• Do you have an interest in gaining legal knowledge and learn about practical considerations to effectively develop and implement smoke-free policies?
• Are you interested in launching a cessation class at your house of worship or organization?
• Are you dedicated to keeping our youth smoke-free?

Click here to see a list of upcoming events and webinars.  Together, we can help residents and their families of suburban Cook County lead healthier and longer lives.

If you have any questions, please contact Charlyn Primous, Assistant Director of Tobacco Prevention and Control Unit, at 708-633-8351 or cprimous@cookcountyhhs.org, or go to the Cook County Department of Public Health website.

Designed specifically for the Latino Community, the La Mesa Completa Pastor’s Toolkit describes federal nutrition assistance programs from the lens of a pastor or community leader interacting with members of their community. It includes helpful links, best practices, stories, and even videos of personal testimonies of how federal programs are helping families get the nutrition they need.  Click hereto see the toolkit online.

For more information, contact Max Finberg, Director, Center for Faith-Based & Neighborhood Partnerships, U.S. Department of Agriculture, collaborate@usda.gov/ (202) 720-2032

The application deadline is this Friday, April 20, 2012. Scholarships will cover the cost of registration, continuing education credits, meeting materials, as well as a healthy lunch and healthy beverages.  We cannot cover travel costs.

Rethink Your Drink Symposium:
The Impact of Sugar-Loaded Beverages on the Obesity Epidemic and Clinical and Environmental Strategies to Reduce Consumption

 Wednesday, April 25, 2012
11:30AM to 5:00PM
Rush University Medical Center

To apply for a scholarship, click here.  Everyone, including physicians, dentists, and nurses are eligible to apply. Preference will be given for those who indicate they do not have financial resources to attend, students, school nurses, health coaches, or other types of health care workers who are not well represented at the symposium.

The symposium faculty includes nationally-known experts from distinguished organizations like Harvard School of Public Health, Healthcare Without Harm, The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Steward Healthcare System, University of Chicago, University of Illinois at Chicago, and University of Oklahoma.

Additional information, including a conference brochure and registration information, is available online at: http://tinyurl.com/RethinkYourDrinkSymposium.

The Accessible Faith Grant Program makes funds available to houses of worship to enable them to make accessibility improvements to their facilities.  The program is open to houses of worship in six metro Chicago counties:  Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, and McHenry.  Since the program began nine years ago, the Foundation has awarded 129 grants, totaling almost $2.8 million, to religious congregations to make their facilities more accessible.

Please help us share information about the Accessible Faith Grant Program with leaders of houses of worship, disability rights advocates, and others who may know religious congregations that could benefit from this opportunity.  Please announce the Accessible Faith Grant Program through print or electronic newsletters, listserves, or other means available to you.  A copy of the flyer announcing the 2012 Accessible Faith Grant Program is attached.  You may view it in full color, download, and make copies of it.  You will find a full description of the program, application form, and tips for completing the application in the Accessible Faith Grant Program section of our website at www.rrf.org.

We hope that you will help spread the word immediately to give congregations adequate time to submit an application.  Thank you for helping to make others aware of the importance of accessibility improvements and the availability of funding for such efforts.

If you have questions or comments, please contact us at AFG@rrf.org.   Thank you.

Advocate Health Care

This position is designed to provide whole person health promotion and disease prevention services with an emphasis on spiritual care. These services are provided to a congregation as part of the continuum of care of Advocate Health Care.

The major accountabilities and job activities of the parish nurse role are integrator of faith and health, health educator, personal health counselor, referral agent, developer of support groups, educator of volunteers, and health advocate.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Excellent communication skills
• Current license as Registered Professional Nurse in Illinois.
• BSN preferred.
• 5-7 years current clinical experience.
• Computer skills and ability to gather and document data for community served
• Health assessment, health education and health counseling skills.
• Community outreach and public health experience a plus

The position will serve three area congregations in Antioch IL. This is a 20 hour per week position in the Advocate Condell Hospital service area.

Parishes include: St. Ignatius Episcopal, St. Stephen Lutheran and the United Methodist Church of Antioch.

To learn more about Parish Nursing, visit our website at:  http://www.advocatehealth.com/parishnursing and www.advocatehealth.com and visit careers at Advocate.

