Child Advocacy
Child advocacy focuses on policies supporting the well-being of the whole child. These policies provide residual benefits for hundreds of kids across the country. NASBHC and its partners are committed to supporting these policies, legislations and initiatives, making children a priority, in our communities and on the national agenda.
NASBHC believes that SBHCs are perfectly positioned to address the multiple health problems plaguing the America’s youth. SBHCs bring a needed perspective to youth in crisis, having been a part of their lives throughout everyday challenges. We also believe that our passion for advancing the needs of vulnerable children and adolescents extends beyond a narrow focus on the needs of the center itself.
Our Positions and Priorities
Legislation NASBHC Supports
Archives
Our Positions and Priorities
The Role of SBHCs in Improving Health Inequities and Reducing Health Disparities
Access to culturally competent, high quality, first-contact primary care through school-based health centers is an effective way to reduce health inequities and, therefore, improve health outcomes for socially disadvantaged children and adolescents.
Legislation NASBHC Supports
The Child Nutrition Act
The Child Nutrition Act (PL 111-296) is a United States federal law signed on October 11, 1966 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The Act was created as a result of the "years of cumulative successful experience under the National School Lunch Program to help meet the nutritional needs of children." The National School Lunch Program feeds 30.5 million children per day (as of 2007). Reauthorized as The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, this legislation authorized funding and set new policy for USDA’s core child nutrition programs, including the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), the Summer Food Service Program, and the Child and Adult Care Food Program. Additionally, this act raised the nutrition standards for school meals for the first time in 15 years. These new standards would add more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free and low-fat milk to school meals and would require schools to limit levels of saturated fat, sodium, calories, and trans-fats served to students.
The Children’s Act of 2010
The Children’s Act of 2010 (S.3968) was introduced on November 18, 2010 by Senator Christopher Dodd sought to establish the National Council on Children. Aligned with the mission and ideology of school-based health centers (SBHCs), this council would (1) study and report to the President and Congress on the health, safety, and learning needs of children, (2) examine systems for children’s programs and assess ways to increase spending in preventive services for children and youth in order to improve outcomes, (3) build upon the evaluations of other entities and avoid unnecessary duplication, and (4) make recommendations to improve children’s well being.
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