The Hispanic Heritage Foundation (HHF) serves as the SMART Student Health Model’s National Multicultural Advisor and fiscal agent. HHF’s CEO, Antonio Tijerino, is a member of the original advisory council on the Model. This group of initial stakeholders was brought together in 2013 by Melanie Ginn, President and CEO of Ginn Group Consulting, along with CVS Health Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer, David Casey, and CVS Health Senior Director, Workforce Initiatives, Ernie DuPont, to create this unique, public-private partnership. HHF continues to support SMART’s goal of making the Model normative in public schools, particularly those serving diverse and at-risk student populations. HHF also hosts SMART’s Annual Congressional Briefing and Symposium in Washington, D.C. as a platform for inspiring and acknowledging innovation, sharing best practices, and bringing awareness of the Model and its extraordinary track-record of consistently consenting and engaging with an average of 97% of a given student population, and thus increasing attendance, reducing chronic absenteeism and disciplinary referrals, and improving test scores and graduation rates.
The SMART purpose is to break the cycle of poverty and positively impact the trajectory of lives. We achieve this by identifying and delivering interventions to address the physical, social, emotional, and behavioral barriers to classroom success, and thus creating optimal conditions for learning through the deployment of Active Access to deliver Active Care for ALL students, school faculty and staff, and students’ families.
SMART™ integrates a population health focused approach to ensure the wellness of ALL students in the building through a combination of intervention methods to prevent, screen, and manage any health risks.
For More Information Visit: https://ginngroupconsulting.com/smart/
- Academic Purpose
- Collaborative Approach
- Interdisciplinary Viewpoint
- Focus on Wellness of All Students
- Prevention-Based
- Proactive Engagement
- Outcomes-Oriented
- Entrepreneurial Culture
- Data-Driven
- Sustainable Business Model
Dr. Liza Cariaga-Lo, Founder & CEO, CLCO Group, Former Vice
President of Diversity & Inclusion, Brown University, Providence, R.I.
“If communities are looking for innovative and effective school health solutions, they should look no further than Melanie Ginn and the SMART™ Student Health model that was developed and implemented to deliver strong and sustained health and educational outcomes that have a far-reaching impact on individual students and their families, schools, and communities.”
Dr. Peter Hlebowitsh, Dean of the College of Education
The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
“When noting the evolution of the public school system and its hallmark features, I can see the day when SMART™ Student Health and Wellness Centers are as normative within public education as cafeterias—one in every school. It is paramount that students in the classroom be physically and mentally healthy, providing each the best opportunity to participate and learn. SMART™ identifies and reduces the barriers to student success and creates/improves the conditions that maximize the capacity for educators to teach.”
Chad Adams, Principal
Sullivan High School, Chicago
“As I reflect on the turmoil I encountered while working to turn around a failing school, I now realize that having the SMART™ clinic was the primary differentiator for us in that process. With SMART™, my school and my students are offered a much more sustained impact, not a triage. SMART™ casts a deeper and wider net that not only meets immediate needs, but also results in outcomes that will stretch beyond the years of high school.”
