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Introduction: Bicycling, as forms of recreation and travel, offers many positive physical and mental health benefits, though there are still many disparities in bicycling rates among underserved populations in the United States. Community bicycling advocacy organizations/coalitions promote and advocate for increased bicycling; however, have been shown to have a lack of organizational capacity for equitable programming to diverse populations (racial/ethnic minorities, women, low-income, LGBTQ+ communities, youth). The purpose of this study was to understand the current practices for providing underserved populations bicycling programming among advocacy organizations and to find major barriers and helpful tools for equitable programming. Methods: This was conducted in a volunteer sample of U.S. bicycle advocacy organizations. An interview (n = 23) assessed organizational function, successful programs, and barriers to reaching underserved populations. Results: Several themes emerged from the interviews. Participants stated that the lack of organizational leadership and member diversity, along with a lack of trust with underserved communities, presented major barriers to providing equitable programming. Partnering with other community organizations that place an emphasis on serving diverse populations was noted to have potential for increasing successful programming by allocating resources and connections. Conclusion: Although barriers exist for bicycle advocacy organizations when attempting to reach underserved and diverse populations, groups should focus on creating successful and diverse partnerships to increase the capacity for providing equitable programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community partnerships are essential for vitality in neighborhoods. A growing demand exists for training programs to attract and prepare a highly qualified workforce to serve young children and their families. Personnel across different stages of their career can help address our teacher shortages. Service learning is a useful strategy in communities that can be used to address the needs of humanity and community when it comes to the needs of and services for young children and their families. The purpose of this conceptual article is to propose strategies for ameliorating the teacher shortage. Service learning is embedded in the H-O-M-E model to create authentic opportunities for innovation that will be described in this article [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Injury is the leading cause of childhood morbidity and mortality. Injury prevention (IP) initiatives are often created in isolation from the communities most affected. We hypothesized that the use of a comprehensive approach to injury prevention through community partnerships will result in a measurable reduction in pediatric injuries. The IP program at our free-standing level 1 pediatric trauma center developed partnerships within eight targeted high-risk communities. IP coordinators and community partners implemented programs driven by community-specific injury data and community input. Programs focused on home, bike, playground, pedestrian, and child passenger safety. Program components included in–home education with free safety equipment and installation; free bike helmet fittings and distribution; community playground builds; and car seat classes with education, free car seat distribution and installation. Using trauma registry data, we compared injuries rates in targeted communities with non-intervention communities county-wide over an eight-year period. Between 2012 and 2019, nearly 4000 families received home safety equipment and education through community partnerships. Approximately 2000 bike helmets, 900 car/booster seats, in addition to safety messages and education were provided across the intervention communities. Over this 8-year time period, the injury rates significantly decreased by 28.4%, across the eight targeted high-risk communities, compared to a 10.9% reduction in non-intervention communities across the county. Effective injury prevention can be achieved through partnerships, working in solidarity with community members to address actual areas of concern to them. Sharing data, seeking ongoing community input, continuously reviewing learnings, and implementing identified changes are crucial to the success of such partnerships. Level III. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 vaccines offer hope to end the COVID-19 pandemic. In this article, we document key lessons learned as we continue to confront COVID-19 variants and work to adapt our vaccine outreach strategies to best serve our community. In the fall of 2020, the Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Health Equity at Johns Hopkins Medicine, in collaboration with the Office of Government and Community Affairs for Johns Hopkins University and Medicine, established the COVID-19 Vaccine Equity Community Education and Outreach Initiative in partnership with faith and community leaders, local and state government representatives, and community-based organizations. Working with community and government partnerships established before COVID-19 enabled our team to quickly build infrastructure focused on COVID-19 vaccine education and equity. These partnerships resulted in the development and implementation of web-based educational content, major culturally adapted media campaigns (reaching more than 200,000 individuals), community and faith education outreach, youth-focused initiatives, and equity-focused mobile vaccine clinics. The community mobile vaccine clinics vaccinated over 3,000 people in the first 3 months. Of these, 90% identified as persons of color who have been disproportionately impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Academic–government–community partnerships are vital to ensure health equity. Community partnerships, education events, and open dialogues were conducted between the community and medical faculty. Using nontraditional multicultural media venues enabled us to reach many community members and facilitated informed decisionmaking. Additionally, an equitable COVID-19 vaccine policy requires attention to vaccine access as well as access to sound educational information. Our initiative has been thoughtful about using various types of vaccination sites, mobile vaccine