Linking Community Health Centers with Schools Serving Low-Income Children: An Idea Book.

By working together, pooling resources and energy, both health centers and schools can do more to help children to be ready to learn and to reach their full potential as citizens. This book focuses on establishing links between schools serving low-income children and community or migrant health centers. The book is organized into three chapters corresponding to critical steps in the development of a school-linked program and contains advice, recommendations for further reading, and checklists. The first chapter guides readers from initial consideration of a school-linked program through the organization of a planning group. This chapter provides an overview of issues that sites should anticipate in the process of program design and implementation. The second chapter explores key issues to consider during the actual design and implementation of the program. This chapter is organized by key topics, including gathering data, organizing support, deciding which services to provide and where, determining a staff configuration, establishing a structure, financing the project, addressing confidentiality and consent issues, cultivating community involvement, and building in plans for self-assessment and evaluation. The third chapter examines issues that develop during ongoing operation and expansion of school-linked health initiatives and key issues which affect program stability and sustainability, especially long-term financial concerns. Four appendices contain a glossary of health and education terms, reference charts and sample forms used by an existing site, contact information, and profiles of the nine sites studied. (SD)