JWB’s Children’s Mental Health Initiative (CMHI) made it possible for 20 local pediatric professionals to participate in the REACH Institute’s Patient-Centered Mental Health in Pediatric Primary Care mini fellowship from January 23-25 at the Hilton St. Petersburg Carillon Park.  

The comprehensive, in-person, 16-hour training is designed to help pediatricians increase their comfort and skills in assessing, diagnosing, and treating low to moderate pediatric mental health conditions in their respective pediatric practices. Over four additional months, the pediatricians will also participate in a case-based distance learning program with national primary care and child/adolescent psychiatry experts to learn to manage pediatric mental health issues encountered in daily practice. 

The goal is to help these medical professionals correctly identify pediatric health problems such as childhood depression, ADHD, bipolar disorder, anxiety states (including PTSD), oppositional and conduct disorders, and psychosis. They will then be able to create and implement a treatment plan including selecting medications and mobilizing existing resources like family members, school personnel, and other professional caregivers—all while serving patients in their pediatric practice where families and children already feel safe and secure. 

Bringing this three-day REACH Institute training to our community supports CMHI’s commitment to creating a high-quality, service-integrated system of care in Pinellas County that focuses on prevention, early detection, and early intervention for children and families. 

See more photos from the training on Facebook.  

JWB Community Collaborations Coordinator Cristen Curley shares how the Meal Mobile began, partnered with the JWB Book Bus, and made a significant impact, providing shelf-stable food to families in Pinellas during the summer. 

One of the main goals of the Childhood Hunger Initiative (CHI) is to fill gaps in food access when school is out since students no longer have access to regular school meals during those times. The largest of these gaps is during summer break. In 2025, the issue was especially pressing because Pinellas County Schools significantly reduced eligibility for Summer Bridge programs, further limiting students’ access to meals.  

In 2024, JWB partnered with several food banks to distribute food through drive-up mobile pantries. While these pantries were successful and all food was distributed, we recognized the need to further increase accessibility – especially in the wake of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which left many vulnerable community members unhoused.  

In response, the collective began looking for ways to bring food directly to communities. Shaina Bent, former COO of the St. Pete Free Clinic (SPFC) and former Chair of the CHI, suggested having an SPFC food truck follow the Book Bus, and thus, the Meal Mobile was born!    

JWB has a long-standing collaborative history with SPFC, both as a funded agency and through our former CEO Beth Houghton, who previously served as SPFC’s CEO. This made the partnership a natural fit and an extension of our shared work.  

Since the Book Bus sites had already been confirmed, I reached out to each site to discuss plans for bringing food onsite. Every site I spoke with was enthusiastic about the idea and excited to offer food to the families they serve.  

During this time, we also worked with SPFC and their vendors to determine the contents of the shelf-stable boxes and produce offerings. Ultimately, the produce included apples and oranges, and the boxes contained canned vegetables, fruit, beans, chicken, tuna, applesauce, pasta, peanut butter, macaroni and cheese, and cereal bars. We also secured a generous donation of spices from Penzey’s Spices to enhance the produce offerings. Additionally, each food box included a magnet with a QR code linking to the SPFC Food Pantry Map (which JWB funds).  

While many sites opted for the drop-off method, where SPFC staff left boxes for children to take home at pickup, several public-facing sites allowed us to distribute food directly to patrons. 

Future plans for the Meal Mobile will depend on debriefs with both our community partners and SPFC. Our goals include streamlining delivery and distribution processes, ensuring sites are well-equipped to participate, and expanding to more locations. Ideally, we’d love for every Book Bus stop to include food distribution. With that in mind—and staying focused on accessibility and high-impact outreach—we’ll be working with Jomar Lopez, Senior Strategic Researcher, to evaluate our efforts and use the Child Opportunity Index (COI) to ensure impact and meeting of goals. 

JWB’s Childhood Hunger Initiative works year-round to fill in the gaps for hungry kids. To learn more, visit jwbpinellas.org/childhood-hunger/.