Community Partnership Evaluation and Research Projects
Community Capacity Building
Genesee
County "Ready, Set, Grow:Passport"
Evaluation Project (1997- present)
Partnership Location: Passport Offices, Flint,
MI
Community Contact Person: Dr. Colleen Determan
(810) 767-0703
Evaluation Team Members: Hiram E. Fitzgerald,
Jessica Barnes (MSU),
Funding: Mott Children's Health Center, C.
S. Mott Foundation, Genesee County School
Districts, Genesee County Hospitals and Health
Maintenance Organizations.
The Genesee County Passport Evaluation Project is the evaluation of an intervention designed to impact every family with young children in Genesee County. Through community collaboration, the Passport Program connects its members with existing services and educates families on the importance of the first five years of life. The Passport Initiative focuses on five key aspects of early development: immunizations, developmental assessments, prenatal care, awareness of school readiness programs, and information and referrals to available services. The initiative has six basic components: membership program, information and referral services, linkages with services and programs, community education, community advocacy, and community recognition. Both qualitative and quantitative indicators of program success are being assessed. A partnership with the University of Michigan Flint, Department of Psychology provides training for undergraduate students. Graduate students from Michigan State University and the University of Michigan participate in the evaluation. The project is supported by area hospitals, HMOs, school districts, Mott Children's Health Center, and The Charles Steward Mott Foundation.
Qnet
Training and Technical Assistance
Project Location: State of Michigan
Community Contacts: All Head Start, Early
Head Start Grantees in Michigan
Project Contact Person: Hiram Fitzgerald
Project Team: Brooke Foulds, Cathy Jo Holleran,
Jani Kozlowski, Pat Griffis, Deborah Mitchell,
Hiram Fitzgerald
Funding agency: Q Net (Administration for
Children, Youth, and Families)
The purpose of Qnet is to provide training and technical assistance for all Head Start, Early Head Start and Disabilities Head Start/Early Head Start grantees in the state of Michigan. T and TA is provided for all aspects of agency and program management, including development of outcome based objectives for programs. In addition, the Michigan Qnet team has sponsored multi-state training programs for Region through Michigan State University's instructional television network.
Coldwater:
Success by Six (Birth to Three) (1997
- )
Project Location: Coldwater and Branch County,
Michigan
Community Contact Person: Robert Redmond,
Superintendent Branch County ISD
Project Contact Person: Hiram Fitzgerald 2-2500
Evaluation Team: Hiram Fitzgerald, Scott Sz
, Angela Deal.
Funding: Branch County Intermediate School
District; Michigan State University FACT Grant
The goal of this partnership is twofold. The first purpose is to evaluate a prevention based program targeting health and school readiness outcomes for children from birth to three years of age. The second purpose is to evaluate the development and effectiveness of a community network for changing community awareness and use of services available to children birth to three years of age.
Risk and Resilience
Spectrum
Health - Michigan State University Partnership
(1995 - present)
Michigan Maternal Health Services Study
Partnership Location: Spectrum Health Systems,
Grand Rapids, MI
Project Contact Person: Dr. Lee Anne Roman,
(517) 432-2500
Evaluation Team Members: Lee Anne Roman, Judith
K. Lindsay, Joseph S. Moore, Lawrence J. Baer,
Lauren R. Barton, Jason S. Davis, Hiram E.
Fitzgerald, Joseph Gardiner, Marcia R. Gebben,
John Goddeeris, Nigel Paneth, Allen Shoemaker
Funding: U. S. Maternal Child and Health Bureau
Spectrum
Health and MSU have had a long history of
multifaceted collaboration. The MI-MHSS collaborative
effort was undertaken to test the effectiveness
of a nurse-community health worker team intervention
targeting low-income pregnant women compared
to a community standard of care program that
provides state entitlement maternal and infant
support services delivered by nurses in the
home setting. The impact of these alternative
interventions is being investigated through
a longitudinal, randomized clinical trial
examining changes in psychosocial stress,
psychosocial resources, maternal life course
development, and infant development from pregnancy
through twelve months after birth. This project
is supported by grant MCJ-260743 from the
Maternal Child Health Bureau in the Department
of Health and Human Services. Graduate students
from Michigan State University assist with
the evaluation effort.
