organize an online video contest about healthy eating and physical fitness.

I am excited to be one of the Social Media Fellows because I look forward to involving all of us (at home or at the convention) in activities where we can effectively use social media to help support and promote the work at school-based heath centers. Hopefully we can then bring those strategies back to our own organization! The potential of social media as a tool to support and streamline the work we do at school-based health centers is limitless. Being a Social Media Fellow encourages me to take more steps to strengthen my own organization’s use of social media to help students gain access to health information and services.

I look forward to meeting all of you and encouraging all of us to share our stories and best practices to build this school health care movement!

Linda Lam
School Based Health Program Coordinator
Asian Pacific Health Care Venture, Inc.

Meet the Youth Track: Nidia L. Escobar

My name is Nidia L. Escobar and I am from Los Angeles, CA. I am currently attending Pasadena City College and my intended major is Health Education. I first got involved with SBHC’s back in 2005 when I was a sophomore in high school. The reason why I was so drawn to volunteer for my high school's health center was because I thought they were addressing an important issue. Most people in my community do not really talk about certain issues, like teen pregnancy or nutrition or physical activity, so I felt it was very important for the health center to do so. What kept me involved for the following three years was the hard dedication of the health centers staff, and how much love they put into their work. Their enthusiasm in their work rubbed off on me. I then started to feel that it was so important for youth, like myself, to be involved in educating my peers and people living in my community. From that period in my life I knew what kind of career I wanted. I want to motivate young people to get involved in whatever issues might be important because a lot of issues effecting youth are made by adults without any youth input.

Meet the Youth Track: Nzugu Kitenge

My name is Nzugu Kitenge and I am from Oakland California. I largely grew up in the Bay Area, but at one point my family and I moved to the Central Valley. The schools that I attended there did not have health centers or clinics. It wasn’t until I moved back to the Bay Area during my first year in high school that I found out what a school-based health center was. I was really amazed that a resource of this caliber was offered to high school students. I eventually became involved by joining a youth led research team that was supported by Alameda Family Services and USF, and through that was able to learn more of the services that were offered, as well as some of the issues that my fellow peers were going through. I truly learned about the impact a school-based health center has on a student body by being lucky enough to participate in this youth led research team. Utilizing and becoming a part of my school-based health center taught me that everyone should have the opportunity to take advantage of a health center in their school. School-Based health centers should be readily available to all youth across the state, and I will continue to advocate for them so that this mission can become a reality.

Meet the Social Media Fellows: Lauren Mosley

Hi! I'm Lauren Mosley from HEALS, Inc. (Health Establishments at Local Schools) in Huntsville, AL, and I'm thrilled to be joining the National School-Based Health Care Convention this summer as a Social Media Fellow! Since joining HEALS, Inc. as the Development Director after graduate school in 2009, I have had the opportunity to wear multiple hats within the small non-profit organization, which has allowed me to grow our website and social media presence.

What better way to cultivate my creativity and leadership skills to build awareness for an organization that helps children and families in need?! The power of social media has sky-rocketed in the last few years, and I think it is more important now than ever to get the word out using these fun and interactive tools! As we are all working together to share the mission, vision, and vital sustainability of school-based health centers, by having a real-time connection to the Convention will mean substantial growth, feedback, and interaction with our supporters.

The more "connected" we become in creating a community of individuals and groups that understand our main goals and objectives, we will not only have fun process, but we can make lasting relationships that will keep us on the road to success! I look forward to working together to gain exponential support for our mission!

Meet the Youth Track: Elizabeth Guzman Arroyo

This is the first in a series of posts that will run before the Convention introducing members of the Youth Track.

A dedicated leader and youth activist, Elizabeth Guzman Arroyo took it upon herself to fund the first statewide Youth Advisory Council for school-based health care in Oregon. Elizabeth is a strong advocate for school-based health care, beginning during her high school career with the development of the Forest Grove School-Based Health Center. As a youth leader, Elizabeth believes youth involvement in school-based health care is of the upmost importance. She states that, "school-based health care is for students. It is our responsibility and privilege as youth to advocate for resources that impact our lives." A current student at Linfield College, Elizabeth plans on majoring in General Business with a double concentration in Marketing and Management, a degree that will aid Elizabeth in pursuing her dream of developing a national youth leadership/development organization.

Five Great Workshops you don’t want to Miss

Take a look at these five exciting workshops that will take place during NASBHC’s 2011 Annual Convention. These are just a sample of the great workshops that will be held in Chicago. To check out the full listing take a look at our preliminary program.

Engaging and Collaborating with Tribal Communities and Organizations: Successful Behavioral Health Intervention and Prevention Methods
Monday, June 27th, 9:45 am – 11:00 am

The recent health care reform law emphasizes the need for collaboration across community stakeholders to improve prevention education and intervention programs. During this workshop participants will develop a method to collaborate with and engage tribal communities and Indian organizations in building and implementing substance abuse and mental health programming.

