Taking HB&SE to the Streets:
Update of a Case Study in
Community Planning
Leslie Doty Hollingsworth, PhD, ACSW, LMSW
Associate Professor
University of Michigan School of Social Work
February 12, 2008
Presentation to:
Boston College Graduate School of Social Work
Acknowledgements
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Funder: The Skillman Foundation, headquartered in Detroit, Michigan.
University of Michigan School of Social Work Technical Assistance Center
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Dean Paula Allen-Meares – Principal Investigator
Larry Gant, PhD, Co-Principal Investigator
Trina Shanks, PhD, Co-Investigator
Leslie Hollingsworth, PhD, Co-Investigator
Patricia Miller, MSW, Project Director
Kristin McGee, MSW, Project Coordinator
Rachel Williams, MSW, Project Coordinator
Other Professional Partners: National Community Development Institute
(Oakland, CA), McMillion Group (Detroit), Detroit Youth Foundation, Brandeis
University
Residents and Service Providers of Chadsey-Condon, Vernor, Osborn,
Brightmoor, Cody-Rouge, and Northend neighborhoods in the city of Detroit, MI
U of M School of Social Work MSW interns
Plan
Introduction: From transracial adoption policy to
community planning
 What we studied and why
 How we went about the research
 What we discovered
 Implications of the results
About the Project: The Case
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The Detroit-based Skillman Foundation’s Good Neighborhoods initiative created to: “Make Detroit work for children” - ensure children living in targeted
neighborhoods
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Detroit population @951,270, close to 81.6% of whom are African American.
(Excludes “bedroom communities”) Three of the six targeted neighborhoods have
large proportions of Arabic, Hispanic, Hmong, and immigrant families.
Six targeted neighborhoods had largest concentrations of children (65,000, 30% of
Detroit child-population, ½ of whom live in poverty.
Multiple environmental circumstances creating risk for failure, including
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Safe
Healthy
Well-educated, and
Prepared for adulthood
being a perpetrator or victim of criminal activity, poor health/effects, scholastic
underachievement and dropping out of school, unplanned pregnancy, and under- or
unemployment.
Rich history of employment, academic and career achievement, active resident
participation, strong political involvement, civic pride.
1. What We Studied and Why
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Key activity of the Skillman Foundation’s Theory of Change for Good
Neighborhoods initiative:
 To “concentrate successful programs and youth development programs that
operate in a network of services for all children 0-18 years.”
Request of the UMSSW Technical Assistance Center:
 Research and recommend a framework for such a concentration.
 Pay close attention to the Harlem Children’s Zone project as a model.
 An age-specific organization serving children and families in a targeted
geographic neighborhood based on philosophy that a critical mass of
adults and emphasis on the earliest years is necessary for children’s healthy
development.
 Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, key consultant
 Evaluation limitations
Early realization of application of theories of human behavior in the social
environment
2. How we went about the Research:
Conceptualization
We began with the following questions:
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From what Theory of Change are we operating?
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What do children need, at each stage of development, to reach desired
outcomes of being safe, healthy, well-educated, prepared for adulthood?
3.
What contributions are required from parents, family, and other adults in
the community?
4.
What evidence-based interventions address the desired outcomes?
We conceptualized the framework according to:
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Skillman Foundation Theory of Change
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Theoretical orientation
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Empirical orientation
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Local considerations
Skillman Foundation Theory of Change
Skillman Foundation will invest its grant-making and changemaking capacities over a 10-year period:
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Financial resources
Staff time and talents (at all levels)
Reputation and influence as a civic leader
Through facilitating
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Critical mass: Attracting others to demonstrate that change can happen.
System and institutional change: Transforming systems that influence
children.
Individual change: Impacting the lives of children in the six neighborhoods
In order for children living in six targeted neighborhoods to be
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Safe
Healthy
Well-educated
Prepared for adulthood
Theoretical Orientation
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Categorized children’s developmental stages
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Proceeded according to ecological systems model with
emphasis on:
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Pre-birth
Early childhood (0-3years)
Pre-school (3-5 years)
Middle childhood/School age (6-11 years)
Adolescence (12-18 years)
micro- and meso-systems
Incorporated positive youth development theory
Empirical Orientation
Examined national databases reporting scientific reviews
of evaluations of programs providing support to
children.
 Selected evidence-based programs
 Selected programs meeting criteria for
promoting/fostering positive youth development.
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Included some prevention.
Excluded treatment programs for existing disorders.)
Examined knowledge available from the Harlem
Children’s Zone project.
Local Considerations
Reviewed themes from strategies recommended by
residents and other stakeholders.
 Use of solution-focused brief therapy “miracle
question (de Shazer, 1985).”
 Included home-based and community-based
programs.
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Excluded school-based programs
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To avoid duplication of Good Schools initiative.