units, and flexible hours of operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interagency collaboration is an effective strategy for supporting students and families with resources and support to prepare students for life after high school. The Communicating Interagency Relationships and Collaborative Linkages for Exceptional Students (CIRCLES) is the only interagency collaboration model identified as a research-based practice, which means the CIRCLES model has the most and highest quality of evidence for its use among interagency collaboration models. Within this chapter, we overview the CIRCLES model and its history. School districts from multiple states have implemented CIRCLES, and, within this chapter, we overview stakeholder experiences with CIRCLES. When implementing any practice, evaluation and implementation fidelity are critical, so we provide suggestions for both. Finally, we discuss barriers and strategies to effective interagency collaboration, in addition to implications for policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study is to explore the impact of an educational intervention including (1) collaborative practice agreement (CPA)-focused lecture and (2) a student project in partnership with a community-based pharmacy on dissemination and implementation of CPAs in community pharmacy practice. A CPA-focused classroom lecture and related project were given to five sequential years of second-year pharmacy students enrolled in a community pharmacy elective course. Community pharmacist feedback provided at the completion of the project was compared to present-day data collected via telephone survey. Responses for each survey question were summarized using frequencies, and chi-square analysis was conducted to assess the association between pharmacist perceptions at the time of the project vs. the present day. Forty-seven projects representing 47 unique CPAs were completed over five sequential years of the course. The most commonly targeted disease states by CPAs were influenza/streptococcus pharyngitis (25.5%), therapeutic interchange (6.4%), oral contraceptives (6.4%), and tobacco cessation (6.4%). Pharmacists noted that students facilitated their progress toward CPA implementation by serving as a means for CPA law education (23.4%) and by saving time in CPA development (12.8%). This study demonstrated that a student project partnering with a local community pharmacy improved knowledge dissemination but did not have any direct impact on implementation of CPAs in a community pharmacy. However, students may have a role in dissemination and implementation of evidence-based practices, such as CPAs, when appropriately matched to setting-specific implementation barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose/Objectives: Oral health inequities and limited access to care cause patients to seek dental treatment in hospital emergency departments. In addition, conventional clinic models and curricular limitations may result in inadequate experiences for students learning urgent dental care. The aim of the current study was to investigate student perceptions of a novel dental school urgent care clinic model. Methods: A mixed‐methods, cross‐sectional study design was used to survey third‐year and fourth‐year students at a Midwest dental school in spring 2020 about their experiences providing patient care in the school's internal urgent care center. Along with a structured curriculum, the urgent care clinic model incorporates an on‐site partnership with a community health center and a hospital emergency department affiliation that serves as a referral base to provide students with their learning experiences. Results: Of 81 students, 78 completed the survey (96% response rate). The majority of students treated 50 or more patients. From their urgent care experiences, a majority of students felt prepared to manage patients with acute dental pain and swelling (72/77, 94%), and reported a better understanding of interprofessional collaborations in dentistry (42/77, 55%) and the importance of providing urgent dental care to underserved patients (72/77, 94%). Most students (64/75, 85%) were more likely to offer urgent dental care services to underserved populations in future practice. Conclusion: This collaborative school‐based urgent care clinic model incorporating community partnerships provided transformative learning experiences, positively impacted student perceptions of their learning, and influenced future practice behaviors related to urgent dental care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study applied an institutional logics framework to examine issues that challenged revitalization efforts in three distressed neighborhoods in an urban Midwest U.S. city. Specifically, it examined whether emergent hybrid (organizational) logics influenced multiple disconnected partnerships and collaborations. Thematic analyses were conducted on data from 39 semi-structured interviews conducted in two phases (n = 11 and n = 28, respectively). The interviewees were from the public, private, academia, and faith-based sectors and included interventions that impacted food insecurity, education, health, the built environment, crime, and substance and alcohol abuse. The findings showed the importance of trust as a hybrid logic impacting collaborations at multiple levels; we link this to additional findings on the level of structural embeddedness in the studied neighborhoods. The findings support the need for public health and community leaders to address gaps in trust/embeddedness in order to improve the success of community interventions. Practitioners and future researchers can apply the concept of hybrid institutional logics in the analysis of neighborhood collaborations, especially when there are multiple collaborations involving partners from different sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In its recent white paper, "A Pivot Toward Clinical Practice," the American Association for Colleges of Teacher Education (AACTE) echoed the call heralded almost a decade ago by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education's (NCATE) Blue Ribbon Report that highlighted the need for the development of authentic settings in which teacher candidates can learn the skills they need. These organizations' calls for more comprehensive efforts to conduct teacher education set in clinical settings