FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 17, 2009
Contact: Jamie Arehart (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 267-350-7699), Vanessa Briggs (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 215-731-6108 or 215-206-0345) or Greg McKinley (215- 850-1837)

PHILADELPHIA—The W.K. Kellogg Foundation has selected Philadelphia Urban Food and Fitness Alliance (PUFFA) Grow and Sow initiative to lead its Food & Community Program effort. Health Promotion Council, on behalf of PUFFA, will administer the $1.2 million grant. PUFFA aims to change policies and organizational practices in order to construct a local food system that forms the foundation for growing neighborhood economies in ways that are environmentally sustainable. The national grant is one of eight awarded today by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for community-led projects that work to transform food systems locally.

Vanessa Briggs, executive director of Health Promotion Council said, “This is an exciting opportunity for Philadelphia to develop long-term solutions through policy and system changes to address health disparities and inequities that continue to erode our most vulnerable and marginalized communities.”

PUFFA’s Sow and Grow initiative will target two neighborhoods centered on developing grassroots learning and advocacy communities devoted to improving living conditions through increasing access to healthy food and physical activity opportunities. “It is our hope that we will improve the lives of vulnerable children, support public health and provide jobs, learning, and entrepreneurial opportunities for adult and young people,” said Briggs. “Young people are our future leaders and will be the driving force behind PUFFA.”

The new grant extends the work that PUFFA began in 2007 under the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s earlier Food & Fitness program. Up until October 2009, PUFFA created a dynamic working collaborative representing multiple sectors including food systems and agriculture, public health, health care, transportation and other urban and rural planners, community advocates, youth and young adult leaders, parents, school personnel, parks and recreation and faith-based groups. PUFFA created a community action plan by focusing on building relationships and directly understanding the rich assets and needs of the community.

Tina Sloan Green, president of the Black Women in Sport Foundation, said, “I am excited about the great opportunity the Kellogg grant offers to drive and expand our efforts by further engaging community and providing opportunities to link with others.” Sloan added, “This grant allows further leveraging of efforts among groups working in the food and physical activity areas to ultimately improve the lives of our youth and families in underserved communities.”

“Building on more than a decade of pioneering work to improve food systems, the Kellogg Foundation is harnessing this momentum with community partners around the country and leading the way toward a nation where all children thrive with equal access to good food and opportunities for physical activity,” said Gail C. Christopher, vice president for programs with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

The Food & Community program focuses on local collaborative efforts, taking a variety of community-led approaches on four key priorities:

• Transforming school food systems
• Improving community food environments
• Promoting active living and routine physical activity
• Sustaining and expanding the growing national movement for healthy food and active living

In Philadelphia, PUFFA partners have already accomplished much, including:

• The Menu Labeling Bill requiring comprehensive nutrition analysis information be available at the point of decision-making
• Unprecedented cross-sector collaboration including
• Building Healthier Communities
• Black Women in Sport Foundation
• Community Leaders/Advocates
• Fair Food
• Health Promotion Council
• Nu Sigma Youth Services
• Penn State Cooperative Extension
• Pennsylvania Horticultural Society
• Philadelphia Department of Health
• Public Health Management Corporation
• Region III Department of Health and Human Services
• The Common Market
• The Food Trust
• Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
• University of Pennsylvania
• WHYY Public Broadcasting
• University Nutrition Initiative
• And host of other partners

With this new funding and support from the Kellogg Foundation, PUFFA looks forward to putting plans in motion to create a healthier community for all. Specific efforts will include:

• Increasing the number of children eating breakfast and lunch in Philadelphia schools
• Improving the nutritional quality of food served at breakfast and lunch
• Effecting change in the sedentary culture
• Increasing the number and quality of available space through active physical involvement in neighborhood revitalization efforts
• Increasing the purchasing power of families with children by maximizing enrollment and benefit levels in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Women, Infant, Children Program
• Advocating for policy changes to increase acceptance of Electronic Benefit Transfer cards among vendors selling farm-fresh produce
• Supporting the expansion of a wide variety of food outlets serving affordable local produce by linking them to the Common Market and other food distribution initiatives

Kellogg’s Food & Community Programs also leverage the foundation’s regional and national investments by connecting urban school districts with regional food sources and linking information and tools of various funders’ projects to inform policy and systems change.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 12, 2009
Contact: Tine Hansen-Turton (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 215-731-7140)

PHILADELPHIA LAUNCHES WEB SITE TO FOCUS ON REGIONAL SOCIAL INNOVATIONS AND SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS

PHILADELPHIA, PA—On October 14 Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal, the first regional web-based journal of its kind, launches to bring together Philadelphia’s top social innovators and entrepreneurs to recognize and solve current social issues. The Journal will provide a forum for the Greater Philadelphia region’s top social innovators—those who have demonstrated an exceptional capacity to recognize social problems and apply entrepreneurial principles to organize, create and manage high-impact social change locally, regionally and beyond.

“Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal will build a pipeline of social innovations for expansion, meeting our community’s needs. Now more than ever, we need to invest in programs that work and find innovative, effective solutions to our nation's most serious challenges,” comments Michele Jolin, Senior Advisor for Social Innovation for the White House Domestic Policy Council.

Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal co-founders Nicholas Torres of Congreso and Tine Hansen-Turton of National Nursing Centers Consortium and Public Health Management Corporation want to bridge formal research with practice. Inspired by Stanford Social Innovation Review, also a sponsor of the Journal, Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal pioneers a new avenue, bringing attention to the current and ongoing innovative work in the Greater Philadelphia nonprofit and social sector business community with respect to access to health care, human capital, education and workforce development, and violence prevention.

“The Philadelphia region leads in creating cutting edge social innovations, many of which go unnoticed,” says Torres. “Many of our region’s organizations and their leaders receive a great deal of regional, state, national, and in some cases international recognition; yet, we see very little opportunity for these agencies to publish their own social innovations, share best practices or lessons learned. Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal presents that opportunity.”

Hansen-Turton agrees: “Leaders of social innovations spend most of their time doing and less time publishing, and Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal serves to shine a light on these innovators.”

In recent remarks, President Barack Obama stated that government cannot solve our nation's problems alone. He launched the White House's Office of Social Innovation to uncover opportunities to partner with those who are leading change in their communities and to help create a policy environment in which these innovations can thrive. “We applaud local communities’ efforts to lead change. It is exciting that Philadelphia is launching Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal,” said Jolin.

Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal founders have partnered with local funders and investors such as United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania, The Philadelphia Foundation, Greentree Community Health Foundation, Independence Foundation, The Thomas Scattergood Foundation, and St. Christopher’s Foundation for Children, representatives of which make up part of its editorial board. Professors and students from University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, Fels Institute of Government and School of Social Policy and Practice, along with LaSalle University, Drexel University and Thomas Jefferson University, have teamed up with the Journal. These academic partners have committed to providing master-level students to serve as writers. The Journal invites graduate students from partner universities to become Philadelphia Social Innovations Fellows and co-author articles.

"The Wharton School and University of Pennsylvania have been engaging in social innovations with impact for many years. Philadelphia is home to many innovative leaders, whose efforts have had significant social impact not only locally, but globally,” says Dr. Leonard Lodish, Vice Dean for the Program for Social Impact at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. “I am delighted to see this new initiative that recognizes and highlights these innovators and how they bring social value and social impact to our region."

In conjunction with Eisenhower Fellowships’ annual meeting, Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal will hold a launch celebration on October 14. Eisenhower Fellowship president John Wolf said, “Philadelphia Social Innovation Journal is a way to chronicle the imagination and dedication by hundreds of organizations and thousands of their employees and volunteers who help, every day, to improve their communities.” The event, he added, will “congratulate those who have seen this journal as a way to encourage others to share in and invest back into our community and indeed communities all over the country.” The Philadelphia-based Eisenhower Fellowships engages emerging leaders in a global community network. Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal founders Hansen-Turton and Torres both are Eisenhower Fellows.

Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal will be published quarterly at www.philasocialinnovations.org.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 26, 2009
Contact: Tine Hansen-Turton (215-731-7140 or 215-219-8857 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

At a time when improving access to primary care is crucial, less than half of managed care insurers routinely recognize nurse practitioners as primary care providers

Philadelphia, PA – A study conducted by National Nursing Centers Consortium (NNCC) has found that nearly half (48%) of all major managed-care organizations in the United States do not credential or contract with nurse practitioners as primary care providers. “Policies like these jeopardize the success of health care reform at a time when we need more qualified and cost-effective primary care providers than ever before,” says Tine Hansen-Turton, CEO of NNCC.

The American Academy of Nursing has identified nurses who have developed innovative models of care that could support the infrastructure that the United States needs to provide more health promotion, prevention and chronic care management. But, the Academy's CEO Pat Ford-Roegner notes that, "insurers must remove the barriers to full utilization and credentialing of the advanced practice nurses if we're to spread these models of care that we know improve health outcomes and reduce costs."

In nurse-managed health centers, community health centers, and nurse-led private practices throughout the country, nurse practitioners provide comprehensive primary care to patients with similar outcomes to primary care physicians. Insurers’ prohibitive reimbursement policies reduce these practices’ capacity for growth and threaten key components of the health care safety net. “To improve our health care system, we need to improve access not only to health insurance, but to health care providers as well,” says Ann S. Torregrossa, Director of the Pennsylvania Governor’s Office of Health Care Reform. “Health reform legislation will dramatically increase the number of Americans with health insurance. We need to make sure that we are using our existing primary care workforce – including nurse practitioners – to meet the new demand.”

