Students and Parents Travel to Albany to Support School-Based Health Centers

February 1, 2009

500 Participants from Across New York State Expected at Advocacy Day

SPANISH-SPEAKING CHILDREN’S AID SOCIETY PARENTS AND STAFF WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEW BEFORE THE BUS DEPARTS.

Contacts:
Ellen Lubell, The Children’s Aid Society – (w) 212-949-4938, (c) 917-854-6864
Emily Crossan, The Children’s Aid Society – (w) 917-286-1548, (c) 201-344-5742

When:
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
6:45 a.m. – Bus departs for Albany

Where:
The Children’s Aid Society’s Salomé Ureña de Henríquez Community School
4600 Broadway at 196th Street

What:
A busload of students, parents and staff from two Children’s Aid Society community schools in Washington Heights will travel to Albany to participate in the New York State Coalition for School-Based Health Centers Advocacy Day.

School-based health centers (SBHC) – health centers located inside public schools – provide medical, dental and mental health services to students regardless of insurance and immigration status. The Children's Aid Society partners with the New York City Department of Education in four community schools in Washington Heights that house SBHCs. These school-based health centers hosted 35,000 visits by students during the 2006-07 school year.

Parents rely on these SBHCs for vital health services for their children. One mother of a student at a Children’s Aid Society community school credits the SBHC with helping her son deal with his asthma, preventing trips to the emergency room and lost days of school and work.

There are currently 212 SBHCs across New York State providing health services to over 200,000 underserved children. Participants in Advocacy Day will express their strong support for Governor Paterson’s budget proposal, which includes $23.1 million in funding for SBHCs.

The Children's Aid Society contingent will meet with Assemblymembers Adriano Espaillat, Herman D. Farrell, Jr., Adam Clayton Powell, IV and Senator Eric Schneiderman.

The Children’s Aid Society was founded in 1853. It is one of the nation’s largest and most innovative non-sectarian agencies, serving 150,000 of New York’s neediest children and their families with a network of services that includes community schools, neighborhood centers, camps, adoption and foster care services, teen pregnancy prevention, education, health and recreation. For additional information, please call 212-949-4938 or visit www.childrensaidsociety.org.

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