The Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) initiative at the Kentucky Department of Education and the Kentucky Department for Public Health is funded by a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for improving health and educational outcomes of youth.

Mission:

To increase the capacity of schools, districts and communities to promote and support healthy behaviors and choices in school-age youth.  To increase the capacity of schools, districts and communities to reduce health disparities among school-age youth at disproportionate risk for chronic diseases, sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy.

The WSCC initiative is a framework of programs, policies and activities. This framework takes a comprehensive approach to supporting learning and health, and great collaboration of school health stakeholders.

The Healthy Schools team at the KDE and KDPH are available to provide professional development, technical assistance, resources and WSCC data to schools, districts and their community partners.

Six priority health-risk behaviors of youth contribute to the leading causes of illness and death among our youth. These six priority health-risk behaviors are monitored in Kentucky by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. These behaviors are all preventable:

YRBS data can be used to describe risk behaviors, create awareness, set program goals, develop programs and policies and as a data source for grant writing. When schools, families and the community work together to support positive youth development, risk behaviors are reduced and student health and academic achievement are promoted. 

Healthy Schools Team