were the inspiration for the research project described in this article. One teacher preparation professor at a small private midwestern university embedded an emergent literacy course into multiple school community settings over the course of one semester. Teacher candidates enrolled in the course participated in traditional classroom activities as well as contextualized learning experiences within school and community settings. The goal was to examine the perceptions of study participants regarding depth of learning and the value of the overall experience. Study participants reported high levels of satisfaction with the course and its meaningful contributions to learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined how school leadership for school and family partnerships is related to the percent of teachers in a school that engage families in their children's education. Using data collected from over 380 schools nationwide, we examined the roles principals played to establish school-family partnerships. Structural equation modeling analysis explored the associations of transformational and collaborative leadership for partnerships with the quality of partnership program organization and the extent of teachers' engagement of families. Results indicated that more active engagement of families by teachers was associated with strong transformational leadership for partnerships. Also, principal's strong collaborative leadership for partnerships was related to the quality of partnership program organization, which was then associated with the percent of teachers practicing active engagement of families. The findings suggest that school leaders must consider the multiple domains of their leadership in promoting school, family, and community partnerships to maximize teachers' connections with families. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how preservice teachers conceive of and implement social actions on their college campuses related to a chosen social problem developed in a young adult novel and to examine how social action projects develop teacher candidates' critical literacies. Design/methodology/approach: This qualitative exploratory multiple case study (Stake, 2005) investigated 70 pre-service teachers on two college campuses over two semesters as they engaged in social action projects. The researchers engaged in layers of open and thematic coding through the theoretical lens of critical literacies. Findings: Preservice teachers engaged in a range of direct and indirect action and, as a result, experienced varying levels of self-efficacy and impact. While most felt their endeavors were successful, those who conducted awareness campaigns noted an inability to measure the effects they had on their communities. Their development of critical literacies through social action was evidenced in the partnerships across campus they established as well as their levels of engagement with peers and local officials. Originality/value: While the results of conducting social action with youth in secondary classrooms are well established in the literature, lesser well known are ways to engage preservice teachers in such endeavors. This study illustrates not only how teacher candidates can engage in social action as aligned with young adult literature but also offers insights gained from those processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The enhanced role in primary care nursing practice • Community based experiences for pre-licensure nursing students • Community partnerships in academia • Enhanced practicum experiences for nursing students • Training faculty and preceptors to community based models of education [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Purpose. International service learning (ISL) is an instructional method used by physical therapist educators to increase the global perspective of students. Research exploring student experiences with ISL is plentiful, but evaluation of service outcomes from the community partner perspective is lacking. The purposes of this work were to evaluate the impact of a long-term community partnership through: (1) identification of benefits, drawbacks, and suggestions for sustaining the partnership and (2) gathering feedback on the immediate and short-term perspective of training provided to orphanage staff. Method/Model Description and Evaluation. The model consisted of a curriculum-based ISL experience involving a US-based physical therapy program and a service site at an Ecuadorian orphanage. For the current work, an evaluation component was added to the model. Three complementary approaches: the SOFAR Model, Exchange theory, and the partnership qualities of closeness, equity, and integrity informed the evaluation. Data consisted of 6 interviews conducted and 17 surveys administered to Ecuadorian community partner staff/administration. Data were analyzed using qualitative thematic content analysis, descriptive statistics, and paired t tests. Outcomes. Partnership benefits included: iterative pre-trip communication, a respectful and mutually beneficial relationship, capacity building through education, and physical therapy that positively affected the children's quality of life. Draw backs were the potential for host site dependency due to lack of local capacity, negative impact of new technology on staff workload, and poor treatment carryover. Continued training was identified as critical for building capacity within orphanage staff. Discussion and Conclusion. As more US student teams deliver clinical services abroad, intentional evaluation approaches must include the community partner voice to maximize benefits, minimize burdens, build capacity, and addresses issues of vital importance to the service site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we expand the scope of school--university partnerships to include a community partner. This study involved an afterschool tutoring program known as the Discovery Center (pseudonym) partnering with a university reading class. This partnership, which is in its sixth year of implementation, prepares teacher candidates in the area of literacy while providing additional, free support to students in Grades K--2. Forty students engaged in co-taught tutoring sessions by 24 teacher candidates who were overseen by three center directors and the university professor. Data for this study were collected through