Presentation at the 2017 AJCU Justice in Jesuit Higher Education Conference.

1. Santa Clara University’s
Thriving Neighbors Initiative Community
Assessment
Facilitator
Jennifer Merritt
Co-Presenters
Barbara Burns · Nicole Branch · Irene Cermeño · Laura Chyu
Laura Nichols · Jennifer Nutefall · Maria Elizabeth Ramirez
AJCU Justice Conference
Seattle University
August 11, 2017

2. Course Integration
Next Steps
Introduction & Background
Conceptualization of Methodology
Community Leadership in Assessment
Data Analysis

3. Course Integration
Next Steps
Introduction & Background
Conceptualization of Methodology
Community Leadership in Assessment
Data Analysis

4. 2013-2016

5. 2013-2014

6. Qualitative community assessment
Imagining the Relationship2013-2014
University community meetings

7. Launch of Thriving Neighbors Initiative (TNI) after-school data collection
Imagining the Relationship2013-2014

8. ● Launch of TNI grant programs
and associated program
evaluations
● Recognized the need for a
broad-scale community
assessment to collect baseline
data and inform program
development
Imagining the Relationship2013-2014

9. List of Accomplishments
Growing TNI from 1 to 20
programs co-designed by
university faculty, students and
community resident teams that
support education, health, legal
justice and economic
development in GW within the
first 2 years
2013-2014

10. List of Accomplishments
Engaging over 25
faculty, 30 student
and 20 community
team leaders annually
Engaging over 300
community resident
program participants
annually
2013-2014

11. List of Accomplishments
Developing over 16
project-based
courses supporting
team-centered
student engagement
with specific TNI
community initiatives
2013-2014

12. List of Accomplishments
Implementing 18 TNI grants
supporting
faculty/student/community
project-development teams
from seven disciplines for the
design, implementation,
evaluation, and dissemination
of sustainable community-
development program models
2013-2014

13. List of Accomplishments
Designing and developing the
TNI After School Academic
Enrichment Program which
grew from serving 25 to 90
children in 2 years
(kindergarten through middle
school students who
participate in STEM, Art,
Leadership and
Nutrition/Gardening education)
2013-2014

14. Today’s focus: TNI Community Assessment
● A review of best practices in Promise
and Choice Neighborhood
assessment methodologies,
● An analysis of US Census data,
2013-2014
● A physical survey of the neighborhood,
● An extensive community health and
family life survey with over 200
respondents in one month
...a broad-scale participatory action research neighborhood assessment that included:

15. Course Integration
Next Steps
Introduction & Background
Community Leadership in Assessment
Data Analysis
Conceptualization of Methodology

16. Relating National Place-Based Initiatives to TNI
Child Studies Program: Senior Capstone Courses in Winter 2014- Spring 2015
2014-2015
• Learned about the Thriving Neighbors
Initiative
• Studied history of Harlem Children’s Zone
(HCZ) and recent Promise Neighborhood (PN)
Programs in San Diego, CA, Hayward,CA, and
Berea, KY
• Final presentations on how HCZ and PN
initiatives may support the SCU TNI-- specific
recommendations on key programming and
the PNI survey on family health and well being

17. Student Recommendations Presented to TNI
PN-Type Survey
●Track success and share with community-- “information is power!”
●Include community members in survey development; partner with
community leaders for gathering and coding surveys.
2014-2015
Areas of Growth in Programming
●Add programs that support both cognitive
and noncognitive skills in children - especially
emotional security.
●Add programs that focus on infancy.

18. Course Integration
Next Steps
Introduction & Background
Community Leadership in Assessment
Data Analysis
Conceptualization of Methodology

19. Developing TNI Community Assessment Model
Tracking Neighborhood Change Using Census Data
Sociology 30 – Experiential Learning for Social
Justice: Self, Community & Society (Nichols &
Branch)
Neighborhood Assessment
Public Health 1 – Intro: Human Health and
Disease (Saxton)
Fall 2015
Community Engagement & Advocacy –
Walking Group & Zumba
Public Health 131 – ELSJ:
Community Health (Mackenzie)

20. Source: http://libguides.scu.edu/soc30
Tracking Neighborhood Change Using Census DataFall 2015

21. US Census & the American Community Survey
●Census tract filtering
●Detailed demographic data
●Reliable
●Comparable
●Timely
Fall 2015 Tracking Neighborhood Change Using Census Data