Michigan State University/University of Michigan
Longitudinal Study
Project Location: East Lansing/Ann Arbor:
Participants were originally from Mid-Michigan
and currently reside throughout the United
States.
Community Contacts: Robert A. Zucker, Alcohol
Research Center, University of Michigan
Project Contact Person: Hiram Fitzgerald
Project Team: Robert A. Zucker, Hiram Fitzgerald,
Leon Puttler, Susan Refior, Jeanette Gassaway,
Maria Wong, Joel Nigg, Alexander von Eye (and
many colleagues at several academic institutions).
Funding agency: National Institute of Alcoholism
and Alcohol Abuse
The purpose of the MSU-UM Longitudinal Study is to isolate factors that contribute to the etiology of alcohol abuse/alcohol dependence, co-occurring psychopathology, and related indicators of biobehavioral disorganization among children of alcoholics. The project consists of two simultaneous longitudinal studies: one that tracks the life course of alcohol use/abuse and co-occurring psychopathology in children of alcoholics who are between the ages of 3 and 6 at the beginning of the study; and one that tracks the life course of alcoholism and co-occurring psychopathology in adult alcoholics who were originally the biological parents of the children involved in the project. Biological, psychological, social and community- economic indicators are assessed.
Program Evaluation: 0-5
Pathways
Project: Research into Directions for Family
Health and Service Use (1995 - present)
Partnership Location: Jackson Community Action
Agency, Jackson, MI & National Data Set
Community Contact Person: Mary Cunningham
DeLuca, 517 784-4800
Project Contact Person: Dr. Rachel Schiffman
517 353-5072
Evaluation Team Members: Cynthia Gibbons,
Millie Omar, Holly Brophy-Herb, Hiram E. Fitzgerald,
Dennis Keeth, Thomas Reichl, Sharon Hoerr.
Funding: Administration for Children, Youth,
and Families
The
Pathways project is part of the national evaluation
of Early Head Start and involves the Early
Head Start programs in Jackson and Hillsdale
counties, serving 95 infants, toddlers and
their families with three program options:
home-based, center-based, and collaborative
child care. While all program options focus
on the child's individual developmental needs,
the home-based program utilizes a relationship-based
approach and therefore strives to meet the
physical, social, emotional, and developmental
needs of infants and to link families to support
services. Families are offered weekly home
visits as well as bi-weekly socialization
groups focusing on the child's development
and the primary relationships surrounding
the child. Evaluation involves both national
data collection and local data collection
on issues related to child development and
family health. The evaluation team also participates
in sub-studies focusing on fathers of Early
Head Start children, transition to school,
and the impact of welfare reform on families
involved with Early Head Start and Head Start.
EightCAP, Inc. Early Head Start Program Evaluation
(1997 - present)
Partnership Location: Greenville, MI
Community Contact Person: Nancy Secor, Head
Start Director, 616-754-9315
Evaluation Team Members: Lucy Seabrook, Marcel
Montanez, Hiram Fitzgerald
Funding: EightCAP, Inc. (Administration for
Children, Youth, and Families
Early Head Start (EHS) is a comprehensive program that focuses on enhancing the child's development and supporting the family during the critical first three years of the child's life. The EightCAP, Inc. child development program serves pregnant women, infants and toddlers ages 0 - 3 in Gratiot, Isabella, Montcalm and Ionia counties. This program offers weekly visits to the home and monthly group meetings for the parent(s) and child(ren). EHS focuses on family support, medical and nutritional care, and emotional well-being for enrolled children. EHS also networks with other agencies to ensure the family is aware of available resources. The purpose of the evaluation is to determine how effectively the program meets its goals of (a) promoting the physical, cognitive, social and emotional growth of infants/toddlers; (b) supporting parents/parent figures in their role as primary caregivers and educators of their children; (c) strengthening community supports for families with young children; and (d) developing highly trained, caring staff to deliver EHS services.
