SBA Offers Free Webinar Series to Help Small-Business Owners Get Fiscally Fit; Recognizes April as National Financial Literacy Month

April is the official National Financial Literacy Month, marking the importance of financial literacy to teach how to establish and maintain healthy financial habits.

In recognition of this month's efforts to promote financial education, the U.S. Small Business Administration will host a free webinar series targeted to small-business owners. Events will be held at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. [ET] on Wednesdays -- April 7, April 14 and April 21.

Topics will highlight the importance of financial education, and offer the opportunity to learn practical money skills and financial wellness. To hone financial skills for today's business world, participants will learn basic money management and wealth-building skills from some of the industry's top leaders in financial education and entrepreneurship.

Webinar Presenters & Topics
Becky MacDicken, Financial Education Specialist
Pennsylvania Office of Financial Education
Topic: The Importance of Financial Education in the Workplace
Wednesday, April 7 at 11:00 a.m. [ET]

Luke Reynolds, Chief of the Outreach & Program Development Section
Division of Supervision and Consumer Protection
Community Affairs Branch
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation [FDIC]
Topic: Basic Banking/Financial Tips for Small Business
Wednesday, April 7 at 3:00 p.m. [ET]

Jennifer Matthews, President and CEO
Creating Financial Literacy, LLC
Topic: Spring is Here! Planting Seeds to Grow Your Own Money Tree
Wednesday, April 14 at 11:00 a.m. [ET]

Starrlese Jones, Financial Management Specialist
Division of Financial Integrity, Office of Federal Assistance Management
Health Resources and Services Administration [HRSA]
Department of Health & Human Services [HHS]
Topic: Your Money, Your Choice$, Your Future
Wednesday, April 14 at 3:00 p.m. [ET]

Jennifer Lane, Certified Financial Planner [pictured above]
Compass Planning Associates
Topic: Personal and Business Money Management
Wednesday, April 21 at 11:00 a.m. [ET]

Margo Mitchell
National Foundation for Credit Counseling
Topic: Identity Theft
Wednesday, April 21 at 3:00 p.m. [ET]

Free Webinar Access Is Yours
For free visual and audio access to each webinar event, go to http://www.readytalk.com/. Click "Join a Meeting" and enter access code 3761101.

Then, dial 866-740-1260 and enter access code 3761101 [plus the # key]. System Requirements: Windows, Mac, Linux and Solaris operating systems. Internet Explorer, Safari and Firefox Web browsers. Separate telephone line needed for the audio portion.

SOURCE: U.S. Small Business Administration
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CDC Kicks Off National Travelers’ Health Public Awareness Campaign; Effort Aims to Educate Travelers About H1N1

Every holiday season, millions of Americans travel through the nation’s airports, seaports, and train stations to spend time with loved ones. Special holiday get-togethers -- and traveling itself -- bring people close together, but also provide an ideal way for illness to spread. To help travelers avoid the flu this holiday season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today launched its largest ever public awareness campaign about staying healthy while traveling.

"The holidays are one of the busiest travel times of the year," said Anne Schuchat, M.D., director of CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. "People are in close contact -- whether they’re on a plane, train, ship or just visiting with loved ones. This campaign provides practical advice to help travelers prepare for their trips and stay healthy during their holiday travel."

CDC is urging people to take the following steps when planning their travel, and to stay informed about what to do if they get sick while they’re gone, including:

* Traveling only when they are feeling well

* Getting vaccinated for flu [both seasonal flu and 2009 H1N1 if they are in a priority group]

* Washing hands often

* Covering coughs and sneezes with a tissue or sleeve

"We know that flu -- and, specifically, H1N1 this year -- is a big concern for people, but flu shouldn’t ruin the holidays," Dr. Schuchat said. "By practicing a little prevention, people can enjoy their holidays and stay well at the same time."

CDC developed the campaign in response to the emergence in April of the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic. Since then, flu has spread throughout the country and around the world. In the United States, it has accounted for millions of cases and more than 4,000 deaths since April.

CDC launched the campaign at a joint event with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano today in Washington, D.C. The campaign will run through the holiday season and use a variety of media, including informational posters at major airports, ports of entry and border crossings; national radio and print advertising; and social media and online outreach.

CDC will also partner with local health departments, travel professionals, health care professionals, and colleges and universities to further educate the public. Campaign themes include "Prevention Can Be Travel-Sized" and "Stop, Wash and Go."

For more information about the CDC Travelers’ Health campaign, recommendations regarding travel, visit http://bit.ly/H1N1FluTravel.

