Four Strategies for Driving a University Pre-College Computing Outreach Program

A public university’s computing outreach program focused on four key strategies for increasing the depth and breadth of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. This paper describes the development and implementation of a project management hands-on learning laboratory activity within the context of the university’s outreach strategies. The first two strategies, establishing relationships with the primary and secondary (K–12) level partner schools and implementing whole-grade participation, have led to repeat visits by students over several years. The third strategy, hands-on learning laboratory activities, has successfully engaged K–12 students, as indicated by the assessment results that provide evidence of successful student learning. The fourth strategy, producer–consumer collaborations, has facilitated the efficient matching of faculty expertise with K–12 teacher needs. The results include the evidence that outreach strategies can have a positive influence on student engagement in STEM education at multiple points in the K–12 education experience

A Multitiered Holistic Approach to Traffic Safety: Educating Children, Novice Teen Drivers and Parents, and Crash Investigators to Reduce Roadway Crashes - An Eight-Year Introspective Project

The Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF), developed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), was adopted as an effective injury reduction model for reducing driver injury crashes on community roadways. Kean University and the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety (NJDHTS) adopted crash prevention strategies involving education and enforcement outreach. First, an effective K-12 traffic safety program was established for supporting driver education training and then crash investigation training, and a statewide traffic safety specialist certification was promoted within the law enforcement community. This successful outreach initiative also involves community representation, including law enforcement personnel and parents of novice drivers. Best practices have been established in New Jersey by four traffic safety specialist (TSS)-Level 2 leaders, with over 100 more TSS officers waiting to qualify for this second tier. Future plans involve an outreach program for officers to develop traffic safety programs in their communities while qualifying for the TSS-Level 2 designation

Engaging persons with mental illness and/or substance use disorder in care coordination services: an improvement project at a federally qualified community health center

Background: Mental health and substance use disorders seldom occur in isolation. They frequently accompany each other, as well as a substantial number of chronic general medical illnesses. Consequently, mental health conditions, substance-use disorders, and general health conditions are frequently co-occurring, and coordination of all of these types of health care is essential to improved health outcomes (Institute of Medicine, 2006). The U.S. system of healthcare is failing to identify, engage, and effectively treat people who are suffering from behavioral health conditions (Blanco, Coye, Knickman, Krishnan, Krystal, Pincus, Rauch, Simon, Vitiello, 2016). Because of poor coordination and lack of engagement, people often experience disrupted care and an over-reliance on emergency department and hospital care. At Lowell Community Health Center where this project takes place persons with a primary behavioral health diagnosis contribute to the highest utilization of emergency and inpatient hospital services. In July of 2018, Lowell CHC collaborated with Lowell House, Inc. to form a care coordination program to outreach and engage individuals identified as high utilizers of inpatient and emergency hospital services. Aim: The aim of this project is to describe the attributes of the population of patients who successfully engaged into care for the first six months of this new program, with recommendations for improvement to inform future program design. Method: The population of patients who successfully engaged in care in the first 6 months of the program described by independent variables consisting of age, gender, race, and preferred language. Dependent variable consisting of type of outreach. Data was evaluated to determine attributes of patients who successfully engaged in care and if correlations exist between variables and successful engagement. Results: The first six months of the program implementation demonstrated successful engagement and activation of 17.5% of patients. The average patient is described as low-income, 50-64 years of age, non-English speaking female with dual-diagnosis residing in the greater Lowell area. Themes regarding successful outreach type included telephonic and face-to-face being the most successful method of engagement. Although successful engagement was noted, longer-term efforts and analysis should focus on successful outreach and engagement strategies, emergency room utilization, treatment adherence and service adherence. Conclusions: The findings of this project indicate that having a team-based, multidisciplinary and multi-cultural approach to care coordination has led to successful engagement of 186 individuals within the first 6 months of this new program

Optimizing Outreach and Application Assistance Services in Community-based Organizations: Evaluation Findings from The Colorado Trust's Outreach and Enrollment for Children and Youth Grant Strategy

This report discusses findings from the evaluation of The Colorado Trust's three-year, $3.3 million grant strategy (2009-2011) to help expand enrollment of children and youth in public health insurance programs in Colorado. These findings focus on how 12 community-based organizations, with little previous experience in providing application assistance to families to enroll children and youth in public health insurance, offered targeted outreach and application assistance services. These findings provide new insights into the time, effort and outcomes associated with implementing outreach and application assistance services, reinforcing and expanding upon previous literature demonstrating the promise and potential pitfalls of this approach

A Scientist's Guide to Achieving Broader Impacts through K-12 STEM Collaboration.

The National Science Foundation and other funding agencies are increasingly requiring broader impacts in grant applications to encourage US scientists to contribute to science education and society. Concurrently, national science education standards are using more inquiry-based learning (IBL) to increase students' capacity for abstract, conceptual thinking applicable to real-world problems. Scientists are particularly well suited to engage in broader impacts via science inquiry outreach, because scientific research is inherently an inquiry-based process. We provide a practical guide to help scientists overcome obstacles that inhibit their engagement in K-12 IBL outreach and to attain the accrued benefits. Strategies to overcome these challenges include scaling outreach projects to the time available, building collaborations in which scientists' research overlaps with curriculum, employing backward planning to target specific learning objectives, encouraging scientists to share their passion, as well as their expertise with students, and transforming institutional incentives to support scientists engaging in educational outreach

Effectiveness of community outreach and engagement in recruitment success for a prebirth cohort.

IntroductionWe describe the effectiveness of community outreach and engagement in supporting recruitment for the US National Children's Vanguard Study between 2009 and 2012.MethodsThirty-seven study locations used 1 of 4 strategies to recruit 18-49-year-old pregnant or trying to conceive women: (1) Initial Vanguard Study used household-based recruitment; (2) Direct Outreach emphasized self-referral; (3) Enhanced Household-Based Recruitment enhanced Initial Vanguard Study strategies; and (4) Provider-Based Recruitment recruited through healthcare providers. Outreach and engagement included advance letters, interactions with healthcare providers, participation in community events, contacts with community organizations, and media outreach.ResultsAfter 1-2 years, 41%-74% of 9844 study-eligible women had heard about the National Children's Vanguard Study when first approached. Women who heard were 1.5-3 times more likely to consent. Hearing via word-of-mouth or the media most frequently predicted consent. The more sources women heard from the higher the odds of consent.ConclusionsWe conclude that tailored outreach and engagement facilitate recruitment in cohort studies

Guide to Recruiting Black Men as Mentors for Black Boys

Black men are uniquely positioned to help guide black male youth to educational success and a productive future and through the barriers that stand in their way. But there are almost always more black boys to be mentored than black men to mentor them in formal mentoring programs. This guide helps mentoring programs engage in a productive and inclusive recruitment campaign by: 1) addressing program readiness; and 2) providing guidance on an effective social marketing campaign

Maximizing Kids' Enrollment in Medicaid and SCHIP

Reviews the 2006 report "Seven Steps Toward State Success in Covering Children Continuously" and recommends the most effective state strategies for increasing enrollment and retention of children in Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Programs