3. What We Discovered: Minnesota Study of Risk and Adaptation (Sroufe,
Egeland, Carlson, & Collins, 2005) – 23 year longitudinal study, pregnant
women who qualified for public assistance for prenatal care/delivery
Conclusions:
1.
Nothing is more important than care child receives, including that in the early years.
(Implications for care training and early intervention.)
2.
Individuals are always impacted by the entire history of cumulative experience and
even following periods of dramatic change, early experience is not erased.
(Implications for outcomes of adopted children.)
3.
Personal characteristics such as resilience and various forms of psychopathology are
developmental constructions and not inherent, inborn characteristics. (Implications for
intervention.)
4.
Dichotomies such as parents or peers, temperament or experience, past experience
or current circumstances are almost always false. (Evidence for independent and
multivariate effects.)
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Change, as well as continuity, in individual development is coherent and lawful.
(Implications for continuity and discontinuity in development.)
6.
Ultimately, the individual person can only be understood within a model of
continuing transactions between developing persons and the supports and
challenges they are facing. (Implications for attention to building supports and addressing
challenges in the environment within which development occurs.)
Community Guide to Helping America’s Youth. Collaborative of federal
agencies. Experts review youth development programs for adherence to
criteria for evidence-based practices and summarize results
(http://guide.helpingamericasyouth.gov/ccc-quickfacts.htm) .
PARENTING RELATIONSHIPS:
 Youth with positive relationships with their parents and who perceive their
parents care about them are found more likely to:
 Do well in school, be academically motivated and engaged, have better social
skills, and have lower rates of risky behavior (Moore & Zaff, 2002)
and are found less likely to be exposed to weapon violence or to commit violence
with a weapon, use alcohol or drugs, attempt suicide, have low self-esteem, or
use unhealthy strategies to control their weight (Ackard, Neumark-Sztainer,
Story, & Perry, 2006)
 Teens with parents who are active in the community are more likely than others to
be socially active themselves (Fletcher, Elder, & Mekos, 2000).
 Teens with parents who know their friends and monitor their activities in ageappropriate ways are more likely than others to have lower rates of risky physical
behavior, lower rates of risky sexual behaviors, and lower rates of drug, alcohol,
and tobacco use (Moore & Zaff, 2002).
Findings from the Community Guide reviews- continued
SCHOOLS
 Emotional, as well as instructional support from teachers of first
grade students can buffer the risk of early school failure (Hamre,
B., & Pianta, R).
 Increased teacher support to middle school students is associated
with declines in depression and increases in self-esteem (Reddy,
Rhodes, & Mulhall, 2003).
 Middle school students report feeling more effective in their
schoolwork when teachers emphasize mutual respect between
classmates (Ryan & Patrick, 2001).
 Positive student-teacher relationships have been linked to higher
grades and a lower probability of engaging in risky behavior or
being suspended in the subsequent year (McNeely, 2003).
Findings from the Community Guide reviews- continued
COMMUNITIES
One-on-one mentoring programs are found to be associated with
reductions in school absence, higher college participation, better
school attitudes and behavior, less drug and alcohol use among
minority youth, less likelihood of hitting others, less likelihood of
committing crimes, more positive attitudes toward elders and
toward helping, and improved parental relationships and support
from peers (Jekielek, Moore, & Hair, 2002).
Youth who feel more supported and connected to caring adults at a
given community program are more likely than their peers to
attend and to get more from the program (Grossman, 2004).
Natural (kin) mentors are associated, for African
American teens, with lower likelihood of using
marijuana, or participating in non-violent delinquency,
and higher levels of school attachment, school efficacy,
and a belief that it is important to do well in school
(Zimmerman, Bingenheimer, & Notaro, 2002).
Volunteer mentoring relationships are found to
lead to improvements in teens’ perceptions of
their relationships with their parents in terms of
intimacy, communication, and trust (Rhodes,
Grossman, & Resch, 2000).
Findings from the Search Institute (2005).
40 Developmental Assets for each of three stages:
 Early childhood (3-5 years)
 Middle childhood (6-11 years)
 Adolescence (12-18 years)
External assets: Provided by families and other caring adults in neighborhoods,
child care and educational settings, communities – including religious
communities, and peers.
 Support
 Empowerment
 Boundaries and expectations
 Constructive use of time
Internal assets: Qualities inherent in the child.
 Commitment to learning
 Positive values
 Social competencies
 Positive identity
Findings: National Databases (through which evidence-based
programs were identified)
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Edna McConnell Clark Foundation Youth Development Outcomes Compendium
(Hair, Moore, Hunter, & Kaye, 2001/2002)
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Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Model Programs Guide
(n.d.).
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searchable online registry of mental health promotion programs reviewed and rated by
independent reviewers.
