Mississippi KIDS COUNT
The FCRU has been named the home of the Mississippi KIDS COUNT program by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. MS KIDS COUNT releases an annual Data Book and holds annual MS KIDS COUNT Summits. In doing so, MS KIDS COUNT provides accurate and non-partisan data, statistics and original research about the health, education, safety and well-being of Mississippi’s children to policymakers, educators, program administrators, parents, caregivers, advocates, and the general public.  MS KIDS COUNT also provides a forum for interested stakeholders to share concerns and solutions to the problems facing Mississippi’s children today.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
This Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded study is designed to evaluate recent state-level policies to prevent childhood obesity in Mississippi.  In 2007, the Legislature passed the Mississippi Healthy Students Act, which set forth policies to affect nutrition, as well as physical and health education standards in public schools.  This project is sponsored by the Center for Mississippi Health Policy and is expected to continue for five years. FCRU project staff will measure the attitudes and knowledge of Mississippi parents, legislators, school boards, State Boards of Health and Education members, and district health officers regarding obesity prevention and the implementation of the Healthy Students Act. 

Delta Oral Health Project
Funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration through the Delta Health Alliance, this project aims to increase the use of oral disease prevention services among children attending child care centers in the Mississippi Delta. It also explores the use of oral health communication strategies to educate professionals who work with Mississippi Delta children, as well as identify policies and promote programs to encourage cost-effective dental care delivery systems.

HealthWorks!
HealthWorks! is an interactive children’s health facility in Tupelo, MS, scheduled to open early 2009. The goal of the program is to help children in grades K-8 understand the potential impact of their health-related choices. In partnership with North Mississippi Medical Center, the FCRU is designing and will conduct an evaluation of this program to determine participant satisfaction, as well as knowledge acquisition, retention and application. This multi-year project will yield data that will be analyzed over time.

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