change agents
April 2009
Community Science Newsletter
Connecting Knowledge with Social Change
In This Issue
Combating Childhood Obesity
Excel Beyond the Bell
Support for New Americans
Join Our Mailing List
Combating Obesity
 
Community Science will focus on 3 Strategic Objectives for SHIRE:
 
1.Public Awareness Campaign Collaborate with residents, civic leaders, health care providers and other involved participants to shape messages that will resonate with residents and stimulate behavioral change. 
2.Develop Action Plans  Organize civic and faith-based organizations, along with local politicians and community leaders and residents, in forming strategic partnerships to shape a policy agenda that addresses access to healthier food outlets, public school resources and other support systems. 
3. Peer Education Curriculum  Build the organizing skills and competencies of local youth and adult residents to model messages, behaviors, and transmit health information to close the obesity knowledge gap for residents.
Worth Reading...
 
Ease of fast-food options and childhood obesity
 
Examine the relationship between fast-food availability and the rise in childhood obesity. Click here to purchase the article, Proximity of Fast-Food Restaurants to Schools and Adolescent Obesity.
 
Source: American Journal of Public Health, March 2009, Authors: Brennan Davis and Christopher Carpenter.
Coming in the May Newsletter
No Wrong Door
 
How is Nassau County, New York, taking an integrated approach to saving youths with serious emotional disturbance? Community Science is local evaluator and partner for No Wrong Door. Stay tuned for details about this innovative program in the next newsletter. 
 
 
Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives. 
 
-William James, American philosopher and psychologist 

 
At Community
Science...
 
Community is important.

 
Building the capacity of the community to assess and solve its problems is important. 
 
Change is necessary in our ongoing struggle for equity and justice.
 
 
Greetings!
 
Welcome to our monthly e-newsletter. In today's issue, we bring you news of an initiative that enlists an entire community to fight childhood obesity, how a changing workforce is impacting the nonprofit world, and where you'll find members of our group in the community.  
 
We  hope you find this issue useful and welcome your feedback. 
 
Sincerely,
David Chavis, President and CEO
Enlisting a Community to Fight Childhood Obesity
 
Being black and poor in Washington D.C.'s Ward 8 increases the probability of obesity, particularly in young people. A 2008 Rand health study found that 71.2% of Ward 8 residenFrench Friests were overweight or obese, the highest rate of any Ward in the city. A survey of teens and adults conducted by the Hospital for Sick Children Foundation revealed that awareness of obesity as a health issue in the Ward is very low. The Ward also gets the lowest marks in the city for access to grocery stores, availability of community gardens and little organized community effort to educate residents to consider healthier lifestyles.

What public awareness programs and advocacy efforts will help achieve better health in neighborhoods similar to Ward 8 across America? With a recent grant from the Office of Minority Health, the Summit Health Institute for Research and Education, Inc. (SHIRE) has created a model it believes will be successful in poor communities around the country. SHIRE selected Community Science to assess and document its collaborative approach to prevent childhood obesity in Ward 8; our team is being led by Ricardo Millett and Rebekah King. Community Science will also work with SHIRE to develop a Replication Manual to identify replicable strategies that similar communities could use in combating childhood obesity.
 
A critical element of Community Science's work will be to listen to community residents, civic, social and professional health care providers, elected official and other key people who serve this community -- and bring together these stakeholders to shape public awareness and public policy action to achieve effective interventions. 
 
For more information about the program,
click here or email Community Science.
Culturally Competent Capacity Builders 
What will it take? 
 
How are changing demographics and growing diversity affecting the nonprofit workforce? The task of helping nonprofit leaders manage diversity and, subsequently, improve their abDiversity building blocksility to comply with anti­discrimination laws, leverage differences, and practice inclusivity, requires the expertise of professionals or capacity builders, trained to help nonprofit leaders understand how diversity can lead to effectiveness.
 
The Alliance for Nonprofit Management (the Alliance) is a professional association and learning community that promotes quality in nonprofit capacity building. It asked Community Science's Kien Lee to conduct a process evaluation of the Cultural Competency Initiative (CCI) intended to 1) research and document culturally-based practices in nonprofit capacity building, and 2) provide training and resources for nonprofit capacity builders and nonprofit leaders to develop the awareness, the will, and the skill to practice cultural competency effectively.
 
The CCI is achieving progress towards its goals of understanding and promoting the practice of cultural competency among its members. The Alliance has made strides to:

Key Findings
  • Develop better understanding about the current role of cultural competency in nonprofit capacity building;
  • Establish a climate to foster understanding and demand; and
  • Provide some capacity builders with knowledge and skills related to cultural competency.
The article, Culturally Competent Capacity Builders: What Will It Take? by Kien Lee, appears in the current issue of OD Practitioner, the Journal of the Organization Development Network. Click here to purchase a copy of the article from the Journal's website or email Community Science for more information.
 
 In the Community...
Excel Beyond the Bell
 
Supporting children and keeping them safe and engaged in a variety of out-of-school settings are goals of Excel Beyond the Bell, a partnership program in Maryland established by the Montgomery County Collaboration Council for Children, Youth and Families.
 
How do we help children and youth of all ethnic and racial groups achieve success in school and life? Community Science's LaKeesha Woods will present at the May 20 Excel Beyond the Bell symposium. The session will explore diversity and cultural competency in out-of-school-time (OOST) programs, offering strategies and resources to build programs that engage youth of all racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds and experiences. Excel Beyond the Bell enhances communication, professional development and standards of OOST programs.
 
Also In the Community...
A Renewal of Support for New Americans in Maryland
 
In December, 2008, Governor Martin O'Malley signed an executive order to create the Maryland Council for New Americans. The council aims to help integrate new immigrants into Maryland's workforce and civic life. 
  
Community Science's Kien Lee chairs the Governmental Access Working Group, one of four working groups within the Council. The group will focus on improving accessibility of state and local government services to new Americans, assessing necessary resources for compliance with Limited English Proficiency requirements and availability of key documents in other languages; and identifying best practices at the county, community and municipal levels.
 
"We will make recommendations for ways to increase immigrants and refugees' access to government, and promote and support their integration into the community," Lee said.  

About Us...

At Community Science, our mission is to develop and use the knowledge that can change communities and other systems.  Our group practice of social change professionals is committed to building healthy, just, and equitable communities.
  • Research and Evaluation Services
  • Advisory Services
  • Capacity Building
  • Products and Services
  • Initiative Management and Support
To discuss how Community Science can collaborate with your team, contact us at 301-519-0722 or [email protected].