preservice teacher focus groups, center director interviews, and parent interviews. Results indicate that teacher candidates' knowledge of differentiation and co-teaching increased throughout the semester. Teacher candidates also felt that additional tutoring times should be scheduled to allow more flexibility. The parents noted academic growth in literacy as a result of the tutoring. The findings suggest that all parties find the collaboration highly successful and provide ideas on how to strengthen and establish such partnerships elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Building on the growing interest in school-based "making" and "makerspaces," this paper aims to map the emergence of a literacy-oriented makerspace in a non-selective urban public high school. It examines how competing conceptions of literacy came to be negotiated as students and teachers shaped this new space for literacy practice, and it traces how the layered uses of the space, in turn, reworked understandings of literacy in the larger school community.Design/methodology/approach Part of a longitudinal design-research partnership with an urban public high school, the paper draws on two years of ethnographic data collection to follow the creation, development and uses of a school-based literacy-oriented makerspace.Findings Using notions of "re-territorialization," the paper examines how the processes of designing, mapping and building a literacy lab offered space for layered and contested purposes that instantiated more expansive views of literacy in the school – even as it created new frictions. In presenting two analytic mappings, the paper illustrates how mapping can offers resources for people to make and remake the spaces they inhabit, a form of worldmaking that can open possibilities for reshaping the built world in more just and equitable ways.Originality/value The study offers insights into how mapping can serve as a research and pedagogical resource for making legible the emergent dimensions of literacy practice across time and spaces and the multiple perspectives that inform the design and use of educational spaces. Further, it contributes to a growing literature on "making" and literacy by examining how informal making practices are folded into formal school structures and considering how this reconfigures literacy learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many communities in developing countries do not have access to clean water, which is essential to health. This project involved the installation of clean water filters in two rural Guatemalan villages, a small-scale sustainable community project proposed by a short-term medical mission team and accomplished in partnership with local missionaries. The percentage of infections in adult visitors to medical clinics was assessed pre- and post-installation of filters, and although not statistically significant, decreased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family--school partnerships have been shown to improve academic and social outcomes for children, yet there have been challenges in developing effective partnerships with diverse families. This phenomenological study examined perspectives of immigrant and local parents with regards to family-- school partnerships in Hawai'i to provide insights regarding these challenges in this unique context. Results demonstrated that parents valued the relational aspect of family--school partnerships and believed that education for their children was important. Beyond supporting children's learning, participants wanted to understand their children's experiences in school and to participate in building a school community. They identified the importance of the principal's role in affording effective partnerships and discussed cultural mismatches with educators that created barriers for their participation. This study adds to the literature by examining parent perspectives in the context of the complexity of family, school, and community attributes in Hawai'i, including the voices of diverse families that reflect the increasing diversity of schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improper child passenger restraint use contributes to higher pediatric motor vehicle collision morbidity and mortality among cultural minority populations. Child passenger safety education improves caregiver knowledge of restraint use, but effective interventions require culturally specific programming. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a child passenger safety education program culturally adapted through a pediatric trauma center's community partnerships. A nonexperimental observational cohort study using program evaluation data for the child passenger safety education programs during a 24-month period. Paired pretest/posttest self-reported survey responses measured changes in caregiver knowledge and self-efficacy of restraint use. Data were analyzed by class location and by caregiver language using a paired t test and Wilcoxon's signed ranks test. A total of 1,795 paired survey responses were collected in English, Spanish, or Russian. An increase in mean knowledge scores occurred overall, with a difference in mean of 0.565 (SE = 0.022, 95% CI [0.521, 0.607]). Stratification by class site and by language reflected significant increases in median scores, but findings were variable by study group. Pretest median scores for self-efficacy of restraint use were high for all groups, but the increases in posttest medians were also significant across groups (p ≤.001). Caregiver knowledge and self-efficacy for child passenger restraint use increased after participation in the community classes. The pediatric trauma center's community partnerships facilitated uptake and adaption of the child passenger safety education programs and increased the injury prevention outreach to minority communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Africa has one of the highest rates of stroke and stroke deaths in the world. The burden of stroke is increasing with a 3-year mortality rate of up to 84%. Stroke disproportionately affects the young and middle-aged population contributing to morbidity and mortality affecting families, communities, health systems, and economic progress. My objectives of the 2022 Osuntokun Award Lecture at the African Stroke Organization Conference were to explore our qualitative research findings from our