To collect data, NNCC researchers contacted major managed care insurers offering HMO product lines in all 50 states and the District of Columbia in the summer of 2009. NNCC administered a brief survey to health plan staff using a uniform script. Only 48% of health plan staff surveyed said that they credential nurse practitioners as primary care providers. Four percent of respondents stated that while they did not normally credential nurse practitioners as primary care providers, they would occasionally make exceptions, especially if nurse practitioners provided care to Medicaid beneficiaries or patients in rural areas where few primary care physicians exist. The remaining insurers recognize nurse practitioners as primary care providers.

Federal health care reform will result in tens of millions of newly insured patients nationwide. In the face of acute primary care physician shortages and steady reductions in the number of physicians willing to accept Medicaid and Medicare, it is unclear whether the health care system can meet the needs of a universally-insured nation, unless it better utilizes nurse practitioners as primary care providers. In 2006 in Massachusetts, passage of a similar universal insurance plan overwhelmed the health care system’s existing supply of primary care physicians. “Passage of a law in 2008 was designed to address just this problem by requiring health insurers to recognize nurse practitioner primary care providers and reimburse them fairly,” says Therese Murray, Massachusetts Senate President. “While we are still in need of more primary care providers in Massachusetts the legal requirement has allowed nurse practitioners to fill a huge gap.”

NNCC conducted a similar study in 2007 and found that 53% of managed care insurers recognized nurse practitioners as primary care providers. Data from its new study demonstrates that two years later, many managed care insurance companies still do not consider primary care nurse practitioners equal to primary care physicians. Findings also show that state and federal laws designed to prohibit unfair discrimination continue to provide little protection to nurse practitioners. "Equitable credentialing and reimbursement for nurse practitioner primary care providers will remain elusive as long as managed care insurers view nurse practitioners as primary care providers of last resort," said Hansen-Turton.

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ABOUT THE NATIONAL NURSING CENTERS CONSORTIUM
The largest organization of nurse-managed health centers in the United States, National Nursing Centers Consortium (NNCC) works to advance nurse-led health care through policy, consultation, programs and applied research to reduce health disparities and meet people’s primary care and wellness needs. Nurse-managed health centers are community-based practices led by advanced practice nurses (primarily nurse practitioners). The nation’s 250 nurse-managed health centers reduce health disparities by providing high quality comprehensive primary health care, health promotion, and disease prevention services to uninsured and vulnerable patients in rural, urban, and suburban communities. In coming months, NNCC researchers will further analyze study results and prepare them for third-party publication. ABOUT

THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF NURSING
The American Academy of Nursing anticipates and tracks national and international trends in health care, while addressing resulting issues of health care knowledge and policy. The Academy's mission is to serve the public and nursing profession by advancing health policy and practice through the generation, synthesis, and dissemination of nursing knowledge.

NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 8, 2009
Contact: Jamie Arehart (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 267-350-7699)

Executive Director Vanessa Briggs to Meet with World Health Officials

PHILADELPHIA—Executive Director Vanessa Briggs of Health Promotion Council of Southeastern Pennsylvania (HPC) soon will have the opportunity to meet with public health professionals and government officials halfway across the world. Briggs joins 20 United States delegates on a trip to the Republic of South Africa from October 25 to November 5, 2009 as part of the Nutritional Health and Wellness People to People Citizen Ambassador Delegation.

“I am very excited to have the chance to engage in peer-to-peer learning and to be exposed to international public health,” says Briggs, a registered dietician and licensed nutritionist. The program will allow Briggs the opportunity to meet with officials from South Africa’s Department of Health as well as various medical researchers, nutritionists and others.

“Vanessa has displayed a firm commitment to bettering community health through ground-breaking initiatives,” says Richard Cohen, President & CEO of Public Health Management Corporation, of which HPC is an affiliate organization. “Her trip presents an exciting opportunity for global collaborations among talented public health professionals that will undoubtedly benefit clients in both countries.”

More than 400,000 professionals have enrolled in People to People Ambassador Programs, which were founded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower over 50 years ago and offer students, educators and professionals opportunities on all seven continents.

The group will explore South Africa under the guidance of Rita Mitchell, RD, former president of the California Dietetic Association. “A trip like this gives participants a much greater understanding of the nutritional needs of people in different countries and how workers there address them,” says Mitchell.

The group’s itinerary features trips to both Johannesburg and Cape Town and will consist of 30 hours of professional interaction including meetings and site visits balanced by a range of social activities and cultural excursions.

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About HPC
Health Promotion Council of Southeastern Pennsylvania (HPC) is a nonprofit corporation whose mission is to promote health, prevent and manage chronic disease, especially among vulnerable populations through community-based outreach, education, and advocacy. HPC's unique programs advocating healthier lifestyles, together with its innovative work with underrepresented minority groups have advanced the field of health promotion in Southeastern Pennsylvania and across the state. Established in 1981, HPC became an affiliate of the Public Health Management Corporation, formerly known as The Philadelphia Health Management Corporation, a leading public health institute in the region, in 1999. For more information on HPC, visit www.hpcpa.org.