Seeking Licensed Child Care Providers for PA NAPSACC Mini-grant Project focused on Children's Health
You’re entrusted by families with the care and well-being of their children. Amidst a world-wide pandemic, child care has emerged as a lifeline for families, adapting routines and policies to ensure that children are safe, healthy, and secure. In a time when health practices are more critical than ever, you are in a position to make a pivotal difference in children's lives by helping them form positive nutrition and physical activity habits while in your care.
The Pennsylvania Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment for Child Care (PA NAPSACC) program is a continuous quality improvement process focused on obesity prevention practices and policies within early care and education settings. The program utilizes Go NAPSACC, an on-line, evidence-based tool, to guide you through self-assessment, action planning, implementation, policy development, re-self-assessment and reflection. The process empowers program leadership and includes individualized technical assistance to increase knowledge and improve quality of practice and policy. Programs will also participate in online TA networks focused on policy development, which will be led by a Child Care Health Consultant (CCHC) at no cost to the site. The CCHC will review current practices and policies, assist with developing sustainable policies, and offer guidance for continuous quality improvement.
We recognize that you are faced with challenges beyond the norm. We are currently hosting sharing sessions with past project participants to identify strategies and resources that will support you as you develop and implement nutrition and physical activity action steps while balancing the impact and necessary guidelines of the pandemic.
Beyond the reward of making a difference in the health of the children in your care, those who participate and complete project requirements will also receive a $500 mini-grant to support their action steps. For STAR 3 and 4 programs, and STAR 2 programs moving to STAR 3, participation in all components of the PA NAPSACC program satisfies the performance standards and/or bonus point requirements related to utilizing a health care consultant to establish and maintain health policies above those required by certification as well as participating in an organized effort to promote nutritional health for children.
The PA NAPSACC Mini-grant Project will follow the timeline below:
Applications due by December 15, 2020
Notification of Acceptance - December 23, 2020
Orientation and kick-off - week of January 11, 2021
Have 5-6 months to implement!
Reflection and wrap up in June 2021
Technical support and policy consultation will be available to all participating programs.
If you are interested in participating, please complete and submit the electronic application. If you have questions or require additional information, please contact Lori McMonigal, Coordinator for Special Projects - Tuscarora Intermediate Unit, at 717-248-4942 x 112 or lmcmonigal@tiu11.org
Funding for this project is provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Health through the State Physical Activity and Nutrition grant and Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Department of Health and Human Services.
Applications must be submitted by December 15, 2020.