communities and to propose future qualitative methods for improving stroke outcomes in Africa. Qualitative research processes and findings related to stroke prevention, treatment/ongoing care, recovery, and knowledge and attitudes influencing ethical, legal and social implications related to stroke neuro-biobanking were explored. For each qualitative study, methods were developed by the research team including: (1) plans to implement aims and ethics review; (2) guides and detailed steps for implementation; (3) training for team; (4) pilot testing, data collection, transport, transcription, storage; (5) data analysis and manuscript development. The research focused on genetics, genomics and phenomics of stroke and more recently on exploring the ethical, legal, and social implications of stroke neuro-biobanking. All included a qualitative component to obtain input and guidance from the community. As in quantitative research, questions were developed by the research team, reviewed for clarity by a small group of community members, and 1,289 community members (ages 22–85) participated in the focus groups and key informant interviews from 2014 through 2022. Answers to questions were diverse with some knowledgeable about the science of stroke prevention and treatment, but many had ideas about prevention and causes of stroke that were not supported by science and many reported using traditional healers for treatment and religious beliefs preventing brain biobanking. In addition to our current qualitative research related to stroke in Africa and beyond, we must form research partnerships with communities that not only answer researchers' and community members' questions but identify and implement ways to prevent stroke and improve stroke outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the increase in both evidence and awareness of the impact that social determinants and social injustices have on health, it is clear to educators that nursing students must be prepared to address and ameliorate such concerns for patients. This paper describes the approach of one nursing program to community health nursing education. The SON located in a highly diverse city, approaches community health education through the lens of the social determinants of health. Going forward, nursing programs must consider social determinants and health equity when planning community courses and across the curriculum. Approaches to community health education with a focus on health promotion for nursing students, such as the courses described in this article, may help nursing programs meet the learning needs of students and the changing face of healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental health researchers, government agencies, and community groups have endorsed long-term community–academic partnerships as an effective strategy to support science-based improvements in environmental health. Social sciences concepts, approaches, and methods are fundamental to these translational partnerships. However, appropriate roles for academic partners vary throughout the process of changing systems (policies, practices, programs, etc.). This can complicate planning, evaluating, and sustaining such partnerships. We set forth a conceptual framework for academic partners’ roles at different stages of systems change. We apply this framework to three longstanding academic–community partnerships involving National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Community Outreach and Engagement Cores. We conclude by discussing how the framework can help academic partners tap appropriate expertise, redefine their roles, and evaluate their contributions to community efforts to improve environmental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on the personal experience of the author who had been employed as a Youth Arts Manager in a small, desert town in the Northern Territory. In her research honours study during the project for which she was engaged, she aimed to understand the tensions she experienced managing this partnership. Now, five years later, she reconsidered the experience and, placing the concept of culture shock at the forefront of her perspective, came to see the experience in a new light. Kate proposes that understanding protocols is a process embodiment that may be affected by the experience of culture shock, and secondly, that creative processes can be reduced neither to process nor product. Rather, with a clear understanding of aims and objectives as they relate to context, from community development can fruitful artistic partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The privatization of basic needs provision has seen a related and increasing reliance on corporate–community partnerships in serving the “last mile.” These relationships often seem promising because they suggest mutual benefit—corporations expand their customer base, while communities gain access to improved services. Indeed, the success of Manila’s water privatization project hinges in large part on the two utilities’ partnerships with community-based organizations to extend services to low-income areas. Despite the promise of mutuality, Manila has seen localized contestations over this setup, as some communities sense disparities between their terms of access and those of households that are directly served by the utilities. However, rather than being targeted at the utilities, those challenges largely focus on the small providers—paradoxically, it is the community-based cooperatives and entrepreneurs that are accused of capitalistic exploitation. By distancing themselves from low-income communities, the utilities become relatively intangible, state-like entities, their financial motivations obscured from ordinary citizens. In contrast, community-based organizations are at the frontline—collecting payments, monitoring for theft, and seemingly earning profits at the expense of their neighbors. Corporate–community partnerships thus create an uneven terrain of empowerment, cooptation, and politicization, refocusing debates at a local level. In so doing, they alter the ways in which citizens view public, private, and community entities, complicating the public/private binaries that often dominate debates on privatization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses how community partnerships can be used to facilitate critical service-learning opportunities aimed