The first thing you might notice as you look through this issue is that our newsletter has changed.

Announcements from PHMC.

Did you know that, last year, PHMC and affiliate programs served more than 10,000 children under 18 years old? Or that since 2007 our programs have served slightly more men than women? Or that 7 out of 10 clients we serve reside in Philadelphia County?

For Jennifer Lauby, PhD, senior research scientist at PHMC, and her research team, the campaign to curtail rising rates of hypertension and type 2 diabetes in African-American males doesn’t start with a pill or a pin prick. It starts with a pamphlet.

It’s what all major sport figures want to do: step down at the top of their game. If that’s the goal, then one of PHMC’s big players really got the timing right. PHMC’s Senior Vice President John Loeb, one of the organization’s creators—from the grassroots initiative that led to PHMC’s founding—and a driving force in its innovative work today, announced his retirement just as this issue was going to press.

PHMC and a number of its affiliates use Twitter and Facebook to share information about the latest trends in public health, events and more with social media savvy consumers. Public Health Directions profiled some of our social media stars to learn more about their use.

PHMC added Metropolitan Career Center (MCC) to the PHMC family as an affiliate on July 1, 2011.

ECEhire.com links the region’s early childhood education providers with experienced, qualified, prescreened job candidates. ChildWare childcare management software still provides everything you need to run your center better, faster and easier…but more so.

Fifteen-year-old high school freshman Kendall White loves his world history class. He dreams of joining his school’s football team next year and maybe the hip-hop club. When he grows up, he wants to become an architect or an artist. But before White came to The Bridge Intensive Prevention Services (BIPS) program, he would often skip school and was in danger of failing.

Public Health Management Corporation has spent much of the past year reviewing its structure. One outcome of that work was the decision to create the new role of chief operating officer. In July, Wayne Pendleton, LSW, ACSW, joined PHMC as our first COO.

For the first time in history, the average American online consumer reports spending as much time on the web as watching TV, according to a 2010 survey by Forrester Research. The same survey found that Americans have increased their Internet use 121% over the last five years.