UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Health Care Institute received a $4.1 million grant from the American Academy of Pediatrics that will enable the institute to expand its health literacy training program. 

Established in 2001 by the UCLA Anderson School of Management with funding from Johnson & Johnson, the institute works with federally funded Head Start Centers to give families the knowledge and skills they need to better manage their families’ health needs and create a healthy home environment. The institute has trained 120,000 families in 10 languages and in 50 states. Its training methodology, which is used by over 300 Head Start grantees nationwide, has consistently delivered significant outcomes in improving knowledge, changing behavior and reducing unnecessary visits to hospital emergency rooms and other health care providers.

“We believe that school readiness begins with health,” said Ariella Herman, the institute's research director and principal investigator and a long-time faculty member at UCLA Anderson School. “When the kids are healthy, they are in school, they are learning more and are more productive.”

The new funding is part of a new five-year, $33.4 million grant from the American Academy of Pediatrics to develop the National Center on Early Childhood Health and Wellness. The new center will be funded and jointly managed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families, Office of Head Start and Office of Child Care in partnership with the Health Resource Services Administration/Maternal and Child Health Bureau/Division of Home Visiting and Early Childhood Systems. The center will focus efforts on providing resources and support to early childhood education programs to promote the optimal health and well-being of pregnant women, infants, toddlers, preschoolers and their families, as well as program staff. The center is part of the federal early childhood training and technical assistance system, designed to build capacity and create sustainable early childhood practices at the regional, state and local levels.

The additional funding to the Health Care Institute will not only support expansion of its reach in Head Start but will enable it to promote its health literacy efforts to other low-income working families who receive financial assistance from the Office of Child Care. During the next five years, the institute will provide additional training material on key topics of children’s health, including oral health, mental health and wellness, and nutrition and obesity prevention, which will be useful in improving the overall health of families, their children and entire communities. These efforts extend the institute’s commitment to health promotion and prevention activities that began with an initial grant from the National Center on Health in 2011.

Read the complete announcement at the UCLA Anderson School of Management’s news site.