at social change and political advocacy while creating reciprocal gains for all parties. First, a brief literature review discusses the growth of community-campus partnerships and service-learning activities within academic institutions. It summarizes the differences between the traditional charity service-learning approach and the critical service-learning approach. Then, the case of the Mar Vista housing development is introduced. The case involved local college students in a community development course partnering with high school students from a local housing project in Los Angeles. Working together, the two groups of students surveyed community residents in the housing development as part of joint learning activity. The case demonstrates how long-term relationships with community partners can promote service-learning opportunities that teach students important instrumental skills about social change while also helping them to reexamine their assumptions and increase their awareness of community issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As libraries develop digital cultural heritage collections the relationship with the organizations that own the collection are vital to the success of the process. This is ground that libraries have typically not operated. Organizations external to libraries that own collections have many needs beyond the simple digitization process. IUPUI University Library is an urban academic library that has worked on developing relationships with external organizations for almost ten years. During this time there have been many hurdles and lessons learned. This paper highlights some of the trends in relationship building with community organizations and offers two unique case studies that demonstrate the challenges libraries are likely to face. Other academic, research, and public libraries can benefit from developing relationships similar to those described and enhance the creation of cultural heritage collections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While adolescents benefit from the involvement of caring adults who participate in their schooling experiences, their families' participation in school events decreases incrementally as they progress through their education. There is still much to be understood about how to develop supportive relationships that encourage families to contribute and support students' literacy learning as they progress through school. This article describes how eighth grade students' attitudes and ideas about their families played a strong role in influencing involvement within a poetry program developed and funded as a way to involve families in the school. Using qualitative ethnographic research methods, data collection consisted of classroom and poetry coffeehouse observations and focus group interviews. Findings indicate that two different factors, the students' perceptions of parents' roles in school and the life contexts of the families, affected the way students encouraged family participation for this poetry program. Insights from students in this study provide important considerations regarding parent involvement in a family literacy program. To bridge connections between home and school, it is important to listen carefully to young adults and community members to meet the needs of adolescent students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a Canadian qualitative case study project funded by the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario. The paper describes success stories of students and communities affected by poverty from a diverse sample of eleven elementary schools throughout the province of Ontario. Over the period of one school year (2007-2008) and through school visits, interviews, focus groups, and document analysis, researchers developed narratives that describe the ways that adult members (teachers, parents, administrators, and community groups/partners) in the sample schools thought about and shaped their work with students living in challenging socioeconomic circumstances. The paper illustrates examples from the project that draw on themes related to: commitment to high-quality collaboration, teacher mentorship, and community building; parent and community partnerships; and administrative leadership and the culture of leading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strong school and family ties have long shown success in influencing positive child development and lasting academic success. While a multitude of programs exist to help facilitate the school-family connection, one program in particular, Families and Schools Together, or FAST, stands out as an effective prevention program that is suitable for a number of diverse populations. This article adds to the growing body of literature on the effectiveness of FAST. This study of the implementation and evaluation of the Kids FAST and FASTWORKS programs over multiple years in a large metropolitan area of Virginia was conducted using existing data collected from individual program sites over the course of 35 months (Spring 2005 to Winter 2007), analyzed in aggregate using quantitative methods as prescribed in the FAST evaluation protocol. Few FAST program site results are analyzed in aggregate, even though this method is encouraged by the FAST developers. Thus, previous evaluation of individual program sites yielded mixed results. Analyzed in aggregate, families graduating from multiple sites of FAST programs were shown to make significant gains on most measures. These results indicate positive outcomes and can provide insight for program improvements as well as support for continuing to use the FAST program in the Virginia Beach City Public Schools and in similar sites. Limitations of this study and suggestions for future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Reducing mental health disparities among underserved populations, particularly African American elders, is an important public health priority. The authors describe the process and challenges of developing a community/academic research partnership to address these disparities. Methods: The authors arc using a Community-Based Participatory Research approach to gain access to underserved populations in need of depression treatment. The authors identify six stages: 1) Collaborating to Secure Funding; 2) Building a Communications Platform and Research Infrastructure; 3) Fostering