CSCH is pleased to announce and congratulate the awardees of our FY2019 seed grant competition. These grants provide funds to investigators to support projects that align with the vision of CSCH to promote an integrated approach to health and learning through collaborations across the components within the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model. Eligible applicants were InCHIP members, with CSCH affiliation. Two interdisciplinary teams are the recipients of the $8,000 grants.

• The first team includes Miriam Valdovinos (School of Social Work), Rebecca Campbell-Montalvo (Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the Neag School of Education), Ruth Lucas (School of Nursing) and Xiaomei Cong (School of Nursing). Their project, “Healthcare Needs and Access for CT Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Schoolchildren,” will examine if and how key school personnel in Connecticut assist the children of migrant and seasonal farmworkers with their health needs and healthcare access.
• Beth Russell (Department of Human Development & Family Studies) and Tammy Freeberg (The Village for Families and Children) make up the second team. Their project, “Truancy Prevention Efforts to Interrupt the School to Prison Pipeline,” will study program services and outcomes related to truancy prevention to reduce juvenile justice involvement in Hartford given recent policy changes. Their project centers on informing future intervention development through stakeholder interviews with program staff, participants/families, and policymakers.

We wish to thank all of the applicants for their excellent proposals and the review committee members for their substantial contributions to the seed grant competition.