About

Our Vision

Schools and communities in Delaware will provide high quality multidisciplinary health care services with a special focus on health promotion and preventive health care for children and youth in order that every child is able to reach his/her full potential.

 

Our Mission

To promote and advocate for school-based health care to ensure that children and youth have access to high quality multidisciplinary health care services in a manner and setting that is uniquely tailored to meet the needs of students and the community.

Brief History

The Delaware School Based Health Alliance (DSBHA) began in 2014 as a small group of advocates and providers interested in solving policy and management problems. The group became the Delaware Chapter of the national School Based Health Alliance (Alliance) and received a small seed grant to organize. Valerie Woodruff was the first chapter President. She is a legendary education leader in Delaware and was Principal of the first Delaware School Based Health Center (Wellness Center) at Middletown High School, established in 1985.

The Alliance has grown and became a registered not-for-profit corporation in December of 2021. Its Board consists of subject matter experts from multiple fields and its membership is over 100 members, many who are dedicated clinicians working in high school and elementary schools from across the state.

The Delaware Division of Public Health, Department of Education, and the Children’s Department are active advisors and supporters of the Alliance. Corporate supporters include the Delaware School Education Association, the Delaware School Board Association, the Delaware Health Care Association, the Rodel Foundation, the Delaware Nurses Association, the Delaware School Nurses Association, National Alliance on Mental Illness – Delaware, and all of the hospital/health systems in Delaware.

The Alliance works to advocate for the expansion of school-based health care, especially in high need schools. We offer technical assistance and educational opportunities to our members and recommend policy solutions so that centers can better serve Delaware’s children.

 

OUR PURPOSE:

The Delaware Alliance is an education and advocacy organization that promotes school-based health care so that all Delaware children have access to and receive high quality multidisciplinary, developmentally appropriate, physical and emotional health care that includes a focus on health promotion and management of chronic disease and is prevention oriented.  One of our primary goals is to help better link students and their families to ongoing sources of care in the community.

School based health care is an essential strategy for improving the lives of Delaware children and their families so that children and youth are able to establish their own health care self-efficacy, health literacy, and healthy behaviors to enable them to establish long term healthy lifestyles into their adult lives.

We do this by:

  • Providing a united voice for school-based health care at the local, state, and national levels and publicizing the work of school-based health programs
  • Educating and providing advocacy and information to stakeholders and advocating for services, policies, funding, programs and other necessary support from legislators, agencies, community-based organizations, foundations, civic and religious leaders, and other potential supporters of school-based health care.
  • Serving in an advisory capacity about school-based health care to the Division of Public Health, the Department of Education, and the Department of Services for Children, Youth and their Families while establishing committees and/or advisory consultant groups within the organization for such issues as data collection, communication with families, and other related concerns.
  • Providing technical assistance and networking opportunities to local school-based health programs and serving as an organization that values diversity; collaboration; and parent, school, student, and community engagement.