Strategic Plan for Adolescent Health to be Focus of State Summit in Manchester Oct. 3

Contact: Sharon Keeler
603-862-1566
UNH Media Relations

Sept. 29, 2003



Editors/News Directors:
For more information on the adolescent health summit or on the state’s strategic plan for adolescent health, contact Kristine Baber, director of UNH’s Adolescence Resource Center, at 603-862-2151 or Lisa Bujno, chief of the state health department’s Bureau of Maternal and Child Health, at 603-271-4516.

DURHAM. N.H. --The Adolescence Resource Center at the University of New Hampshire and the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services are jointly sponsoring a summit on adolescent health Friday, Oct. 3, 2003. “Supporting Youth, Investing in New Hampshire,” takes place at the Center of New Hampshire Holiday Inn in Manchester from 8:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Claire Brindis, director of the national Adolescent Health Information Center and co-author of California’s strategic plan for adolescent health, will present the keynote address in Salon A at 9 a.m.

Kristine Baber, UNH associate professor of family studies and director of the Adolescence Resource Center, and Lisa Bujno, chief of the state health department’s Bureau of Maternal and Child Health, will provide information about the strategic planning process and the plan’s recommendations and objectives. The strategic plan addresses a broad array of adolescent health issues including alcohol and other drug use, nutrition and physical fitness, mental health, and education. There also will be a focus on helping parents and communities support positive youth development.

“This is an exciting example of collaboration among the university, state government, and others across the state committed to adolescent well-being,” Baber says. “When we are
through, New Hampshire will be only the sixth state in the country to have a strategic plan for adolescent health.”

People from around the state who work with adolescents and related issues will be developing strategies and action steps at the summit to implement the plan. Key stakeholders have been invited, including representatives from state government and other policy makers, state agencies, youth-serving organizations, community coalitions, school personnel, health care professionals, parents and youth.
The summit is funded in part with grants from the Endowment for Health, the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, and the national Maternal and Child Health Bureau.

The work of the Adolescence Resource Center is supported by a $194,459 SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) grant.

Launched last year, the center is a UNH/state partnership designed to provide the infrastructure for a coordinated effort to support the health and well-being of New Hampshire youth. It is based in UNH’s School of Health and Human Services, is associated with the New Hampshire Institute for Health Policy and Practice and is an affiliate of the UNH Carsey Institute. Among the first projects of the center is this joint effort to develop a statewide strategic plan for adolescent health.

For more information on the summit or how to get involved with future adolescent health strategic planning activities, contact Kristine Baber at 603-862-2151 or Lisa Bujno at 603-271-4516.