April Content
- Healthier Generation, Healthier North Carolina Grant Opportunity
- Youth Engagement Community of Practice
- AAP's Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental Health
- Active Students, Engaged Learners: Boosting Student Engagement through Physical Activity
- When Students Lead
- May is Mental Health Month
- SUN Bucks is Back
- 2025 Healthful Living Standards Implementation PD (Regions 1, 2, and 4 Rescheduled)
- April/May Health Observances
Healthier Generation, Healthier North Carolina 2025 Seed Money Grant Opportunity
North Carolina community partners (non-profits, businesses, or community organizations) are invited to request funds up to $10,000 to support school communities in the northeastern and southeastern part of the state. Applicants for the Healthier Generation, Healthier North Carolina Seed Money Grant must submit a proposal that focuses on increasing access to healthy foods and nutrition health opportunities.
Deadline: May 16, 2025
Apply here: https://healthiergen.formstack.com/forms/2025_seed_money_grant_application
 Youth Engagement Community of Practice
SHAC members and Chairs, are you interested in meeting with others across the state to learn more about how to engage youth in leadership opportunities with your SHACs? There are some of you who already have youth on your SHAC and can share about your experiences to help others. Others are wondering how you can include youth and ensure they are engaged in authentic, meaningful ways to support their interests and growth.
We are considering starting up a Youth Engagement Community of Practice for the 2025 - 2026 school year, depending upon interest. This will be in addition to the continuing SHAC Learning Collaborative.
If you are interested in being part of a Community of Practice, please share your name, PSU/Organization, and email in the following document by May 5th.
Once we gauge interest, we can then determine how often to meet and ideal meeting times.
American Academy of Pediatrics' Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental Health
The Center provides a variety of educational and technical assistance opportunities to support clinicians, educators, parents, youth and others in encouraging healthy social media use:
- Virtual interactive learning communities leveraging Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes), an online learning community modality that uses didactic presentations from multidisciplinary faculty experts, case-based peer learning discussions, and quality improvement methodologies to improve health outcomes;
- Regularly scheduled webinars and follow-up office hours with expert clinicians;
- Expert speakers for and presentations delivered by our co-Medical Directors, staff and Center Ambassadors;
- A variety of tipsheets, educational case studies, and brief topical educational videos;
- A Question & Answer Portal: a two-way communication channel for questions about social media and mental well-being. Each submitted question has an evidence-based response from our expert team and users can search our library of previously submitted questions and responses.
To learn more, sign up for our monthly newsletter or contact us.
Active Students, Engaged Learners: Boosting Student Engagement through Physical Activity
Provided by Alliance for a Healthier Generation on Wednesday, May 7, 2025, 1:00 pm EDT
Physical activity is a powerful tool for enhancing student engagement, cognitive function, and overall well-being. This webinar will explore the critical role of movement in fostering a positive and productive learning environment. Participants will gain insights into strategies for integrating physical activity before, during, and after school to support student success. There will be a panel discussion where we will share practical approaches for leveraging movement to improve focus, behavior, and academic outcomes for all students.
Learner Objectives:
- Define student engagement and describe its connection to academic performance and overall student well-being.
- Explain the physical, mental, and behavioral benefits of physical activity on student learning and engagement.
- Identify strategies for incorporating movement into before, during, and after school.
- Engage with panelists to discuss challenges and best practices in promoting student movement and engagement.
Register for this Webinar.
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When Students Lead
For over 45 years, the Center for Supportive Schools has partnered with schools across the country to center student voice, develop youth leadership, and create environments where students thrive. We're excited to introduce our newest program, When Students Lead—an evidence-based peer leadership initiative for your middle and high school students.
Through this program, students gain the skills to:
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Identify their leadership style and understand how they show up as leaders
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Conduct research and analyze data to address real challenges in their school community
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Communicate effectively with peers and adults
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Advocate for meaningful, student-driven change
Join us for a free, 60-minute webinar on April 17 at 3:00 p.m. ET to learn how When Students Lead can help foster a culture of student-led leadership in your school for the 2025-26 school year.
Register here for April 17th Webinar.
If you can’t attend live, we’ll also host open office hours on April 24 at 1:00 p.m. ET.
Register here for April 24th Office Hours.
May is Mental Health Month
Mental Health America is excited to announce the release of our highly anticipated 2025 May is Mental Health Month toolkit! This year’s theme for Mental Health Month is “Turn Awareness into Action.” It can be overwhelming to navigate the various challenges and changes happening around us. The pressures of work, relationships, and societal factors, like politics, climate change, and the economy, can significantly impact our mental well-being, sometimes even more than we realize.
MHA’s FREE toolkit provides fact sheets, worksheets, sample communications materials, sample social media, and include:
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Innovative outreach ideas to spark engagement
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Ready-to-use communication templates to save time
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Activity examples to inspire your planning
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Partnership opportunities to amplify your reach
Whether you’re launching your first awareness campaign or have been celebrating Mental Health Month for years, the planning guide will help you create impactful events and initiatives. Let’s make Mental Health Month 2025 the most powerful yet!
Access the planning guide and other resources here.
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SUN Bucks is back for the summer of 2025. Eligible families can receive a one-time payment of $120 per eligible child to help purchase groceries while school is out.
SUN Bucks, a USDA program, provides benefits on a debit-like card that can be used to buy healthy food at grocery stores, farmers markets, and some online retailers. This is a great way to ensure your children have access to nutritious food during the summer break.
Find details, including eligibility information and FAQs, here.
2025 Healthful Living Standards Implementation PD
Train the Trainer Model
Regions 1, 2 and 4 Rescheduled
Registration Links (Healthful Living Standards Hub)
 Session 1:
8:30-11:30 am
New Standards & Support Tools
Session 2:
12:30-3:30 pm
New Standards Planning & Networking plus LIS Integration
These 6 hour sessions will include a morning session (8:30 - 11:30 am) focusing on new standards with support tools. The afternoon session (12:30 - 3:30 pm) will provide an opportunity to plan/network with other teachers, coaches, administrators, that are there as well as a presentation on Literacy integration.
This train-the-trainer workshop introduces the new support tools for the 2024 K-12 Standard Course of Study (SCoS) for Healthful Living. In the morning, participants will explore the new SCoS and dig into the support tools, like Crosswalks, Unpacking Standards and Glossary. In the afternoon, an opportunity for planning and/or networking time for participants to work in small groups based on their program, courses, or grade levels as they think about implementing the new standard will be given along with a presentation on how the Literacy Instruction Standards can be supported through the Healthful Living instruction.
We’ll wrap-up with an overview of the Implementation timeline for the SCoS for Healthful Living as we move toward initial implementation and using the new standards in Fall 2025.
Note: Registration will allow participants to indicate whether they are signing up for the 6-hour option with both sessions or one of the 3-hour sessions (morning or afternoon) depending on their needs.
Registration Links (Healthful Living Standards Hub)
April / May Health Observances Include:
- April 13 - 19 is STI Awareness Week
- April 21 - 25 is Every Kid Healthy Week
- April 22nd is Earth Day
- April is Minority Health Month
- April is Autism Awareness Month
- April is Alcohol Awareness Month
- April is Defeat Diabetes Month
- April is IBS Awareness Month
- April is Child Abuse Prevention Month
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- May 7th is national Bike and Roll to School Day
- May is Adolescent Health Month
- May is Better Sleep Month
- May is National Bike Month
- May is National Employee Health and Fitness Month
- May is National Mental Health Month
- May is National Physical Fitness and Sports Month
- May is National Asthma and Allergy Awareness Month
- May is Food Allergy Awareness Month
- May is National Water Safety Month
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