For more information about the H1N1 virus, visit http://www.flu.gov/.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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USDA and HHS Unveil New Food Safety Consumer Website; FoodSafety.gov Features Latest Food Safety, Recall Information Across Federal Government

"There are certain things only a government can do. And one of those things is ensuring that the foods we eat are safe and do not cause us harm." -- President Barack Obama

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack [pictured] and Health and Human Services [HHS] Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, co-chairs of the Obama Administration's Food Safety Working Group, unveiled a new consumer website today at http://www.foodsafety.gov/. The site is designed to help consumers and families get all the latest information on food safety and food recalls in one convenient place.

The new site features information from all the agencies across the federal government that deal with critical food and food safety information -- including preventive tips about how to handle food safely; alerts on life-saving food recalls; and the latest news from the key agencies.

FoodSafety.gov provides consumers with one easy place to sign up to receive e-mail and RSS alerts on recalled or potentially unsafe food, as well as get information from the top scientific experts across the government on food safety. Later phases of the site to be launched will include recall feeds for texting and mobile phones.

The site will also feature a FoodSafety.gov widget that the public and the media are encouraged to download and promote on their websites and social networking sites. The widget will instantly update viewers with the latest food safety recalls, and will be a valuable public health and safety tool.

Leaders from HHS and USDA praised the new site, and said it would be a valuable tool in their efforts to keep our food supply safe and consumers healthy:

"Protecting the health and well-being of the American people is a fundamental responsibility of the federal government," said Secretary Vilsack. "Our new and innovative approach to connecting consumers to food safety information in an easy and timely manner is a critical improvement in this effort."

"The highest mission of any government is keeping its citizens safe," Secretary Sebelius noted. "In this Administration, we see public health as an essential part of that mission. This new website is an essential way we can help keep people safe from unhealthy food and food handling practices, and up-to-date on critical food recalls. Consumers no longer will have to search around in different places trying to figure out which agency manages which food product. All the information that they will need will be in one easy place at http://www.foodsafety.gov/."

"This site focuses on prevention by highlighting the steps both businesses and consumers can take to avoid illness," said Food and Drug Administration [FDA] Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg. "It also will be a clearinghouse for information on the latest FDA rules and guidance."

"Health departments and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC] rely on information from many places, including consumers, when it comes to tracking food-borne illnesses across the country and the world," said CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden. "With this new website, consumers will quickly know who to contact if they believe they became ill from eating a certain food. Those reports of illness can help us identify potential outbreaks sooner and strengthen our efforts to protect Americans from unsafe food and food-borne illness."

"Protecting the American people from food-borne illness is a critical mission of the U.S. Department of Agriculture," added Jerry Mande, Deputy Under Secretary for Food Safety at USDA. "Our work is designed to prevent outbreaks of food-borne illness from occurring, and to react quickly and decisively to contamination in the food supply. The new FoodSafety.gov site will provide families with a one-stop online shop for all the latest information they need to reduce the danger of food-borne illnesses."

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Agriculture
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Obesity Among U.S. Adults Continues to Rise; Obesity Prevalence 25 Percent or Higher in 32 States

The proportion of U.S. adults who are obese increased to 26.1 percent in 2008, compared to 25.6 percent in 2007. The data come from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC]’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System [BRFSS], a state-based phone survey that collects health information from adults aged 18 and over.

In six states -- Alabama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia -- adult obesity prevalence was 30 percent or more. Thirty-two states, including those six, had obesity prevalence of 25 percent or more. Only one state, Colorado, had a prevalence of obesity less than 20 percent. But no state showed a significant decrease in obesity prevalence from 2007 to 2008.

More than 400,000 U.S. adults were surveyed in the 2008 BRFSS, which is the world’s largest telephone health survey. To assess obesity prevalence, survey respondents are asked to provide their height and weight, which is used to calculate their body mass index [BMI]. A person is considered obese if they have a BMI of 30 or above.

"Obesity is a major risk factor for many chronic diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes," said Dr. William Dietz [pictured], director, CDC’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity. "As obesity increases among all age groups, we are seeing chronic diseases in much younger adults, compared to a few decades ago. For example, we now see young adults who suffer from heart disease risk factors and other conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, that were unheard of in the past."

The 2008 BRFSS obesity data indicate that none of the 50 states, nor the District of Columbia, has achieved the Healthy People 2010 goal of reducing obesity prevalence to 15 percent or less.

"The latest BRFSS survey data show that the obesity problem in this country is getting worse," said Liping Pan, CDC epidemiologist and lead author of the 2008 BRFSS obesity map analysis. "If this trend continues, we will likely see increases in health care costs for obesity-related diseases."

For more information on obesity trends, including an animated map, visit www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html.

SOURCES: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
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