Positive Youth Development Evaluation Project (2004)
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Maintains a database of evidence-based prevention and intervention programs of
services to children and youth.
National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices - SAMHSA (2007)
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Identifies experimentally and quasi-experimentally evaluated, and outcome monitoring
studies of youth development programs by age or grade level and in multiple domains.
Reviewed programs that sought to achieve one or more of 14 positive youth
development outcomes and contained a controlled evaluation component.
Rand Corporation Promising Practices Network on Children, Families, and
Communities (2007)
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Categorizes programs according to whether they meet criteria for “proven” programs
(generally experimental or quasi-experimental programs) or “promising” programs
(containing comparison groups but with some deficits).
Findings: Strategies suggested by Detroit Cody-Rouge
residents and other community stakeholders
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Encourage home ownership.
[Encourage] parents to get a high school diploma or GED.
Assist parents to learn life skills and life management skills.
Help parents to learn effective communications skills when talking about their kids with teachers, bus
drivers, and other adults.
Educate parents on drug, alcohol, and violence prevention.
Stabilize families by identifying community jobs, financial support, resources, and emergency
assistance.
Increase places for parents and children to talk and have fun together.
Create support groups for parents and youth.
Ensure that all children have a parent or guardian that provides love and support.
Allow situations for parents and children to learn together.
Develop a program to assist Cody-Rouge residents with utilities.
Identify how many seniors are in the community and find out what their needs are.
Identify how many people there are with disabilities and find out what their needs are.
Makes sure children have adequate clothing.
Parents teach youth at home.
Findings: Strategies suggested by Detroit North end
residents and other community stakeholders
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Provide financial assistance to homeowners for home repairs.
Create parent/child programs.
Develop asset-based community resources that provide adult and youth education and
employment.
Increase access to health care.
Teach life skills.
Develop a multi-service center for children and parents.
Ensure quality, affordable daycare.
Increase access to mental health services.
Provide health literacy classes.
Provide nutrition classes.
Increase access to drug treatment centers.
Increase access to free or affordable dental care.
Provide leadership training.
Provide home ownership training.
Ensure there is gender-specific health care.
Provide parent and guardian support services.
Recruit and train mentors with a priority on male mentors
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Make vocational and enrichment training sites available in the neighborhood.
Provide stipends for bringing children to workshops.
Offer programs to increase youth self-esteem.
Consider boarding schools and/or places providing total youth care for youth
in homes without parental guidance and support.
Provide programs to decrease infant mortality.
Develop lead abatement programs.
Identity all lead abatement programs.
Create more rehabilitation centers.
Increase substance abuse prevention and treatment services.
Develop after school enrichment programs.
Provide assistance and support to grandparents raising their grandchildren.
Increase structured activities for group home residents to avoid their loitering
on the streets.
Increase community literacy programming.
Develop job shadowing programs.
Expose children to other communities.
Develop self-esteem programs for adults and parents.
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Provide parent/infant training.
Provide training around prenatal care and infant care.
Develop after school programs.
Develop community mentoring programs.
Increase services to the homeless and homeless shelters.
Provide child abuse prevention programming.
Provide funds for senior home repair.
Offer parenting classes.
Provide employment and training programs.
Create community-based computer labs.
Parents need to be able to provide the necessities of life.
Develop entrepreneur opportunities, activities and training.
Create a community center for families with many enrichment programs and classes.
Create a recreation center.
Create homeownership and revitalization programs.
Findings: Harlem Children’s Zone Project
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Mission is to improve the lives of, and opportunities for
youth and families in Harlem, New York.
Philosophy that a critical mass of adults is necessary for
the healthy development of children.
Age-specific programming
Emphasizes the earliest years.
Wrap-around concept
Neighborhood based in schools off hours and in
independent office space.
Multiple service centers for children pre-birth through
high school and for families.
4. Implications of Findings for Recommendations
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Propose a Phase I Services Network
 available to newly forming families, pregnant women not parenting other children,
subsequent target child and additional children and related adults (spouses, partners,
teachers) over Phase I (through the target child’s completion of first grade).
Network Services would be:
 Theory-driven
 Evidence-based
 Oriented toward the promotion of positive youth development
 Community- and/or home-based
 Targeted to first-time mothers early in their pregnancy
 Specially targeted to children from birth through first grade
 Directed to supporting parents and other caregivers of children
 Directed toward providing children with adult mentors—volunteer and kin —where
appropriate
 Built on content that is developmentally-relevant.
 Aimed at accomplishing outcomes of children being safe, healthy, well-educated, and
prepared for adulthood.