Please apply on-line at www.advocatehealth.com/applynow , Reference Job ID 25006-49459 or contact Nancy Durbin, MS, RN, FCN, Director, Advocate Health Care Parish Nurse Ministry at nancy.durbin@advocatehealth.com

Project Goal

The Institute for Faith and Public Health Leadership equips faith and public health leaders to work together more effectively to improve the health of their communities. More specifically, the Institute will strengthen faith and public health partnerships and help participants identify and mobilize the unique assets that both disciplines bring to the work of eliminating health inequities—the preventable and unjust differences in health status based on the social conditions in which a person lives.

What?

This series will bring together faith and public health leaders from the metropolitan Chicago area who are working on HIV/AIDS, Emergency Preparedness, Chronic Disease, and Food Access. The Institute will provide tools and resources from both faith and public health perspectives to help leaders further develop or start a new collaborative approach to address root causes that lead to health inequities within these areas.
Participants will work in mixed, faith and health teams to explore four topics that are foundational to developing more coordinated faith and public heath partnerships – Root Causes, Assets, Assessment, and Advocacy. Teams will work together during the class and outside the class to develop a faith and public health partnership strategy around their topic.
The series will include five sessions:

• Introduction and Root Causes
• Assets
• Assessment
• Advocacy
• Strategies

All sessions will draw on content experts from both faith and public health sectors. Sessions will be interactive and will utilize faith practice as one of the structures for reflection and dialogue. Sessions will include time for teams to work together to develop relationships and their partnership strategy.

When and Where?

Sessions will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the University of Illinois at Chicago campus.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012–Introduction and Root Causes
Tuesday, May 22, 2012–Assets
Tuesday, June 26, 2012—Assessment
Tuesday, July 24, 2012–Advocacy
Tuesday, August 14–Strategies

*Costs: $100 per team member – Costs includes training materials and lunch for each working session.

For more information and to register, click here.

Or contact Rev. Kirsten Peachey from The Center at 847-384-3552 or kirsten.peachey@advocatehealth.com or Rani Mishra from the MidAmerica Center at 312.996.7919 or rmishra@uic.edu.

We are also accepting applications for the Excellent Emerging Organization Award (due February 15, 2012). This award is given annually to a smaller, grassroots organization that demonstrates the potential to become a major contributor to Chicago’s robust nonprofit community. This award comes with a $2,500 cash grant and $50,000 in capacity-building services.

All three awards will be presented at the Axelson Center Symposium on Tuesday, June 5, 2012. All finalists receive complimentary registrations for the entire conference.

Word versions of both applications are available here.

Axelson Award Application

Axelson Excellent Emerging Application

If you have further questions, feel free to contact the Axelson Center directly at (773) 244-5799, axelson@northpark.edu, www.northpark.edu/axelson.

Rethink Your Drink Media Campaign 

Cook County Department of Public health launched the “Rethink Your Drink” Campaign on January 2^nd. “Rethink your Drink” is part of a county-wide effort to reduce the consumption of sugar-loaded beverages. Sugar-loaded beverages (i.e., sodas, energy drinks, sports drinks) are the single greatest source of calories in the American diet, providing approximately 10% of the total average calories per day. The large increase in the amount of sugary drinks people consume, or drink, relates to the dramatic rise in adult and childhood obesity.

The new campaign aims to educate Cook County residents about the harmful effects of sugar-loaded drinks through print and transit advertisements as well as radio and television commercials. Cook County joins several other health departments from across the US to promote healthy drinking habits.

For more information about “Rethink Your Drink” and to take the pledge, please visit the CCDPH website at www.rethinkyourdrinknow.com. To learn more about how your faith community can participate in this campaign, contact Jessica Palys, Faith Community  Organizer for The Center for Faith and Community Health Transformation at 847-384-3528 or jessica.thecenter@gmail.com.

Please share information about the Accessible Faith Grant Program with leaders of houses of worship, disability rights advocates, and others who may know religious congregations that could benefit from this opportunity.  Please announce the Accessible Faith Grant Program through print or electronic newsletters, listservs, or other means available to you.  Click here for a copy of the flyer announcing the 2012 Accessible Faith Grant Program.  You will find a full description of the program, application form, and tips for completing the application in the Accessible Faith Grant Program section of the RRF website.

Please help spread the word immediately to give congregations adequate time to submit an application.  Applications will be accepted from March 1 through June 1, 2012.  Thank you for helping make others aware of the importance of accessibility improvements and the availability of funding for such efforts.

If you have questions or comments, please contact Retirement Research Foundation at AFG@rrf.org.