Enduring Relationships; 4) Assessing Needs/Educating about Research Process; 5) Initiating Specific Collaborative Projects (meeting mutual needs/interests); and 6) Maintaining a Sustainable and Productive Partnership. Data from a needs assessment developed collaboratively by researchers and community agencies facilitated agreement on mutual research goals, while strengthening the partnership. Results: A community/academic-based partnership with a solid research infrastructure has been established and maintained for 3 years. Using the results of a needs assessment, the working partnership prioritized and launched several projects. Through interviews and questionnaires, community partners identified best practices for researchers working in the community. Future research and interventional projects have been developed, including plans for sustainability that will eventually shift more responsibility from the academic institution to the community agencies. Conclusions: To reach underserved populations by developing and implementing models of more effective mental health treatment, it is vital to engage community agencies offering services to this population. A successful partnership requires "cultural humility," collaborative efforts, and the development of flexible protocols to accommodate diverse communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective prevention usually represents a combination of good science and good art, where science stands for a systematic, rigorous procedure for producing and evaluating a change following a treatment condition, and art is defined as the thoughtful and sensitive use of knowledge and skills in field settings. In this article, we present 10 scientific principles—clustered around the domains of treatment formation, procedural decisions, and interpretable designs—that are necessary to produce and document important behavioral outcomes. We show how and why each principle has importance for community and university partners as they implement early prevention programs. Our goal is to help practitioners and researchers work more closely together in designing preventions for young children and their families. The reciprocal relationships that tie good science to good art are highlighted as well as their inseparable influence on producing sustainable prevention programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multi-component community-partnership model, consisting of a nurse and community health workers, was implemented in a subsidized housing development to assist southern African American women to quit smoking. The community health workers assisted with the recruitment and retention of the participants and promoted social support and self-efficacy with the cessation process. The nurse provided group, stage-based education, behavioral strategies, and nicotine replacement therapy for the participants (n=15). Data analysis revealed the 24-hour point prevalence abstinence rates at weeks 6 and 12 were 80% and 73%, respectively, and the 2-month sustained abstinence rate was 60%. There were significant differences in the progression along the stages of change, social support and self-efficacy scores. This innovative community partnership using community health workers may be a feasible approach to provide low socioeconomic African American women access for effective smoking cessation treatment. Further research is needed to validate these findings and other novel approaches to eliminate health disparities among African American women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

: PurposeTo assess the availability of public and private financing sources to support comprehensive school mental health programs. The paper focuses on “expanded school mental health” (ESMH) programs, which provide a full array of mental health promotion and intervention services to youth in general and special education through school–community partnerships.: MethodsA range of strategies to fund ESMH services are reviewed, including fee-for-service funding, as well as grants, contracts, and other mechanisms from federal, state, local, and private sources.: ResultsAn objective national study of the characteristics and financing of ESMH programs has yet to be conducted. Existing evidence suggests that funding for these programs is patchy and tenuous. Many programs are being funded through fee-for-service programs, which generally only support the provision of more intensive services (e.g., assessment, therapy) and are associated with significant bureaucracy and other concerns (e.g., the need to diagnose students). As programs move to enhance funding for preventive and mental health–promoting activities and services, there is an increasing need for grants, contracts, and other sources of support.: ConclusionProgress in the national movement toward ESMH will be promoted through an interconnected agenda of quality improvement, evaluation of program effectiveness, and the advancement of advocacy. These developments will facilitate policy improvements and increased funding for the full continuum of mental health promotion and intervention in the schools. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Children with chronic illnesses have improved physiological and psychosocial outcomes when they are able to identify and converse with others who experience the same challenges. Support groups are one way to enhance this interaction. To facilitate this process, student nurses worked with an interprofessional healthcare team, thalassemia patients, and their families to determine their support needs. The purpose of this article is to describe the innovative development and outcomes of the Thalassemia Patient Support Project, a community engagement partnership. This partnership provided a unique educational clinical experience for nursing students where they had an opportunity to help develop a support group and a pediatric to adult transitional care program. The outcomes could be used as a guide for community nursing education, in US and international settings. • Community health nursing is on the leading edge of healthcare reform. • Interprofessional teamwork develops student skills needed by the professional nurse. • Novel sites allow public health nursing students to work with underserved groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategic partnerships between universities and declining urban