Depending on continued resources and support, Phase II: expanded network of services
available up to the target child’s 18th birthday or high school graduation
Implications for Recommendations - Continued
Programs Would Be Directed Toward:
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Support to Parents (e.g., prenatal/post-natal health, self-esteem, stressmanagement)
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Parent Training (e.g., in quality infant and child care, building positive
relationships with children, setting boundaries and expectations, providing
socio-emotional support)
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Teacher Training (e.g., relationship-building, facilitating mutual support
among classmates, setting boundaries and expectations)
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Services to Children (e.g., building commitment to learning, building positive
values, building social competencies, building positive identity)
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Community Development (creating one-on-one mentoring programs)
Programs Meeting Framework Criteria[1]
Expectant mothers:
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Nurse-Family Partnership
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Early Head Start program—has the advantage of continuing the mother’s involvement up to her child’s
age 3, and includes services to the children and families.
Early childhood and preschool
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Carolina Abecedarian Project - provides comprehensive, early education to children six-weeks up to
kindergarten age
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Incredible Years--a parent-, child-, and teacher-training program targeting children beginning at age two
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Perry Preschool Project--provides an open approach to learning for three- and four-year-olds,
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DARE to be You multi-level prevention program--targets children 2- to 5-years and their families.
School-age/Middle school
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Early Risers “Skills for Success” competency enhancement program targeting 6-12 year olds at high risk
for early development of conduct problems, and their families
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SAFE Children (Schools and Families Educating Children) program--a preventive intervention
targeting first-graders and their families and designed to increase academic achievement and decrease
risk for later drug use and associated problems.
Adolescence
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The Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring intervention--available to school-aged children and adolescents
between six- and 16-years-old.
[1] Programs within the various developmental stage categories overlap. The Big Brothers Big Sisters
program was the only evidence-based, non-school-located program serving adolescents.
Recommended Services Delivery Structure
To facilitate success of the services network, and based mostly on input from
residents and other stakeholders, we recommend a structure to support the
services network that includes:
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Neighborhood-based, centralized service locations. (Some residents have
suggested considering the renovation of “closed” school buildings for
locating these services.)
Local/neighborhood transportation support
An easily accessible mechanism for communicating information about
services.
An information and referral mechanism for linking participants in the positive
youth development services network with other community services.
A wraparound mechanism to ensure full utilization of services within and
outside of the network.
An evaluation mechanism that allows for randomized controlled study.
Recommended Evaluation Design
Establish a Comprehensive Information and Referral Service, in addition to the Services
Network.
Advertise for first-time pregnant women of any age to participate in a multi-year research
project in which they will receive a stipend at the end of every three months they remain
with the project.
Each woman who agrees to participate will receive a services needs assessment through the
Information and Referral Service.
At completion of the needs assessment, participants will be randomly assigned to the
intervention service or to a control.
Women participating in the intervention service will receive Network Services in addition to
other Information and Referral Services as needed. Women in the control will receive only
Information and Referral Services, not including Network Services.
All participants will complete pre-tests initially and at the time Network Services participants
(children, parents, and related adults) begin a new Network Services program, and post-tests
each time Network Services participants (and/or their children and related adults) complete
a Network Service Program.
Consider making Network Services available only in certain neighborhoods and comparing
outcomes to matched children in non-intervention neighborhoods but where all
neighborhoods receive the Information and Referral Service.
Resident participation in designing and reviewing Requests for Proposals for funding of existing
or proposed agencies to deliver Network Services.
Strengths
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Embedded, committed foundation
Long-term investment of Skillman Foundation resources (financial,
personnel, and influence)
Expert, committed partners who represent the make-up of the community
Expert, committed residents
Appropriate time-line
Exciting, stimulating project
Goals are consistent with mission of social work profession.
Opportunity to apply existing social work and social science knowledge
Opportunity to develop knowledge and evaluate outcomes.
Underlying values are consistent with personal and professional values.
Opportunity to change outcomes for children and their families in the most
vulnerable populations, while developing knowledge that can be disseminated
and applied more broadly.
Challenges
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Forging new ground – project and technical assistance center.
Foundation as funder vs. change agent.
Tendency to focus on implementation versus evaluation.
Transferring leadership, governance to residents.
Involvement versus control by non-resident stakeholders
Model for capacity-building of residents
Acquiring and maintaining a consistent youth voice.
Active and consistent voice of ethnic minorities not part of the
majority group (e.g., Middle eastern, Hmong, Latino residents)
Between ethnic group differences
Threat of gentrification
Partnering with other systems, e.g., city government, regional
entities, businesses.
Next Steps/Conclusions
Next Steps:
Submission of scholarly manuscripts for dissemination of knowledge
developed.
Securing approval of the recommendations
Decisions regarding how the recommended framework fits within
the overall project and who will have what role.
Assisting in establishing a mechanism of support to providers for
establishing new or expanded services to be offered within the
network.
Assisting in preparation of residents and other stakeholders in
decision-making and implementation of the network.
Over time, broadening the network beyond services offered to
newly formed families and children at early childhood.