Early Childhood Councils: Effective Planning Processes for Health Systems Integration

The Colorado Trust launched its Early Childhood Council Health Integration grant strategy in 2008. Through this effort, the Early Childhood Councils developed strategies to better integrate health practitioners and health care services into their work, along with their already-established focus on early care and education, and family supports. The goal of this grant strategy was to support sustainable efforts by the Councils to change the way local resources were coordinated, reduce service duplication, increase access to health care services and contribute to improved health outcomes for children (ages 0-12 years) across the state. To realize this goal, The Colorado Trust provided the Councils with grant support and technical assistance to engage in the development of plans to achieve integrated childhood development systems in their communities. This case study discusses the successes, challenges and lessons learned from the Early Childhood Council Health Integration planning grant process. Using qualitative data collected through focus groups and key informant interviews, the report details how the planning process was structured, what worked and didn't work as the Councils developed their systems-building plans, and provides recommendations for funders to consider when conducting a systems-building planning process. Key themes include:Grantees learned about systems change and developed plans to achieve such change. The planning process provided Councils with the time, resources and guidance necessary to learn about and develop well-thought-out plans to build connections and develop the infrastructure to help support and sustain programs for children and families across multiple systems. Community-level data is essential in fostering collaboration and planning. Even as it was difficult to access key data for certain populations or geographic regions, many Councils were able to use local data as a tool to coalesce new partnerships and develop a shared vision for change. Integrating new partners into an established system requires planning. For many Councils, the planning process timeframe was essential in conducting outreach to local health partners, especially with regard to developing a shared vision and common language.Funders need to require and support systemic change. It was important that The Colorado Trust explicitly required grantees to engage in activities that supported effective implementation of high-quality programs and connections across systems as opposed to solely focusing the funding on individual programs. While this work was new to most of the Councils, they reported that having a funder willing to support systems-building was a welcome change that better enabled them to tackle a complex scope of work and to address unanticipated challenges

GRID PRICING: VALUING CATTLE QUALITY INFORMATION

Grid pricing is increasingly prominent in cattle markets. This study compares selling 11,703 head of fed cattle using grid, live, and dressed weight pricing. Cattle sold on a grid had price variability twice that of live or dressed. Average pricing inefficiency by not selling cattle on a grid exceeded $30/head.Demand and Price Analysis, Livestock Production/Industries,

Jay Schroeder pro-practice

My Art is mainly reality based, focusing on social commentary or narrative. Often covering themes of depression, disorders, disability, dilapidation, inequality, and struggles. I provide art that people can connect to on a personal and emotional level. Experience with bigotry and struggles with disorders and learning disabilities has influenced me to explore art that is unapologetically honest. With the goal of reaching out to people so they can see the good and the bad in the world, creating something they can relate to and connect with, so we can all stand together in solidarity. I have experience with 2D and 3D media, focusing on photography because it helps me capture the level of honesty I like in my work. However, more recently I have been experimenting with Print, video, and sound. Exploring the same themes and addressing new ones, introducing theology more recently in some of my current work. As a practicing pagan who was raised catholic, I can find where things overlap and separate. I’m able to hold an open mind about faith, question, be curious, and look at theological stories from different angles. My current project, “Dependency” is a print, etching on zinc, printed on Cream Stonehenge using blue-black mixed with white ink. Cream paper and blue-black ink have a medical feel, like the writing of a doctor’s pen on a prescription slip. “Dependency” addresses behavioral disorders and the need for, or dependency on medication for these individuals to function. This specific work focusing mainly on ADHD, Learning disorders, and anxiety disorders. Referencing pills commonly prescribed for these conditions (Vyvanse for ADHD and Lexapro for Generalized anxiety disorders). Using these pills, I etched in the Words, “Pills Think” and hid them amongst a scatter of the same pills. Driving in the dependency on medication to function, that to some taking medication is the equivalent of being able to think.https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/art399/1065/thumbnail.jp

An Inclusive Framework for Ministry: Fostering the Spiritual Formation of Children in a Multicultural Church

This project thesis was designed to foster the spiritual formation of children in a multicultural church. A diverse team was assembled to design a curriculum to be used with volunteers in a children’s ministry context. Through seven two-hour sessions held over eight weeks in the spring of 2022, the curriculum development team first examined what it means to embody a multicultural perspective of the gospel while at the same time investigating the negative impact of a White, Eurocentric expression of Christianity. Next, they collaborated to develop a theological construct that centered around (1) the idea of being created in the image of God, (2) love of God and love of people, as demonstrated in Matt 22:36–40 and echoed in Eph 2, and (3) the vision of a multicultural church as witnessed through Acts 15. Finally, they constructed practical application components within the curriculum to address two goals for the children’s ministry volunteers: (1) to facilitate movement from a monocultural mindset to a multicultural one and (2) to be used as equipping strategies as volunteers prepare children’s ministry lessons. As the curriculum development team considered the dissonant perspectives generally inherent within a discussion about race, they also clearly recognized the spiritual significance for both children of color and White children. As a result of the potential impact, they did not shy away from the challenges of this difficult study. The resulting artifact, Inclusive Conversations for Children’s Ministry: Journeying from Diversity to Multiculturalism, is intended to be the start of a continuing conversation that will hopefully guide multicultural churches toward expressing the fullness of God and thereby remove the spiritual barriers that occur when the gospel message is presented through a dominant-culture lens

Book Review: A Gospel for All Ages: Teaching and Preaching with the Whole Church

A Gospel for All Ages: Teaching and Preaching with the Whole Church, by David M. Csinos. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2022. 212 pages, $22.00

A model for integrating collaborative life-story writing into counselor training programs

Given the fundamental role of narrative deconstruction and reconstruction of client stories within the counseling profession, this thesis proposes creation of an elective course for counselor trainees based upon activities constructing personal experience narratives collaboratively in student dyads and in groups. The course was developed to facilitate three elements of professional and personal development: increased application of knowledge---specifically, knowledge of core counseling theories and tenets, social constructivism and narrative construction; interpersonal and relational skills; and judgment and maturity. A review of the literature related to existing standards and precedents in counselor training, and the relationship to and use of collaborative narrative in counseling, directed the development of the proposed model. It includes a course syllabus, readings, descriptions of class exercises and methods for student evaluation. In order to determine the efficacy of the course, empirical means of evaluation including content analysis and pre-and post course assessments are suggested

Disability, Difference, and Inclusion in the Church: A Special Issue

This introductory article sets the context for the conversations in this special issue of Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry on disability, difference, and inclusion in the church

Impacto del sistema de incentivos dentro de la cultura organizacional

El presente documento está dirigido a todas aquellas personas, que deseen hacer una incursión en el tema de la cultura organizacional y como esta, se ve afectada por la incorporación de programas de estímulos e incentivos. Igualmente no pretende ser un tratado, sino la presentación general sobre los fundamentos de los teóricos más sobresalientes en el tema. Todo este conocimiento y técnicas, ha permitido trasformar la forma en que el trabajador responde para ser más productivo y la organización más eficiente

A Reader\u27s Guide to Children\u27s Ministry

Although the church has long practiced ministry with children, this field of ministerial practice is taking new and exciting shapes in the 21st century. Because of the expanding and substantial body of literature produced in this discipline over the last several decades, we have assembled an annotated bibliography intended to give scholars, practitioners, and church members an overview of the more significant printed work that addresses Christian perspectives on ministry with children