neighborhoods with limited resources have resulted in some innovative and forward-thinking approaches to land use and planning. These approaches respond to the impacts of boom-and-bust through the implementation of problem-based solutions and have spurred development to make communities more resilient. The university-community partnerships and engagements have multiple goals, including increasing university responsiveness to local needs, stimulating real-world change, and preparing students to effectively address complex social challenges (Dorado and Giles, 2004). However, such approaches are complicated by a variety of factors, including stakeholder expectations, power imbalances, and the conflicting goals of educators and community members (Mansuri and Rao, 2004). While the benefits of service-learning programs to universities are well documented, the benefits of such higher education partnerships to community participants are not as well known (Netshandama, 2010). Successful engagements seem to require community involvement and decision-making authority at every phase, mutual accountability, and trust (Winkler, 2013). This paper refers to a series of case studies of community engagement and neighborhood empowerment that involved the development of a collective sustainable plan/vision for declining inner-city neighborhoods with limited resources. This participatory form of local community development combines and goes beyond spatial planning and land use tools to demonstrate in some depth how an "inside the neighborhood" approach can make communities less vulnerable to boom-and-bust cycles. These neighborhoods, located in Columbus, Ohio, have seen tremendous declines in population and economy over the past years because of significant losses in manufacturing jobs. The case studies can inspire communities and demonstrate that service learning has the potential to provide communities with place-specific guidelines and recommendations that improve the quality of life for residents; but their implementation requires a collective effort that goes beyond the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seeking to reduce teen pregnancy and births in communities with rates above the national average, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Adolescent Health Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, developed a joint funding opportunity through which grantees worked to implement and test an approach involving community-wide teen pregnancy prevention initiatives. Once these projects had been in the field for 2.5 years, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff developed plans for a supplemental issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health to present findings from and lessons learned during implementation of the community-wide initiatives. When the articles included in the supplemental issue are considered together, common themes emerge, particularly those related to initiating, building, and maintaining strong partnerships. Themes seen across articles include the importance of (1) sharing local data with partners to advance initiative implementation, (2) defining partner roles from the beginning of the initiatives, (3) developing teams that include community partners to provide direction to the initiatives, and (4) addressing challenges to maintaining strong partnerships including partner staff turnover and delays in implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The North Carolina commercial fishing industry is in decline despite a rising demand for local seafood. To increase market awareness and sales, citizens in six coastal counties branded their seafood to help consumers select local over imports, when given a choice. Educational materials and websites were developed to help consumers learn the seasonality and the characteristics of fresh, local products. Consumers surveyed said brands would help them identify the seafood harvested by local fishermen. They also indicated seasonality and quality charts would help them choose seafood in season and discern the freshness of local commodities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extension, Master Gardener volunteers, and industry professionals can partner in order to provide a significant benefit to a community. The result of this partnership and subsequent tree inventory provides communities with an essential street tree management tool at a substantial cost savings. In addition, there is a greater awareness among the partners regarding their assets and abilities that can lead to a positive impact on a community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Purpose: To describe coalition membership, examine associations between coalition processes and short-term coalition outcomes, and assess the relative contribution of key coalition processes to perceived accomplishments in teen pregnancy prevention coalitions. Methods: A self-administered survey was distributed to active members of 21 teen pregnancy prevention coalitions in 13 communities. The overall response rate was 67%, with 471 surveys returned. Process measures included staff competence, member influence in decision making, and coalition functioning. Short-term outcome measures included perceived accomplishments, member satisfaction, member participation, and coalition viability. Results: About 50% of coalition members represented health or teen pregnancy prevention or youth development service organizations, with 13% participating primarily as residents or youth. None of the process measures were associated with coalition viability (defined as active 2 years post-survey). Many bivariate associations between coalition processes and other short-term outcomes were significant at the individual and coalition levels of analysis. In a multivariate random coefficients model, coalition functioning (p <.001) and member influence in decision making (p = .019) were significantly associated with perceived coalition accomplishments. Conclusion: Consistent with research on coalitions that have addressed other health issues, good coalition processes were associated with short-term indicators of effectiveness in these teen pregnancy prevention coalitions. Coalition processes were not associated with coalition viability 2 years post-survey, however, suggesting that other factors influence coalition survival. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]