Health-Related Needs Community of Practice (March-April 2026)

The varied needs of school-aged children and adolescents necessitate that health centers and their partners adopt comprehensive, coordinated approaches that promote overall well-being. Health-related needs are defined as the non-medical factors influencing a child’s ability to learn, grow, and stay healthy. These include things like stable housing or living arrangements, access to nutritious food, reliable transportation, and supportive relationships with family or caregivers. Recognizing these needs helps health centers strengthen connections between care delivery, families, schools, and community partners. Standardized processes for identifying and documenting these areas support consistent, high-quality care, considering each child’s full context and circumstances.

Understanding and addressing health-related needs enables providers and care teams to tailor support that improves individual and population-level outcomes. This approach enhances early identification of challenges, promotes effective care coordination, and builds stronger relationships with children, adolescents, and families. Children who are healthy are better prepared to learn, engage in school, and reach their full potential. By integrating this perspective into everyday practice, health centers can help ensure that all young people have opportunities to achieve and maintain good health.

• Stable housing or living arrangements
• Availability of nutritious food
• Reliable transportation to school or medical appointments
• Opportunities for physical activity and recreation
• Supportive relationships with family members or caregivers

The School-Based Health Alliance (SBHA) welcomes applications from all Health Center Programs and Look-Alikes that serve children and adolescents in school or community settings. This community of practice is open to both new and existing programs seeking to enhance their capacity to identify and respond to the health-related needs of children and adolescents.

Each participating team must include at least two members who will be actively involved in the learning and implementation process and commit to attending all sessions. Teams should demonstrate an interest in building stronger connections between clinical and school environments to advance coordinated, holistic care for students.

Each team must include:

• An Administrator or Operations Staff Member with authority to make decisions related to implementation.
• A Clinical Provider who is involved in direct service delivery and can integrate knowledge and skills gained into practice.

Additional team members are strongly encouraged and may include:

• A School Partner or Liaison to support collaboration between the health center and school.
• A Behavioral Health Provider, Health Educator, or Community Health Worker to promote comprehensive care and engagement.
• A Quality Improvement or Data Staff Member to support tracking, evaluation, and continuous improvement efforts.

Participants of the learning collaborative must:

• Participate in five learning sessions over two months, including one 60-minute introductory session and four 90-minute content sessions.
• Apply and share knowledge gained from the sessions with colleagues and organizational leadership to strengthen practice and collaboration.
• Develop an action plan to implement strategies that address health-related needs to promote coordinated care and improve overall student well-being.
• Complete brief surveys throughout the program to provide feedback and help improve future community of practice offerings.
• Participate in a 90-day follow-up meeting and evaluation to review progress, share lessons learned, and discuss the ongoing implementation of strategies developed during the community of practice.

The community of practice will consist of five virtual sessions held over two months. The first session will serve as a 60-minute orientation from 3:00 to 4:00 pm ET, while the remaining four sessions will each be 90 minutes long, held from 3:00 to 4:30 pm ET. Each 90-minute session will include a combination of presentations, peer discussions, and interactive breakout activities designed to support the practical application of learning. A typical session will consist of 30 minutes of presentation and discussion, and 30 minutes of breakout rooms for working on action plans and activities. Sessions will conclude with a 30-minute Ask the Expert segment, allowing participants to ask questions, seek feedback, and receive tailored support from facilitators and subject matter experts.

The community of practice curriculum includes the following topics:

• Session 1: Welcome and Goal-Setting (Tuesday, March 3, 2026)
• Session 2: Streamlining Screening Practices to Identify Student Needs (Tuesday, March 17, 2026)
• Session 3: Building Trust and Partnerships to Support Student Health (Tuesday, March 31, 2026)
• Session 4: Enhancing Clinic Operations with Care Coordination (Tuesday, April 14, 2025)
• Session 5: Using Data to Tell Your Story (Tuesday, April 28, 2025)

Participants will need a quiet place set aside for each 90-minute community of practice session. All sessions will operate through Zoom (see the Zoom Help Center for detailed system requirements), and participants are expected to have their cameras enabled during the learning collaborative.