Child
development outcomes assessed include child
health and physical development; quality of
children's relationships with significant
adults; social competence and behavioral outcomes;
and cognitive and language development. Family
development outcomes assessed include parenting
and family health, the home environment, service
use, and parent involvement in the program.
Data are also collected on different risk
factors and strengths of families, including:
parent characteristics, family background,
children's characteristics, and program and
service variations.
Early Head Start Fathers' Workgroup
Project Location: Community Action Agency,
Jackson, MI
Partnership Location: Jackson Community Action
Agency, Jackson, MI & National Data Set
Community Contact Person: Mary Cunningham
DeLuca, 517 784-4800
Project Contact Person: Dr. Hiram Fitzgerald
517 353-5072
Evaluation Team Members: Hiram Fitzgerald,
Rachel Schiffman, Vanessa Rodriguez, Marcel
Montanez, Richard Lower, Laurie Van Egeren,
Jennifer Smith
Funding: Administration for Children, Youth,
and Families, National Institute for Child
Health and Human Development, Ford Foundation.
This workgroup is among the first to investigate
the roles and involvement of biological and
social low-income fathers in the lives of
their infants and toddlers. All children are
eligible for Early Head Start enrollment.
The Fathers' Workgroup (FW) is a coordinated
effort among researchers, policy-makers and
community partners, working in concert to
determine the role of fathers in child development.
To this end, the FW.is focusing on the following
broad issues: (1) Describing the characteristics
of biological and social low-income fathers
of infants and toddlers, (2) Describing how
fathers contribute to child development, and
(3) Describing how social programs, such as
Early Head Start, support the father's relationship
to his child. Finally, the FW is examining
the national data as part of a multi-state
data base currently in development.
Youth Development
SPGB
Rites
of Passage Study (1999 - present)
Project Location: Greater Lansing area
Community Contact Person: Beth Arnovitz, Michigan
Council on Crime & Delinquency (517) 482-4161
Evaluation Team Members: Vanessa Rodriguez,
, Hiram E. Fitzgerald
Funding: State of Michigan
This
multi-cultural project was designed to assess
rites of passage from adolescence to adulthood
in Caucasian, African-American and Latino
cultures. This study is unique because it
is one of the first attempts to study rites
of passage as youth are actually making the
transition from adolescence to adulthood.
The first step in the evaluation involves
focus groups involving either parents or youth
in order to address the following questions:
How do parents and other adults shape youth's
view of appropriate adult behavior?
What are current family and cultural traditions
and practices?
What are parent and youth perceptions of successful
adulthood?
What are parent and youth perceptions of gender
differences in adult status?
Results of the focus groups will be used to develop a survey measurement tool for more quantitative studies of rites of passage. In addition, focus group information will be used to develop a multicultural modern day rites of passage program for youth in the Lansing area.
HomeNetToo
Project Location: Lansing, Michigan
Community Contacts: Black Child and Family
Institute, Lansing Public Schools, Arachne,
Inc.
Project Contact Person: Linda Jackson, Department
of Psychology
Research Team: Linda Jackson, Alexander von
Eye, Frank Biocca, Gretchen Barbatsis, Yong
Zhao, Hiram Fitzgerald.
Funding agency: National Science Foundation
The
purpose of HomeNetToo is to better understand
how people use the Internet at home. It assesses
a model that tracks cognitive, social, and
motivational influences on internet use among
individuals (the target individuals are youth
and adolescents) varying in ethnicity and
socioeconomic class. Participants receive
computers and differing degrees of training
in use of the internet.
1) Community programs providing direct preventive/interventions for families with children birth to five.
2)
Development of networks designed to change
community awareness and community human service
delivery systems for families with young children.
3) Development of preventive/intervention
programs for youth
The
major roles that ADS plays in such partnerships
involve:
Utilization
Based Program Evaluation
Community
Network Development
Community
Capacity Building
Graduate
Training
