Disseminating K-12 Health Literacy Efforts: A Learning Collaborative for Key Stakeholders

Advance African Development intends to offer a one-day symposium to explore the benefits of using National Library of Medicine NLM resources in K-12 school settings. The National Network of Libraries of Medicine, Middle Atlantic Region NNLM MAR has been funding promising K-12 health literacy programs. The proposed symposium is a follow-up intended to 1. Establish a learning collaborative made up of targeted key stakeholder; 2. Share, learn, and build on existing strategies that have been successfully used to integrate health literacy concepts into the K-12 school curricula; 3. Identify current and persistent K-12 health literacy gaps; and 4. Call to action for greater impact for sustainable health outcomes. The sessions will involve having keynote speakers, panel discussions, small group, breakout, and report back sessions. Small group sessions are meant to elicit suggestion, crystalize symposium proceedings, and make recommendation. Long term goal is to secure funding, to support collaborative K-12 health literacy efforts that can be pilot-tested and evaluated in Allegheny County and beyond. Pre-post ad satisfaction surveys will be administered to evaluate program performance. Target audience for this symposium is a small group of participants up to 40 described as key stakeholders/representatives from local organizations serving the health, education, social services, elected officials, local foundation representatives, faith-based, and needs of the K-12 population and its families. Free space has already been donated and confirmed: Room 2017 at the University of Pittsburgh, School of Social Work for Friday, March 17, 2017 from 8:00am-5:00pm.