PROTECT™ (Supporting Appropriate Immunizations across the Age Spectrum): Strategies for Improving Immunization Rates
Monday, June 27th, 3:15 pm – 4:30 pm

This activity has been planned in accordance with the need to provide education to address specific unmet needs and clinical gaps in the area of vaccine preventable diseases by improving the performance of clinicians who are currently responsible for administering immunizations to applicable pediatric, adolescent, and adult patients.

Pre-opening Surveys Help Define SBHC Services
Tuesday, June 28, 11:15 am – 12:30 pm

Pre-opening surveys can be very useful for determining the baseline access to health care and for assessing house-hold risk factors. This information can be used to help determine the spectrum of services for new SBHCs. Such surveys need not be complex.

A comprehensive Program Evaluation of Mental Health Services in a Rural School-Based Health Center: Implications for Planning Evaluations
Tuesday, June 28th, 3:15 pm – 4:30 pm

This workshop will present best-practice guidelines for the design, execution, and interpretation of evaluations targeting school-based mental health services. These concepts will be illustrated using a case study from rural high school.

Incorporating Oral Health in Primary Care Practice: Lessons from Kaiser Permanente
Tuesday, June 28th, 4:45 pm – 6:00 pm

Dental problems are the most commonly cited unmet need among children, with tooth decay being one of the most common diseases of childhood. This workshop will address barriers to early dental disease prevention practices by training health care providers in how to apply dental fluoride varnish in the medical office setting.

This years’ Convention is full of useful workshops like these, along with trainings, networking opportunities, activities, and information sessions for you to take advantage of. If you haven’t registered yet, visit www.nasbhc.org/convetion to register today.

What will you be doing in Chicago?

It’s already June and if you’re coming to the Convention this year we’re sure you’re as excited to check out the great city of Chicago as you are to experience all the wonderful activities at the Convention. We wanted to take some time to highlight a few of the things to do while in Chicago outside of the Convention.

Not far from the Convention is Grant Park which includes great scenery like Buckingham Fountain, Millennium Park, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Cloud Gate (affectionately referred to as “the Bean” by Chicagoans). During the Convention Grant Park will be hosting a Taste of Chicago – one of the largest food festivals in the world. There will be lots of food (of course) along with musical acts and a 5K race/walk.

Cloud Gate

Also close to the Convention is Navy Pier which has fireworks, the Chicago Children’s Museum, boats and cruises, and a Ferris wheel. It’s a great place to check out Lake Michigan, go for a walk, or enjoy dinner.

Chicago is host to a wide array of world class museums and art galleries. The Shedd Aquarium is home to 32,500 animals, and not just fish! They also have otters, whales, penguins, lizards, and many other land and sea critters. The Museum of Science and Industry is a popular destination for science eggheads and amateurs alike. Or if art is more your thing, the Art Institute of Chicago has a wonderful collection of art in a variety of mediums – paintings, sculptures, and photography.

As you can see there is a wealth of culture, activities, and food to be enjoyed while in Chicago. We’re really excited to host our 2011 National Convention in such a large, eclectic city. We hope you can join us for an informative and productive experience with your peers and a fun time in one of the United State’s great cities!

Have any suggestions for places to visit? Post them in the comments section to share with your fellow attendees!

By Kyle Taylor
Outreach and Engagement intern

Welcome to NASBHC's 2011 Annual Convention Blog

Hello and welcome to NASBHC's 2011 Annual Convention Blog. We can't wait to see everyone in Chicago this June - at the Convention and online.

There are a lot of exciting things happening at the Convention this year that you won't want to miss (click here to check out our preliminary program).

We'll be streaming all three of the plenary sessions live again this year along with two workshops to allow those who are unable to attend keep up with what's happening in Chicago.

Similar to last year, we'll show a live Twitter feed in the Convention hall. This allows everyone, including those who aren't present, to participate and interact with each other.

We are fortunate enough to have five social media fellows attending the Convention this year. They'll have distinct badges that will make them easy to spot. Throughout the Convention you will find them at NASBHC's booth and attending workshops. They will be happy to answer quesitons about Twitter and Facebook.

NASBHC is proud to have 16 Youth Ambassadors at the Convention this year participating in our Youth Track. These college and high school students will be travelling to the Convention from five different states and will work on projects related to their interests in media, advocacy, or leadership.

Keep checking this blog for updates, blogs about the different workshops and plenaries, and introductions to our staff, social media fellows, and youth ambassadors! And if you haven't registered yet, be sure to visit www.nasbhc.org/convention now. Keep in mind the early bird cut-off for registration is May 20th. Don't miss the discounted rate!

Watch NASBHC's 2011 Convention video:

By Kyle Taylor
Outreach and Engagement Intern