22. Critically Evaluating Data
●Misleading visualizations
●Author/source bias
●Methodology
●Data collection & analysis
●Issues timeliness
●Data out of context
●Missing or unavailable data
●Correlations vs. causations
Fall 2015 Tracking Neighborhood Change Using Census Data

23. Data Comparison
Fall 2015 Tracking Neighborhood Change Using Census Data

24. Washington Neighborhood Data Collection
Fall 2015 Tracking Neighborhood Change Using Census Data

25. Reflections
●Students wrote short
reflection papers for each
module
●Students compared their
own school and
neighborhood to that of
students in their
community-based learning
placements
Fall 2015 Tracking Neighborhood Change Using Census Data

26. Reflections
●Students looked for and reflected on
assets in the community
●For the level of Society (Macro): At the
end of the course students proposed a
potential policy based on their limited
experience, the data, and available
assets
Fall 2015 Tracking Neighborhood Change Using Census Data

27. Public Health 1: Human Health and Disease
Neighborhood AssessmentFall 2015

28. Public Health 1: Human Health and Disease
● Driving and walking tour
● Connections to health
Neighborhood AssessmentFall 2015
● Systematic observations of
physical and and social
environment

29. Public Health 131: Community Health
• Community organizing,
engagement, and advocacy
Community Engagement & AdvocacyFall 2015
• Walking group & Zumba classes
• Experiential Learning for Social
Justice requirement

30. Course Integration
Next Steps
Introduction & Background
Community Leadership in Assessment
Data Analysis
Conceptualization of Methodology

31. Meet our Community Leaders
Strong community
involvement
Active collaborators
to TNI vision
Grant development
and leadership
expertise
Winter 2016

32. Meet our Community Leaders
Engaged across
multiple programs
within Initiative
Passionate about
creating a change in
their community
Winter 2016

33. Preparing to Start
○Understanding the Community
Assessment and why it is important
○Understanding the purpose of
research
○Recruiting participants and
communicating
○Informed consent
○Ability to say no
○Understanding roles and
responsibilities as researchers
Winter 2016
Training in research methods and ethics (Cermeño & Nichols)

34. Developing the Survey
Establish Foundational
Relationships
Collaboration between
Faculty Fellows, Staff
and Community
Leaders
Identifying Survey
Model - Promise
Neighborhood
Winter 2016

35. Developing the SurveyWinter 2016
Input on Survey
Determining Compensation
for Participants
Multiple Revisions
Final Draft Test-
Community Leaders

36. Survey Structure
Made up of 3 parts:
○ Part 1: What is/isn’t working
○ Part 2: Understanding parents
interactions with youngest child
○ Part 3: Participant Information
Winter 2016
Approx. 90 questions
6 Different Survey Versions
Translated into Spanish

37. Survey Implementation
Community-Led Effort
Supported by SOC 122- Applied
Sociology (Nichols & Cermeño)
Survey Administered at 3 different
sites
7 open drop-in sessions
3 weeks of surveying
Winter 2016
Outcome: 228 participants

38. Experiences in the Field
Emergent questions, observations and opportunities we noticed
Winter 2016

39. Course Integration
Next Steps
Introduction & Background
Community Leadership in Assessment
Data Analysis
Conceptualization of Methodology

40. Data Analysis
Data Management and coding
○ PHSC 100/ BIO 117: Epidemiology
Understand study design
Work with variables and codebooks
Run basic descriptive statistics
Spring 2016

41. Data Analysis & Interpretation
■ Descriptive analyses
■ Infographics in English
■ Necessity of plan to transition
work to the fall
Spring 2016
SOCI 199 Independent Study (Nichols)

42. Demographics of Survey Takers
Sacred Heart
Washington
Elementary
Full Sample
Took the Survey in
Spanish
89% 97% 93%
Female 85% 95% 90%
Married 49% 70% 59%
Mexican/Mexican
American
68% 66% 67%
High School Degree
or Less
65% 78% 72%
Household Income is
$30,000 or less
65% 84% 74%
Household Income is
$5,000 or less
31% 24% 27.6%
Average Age 41 38 39
Average Income $15,500 $12,500 $14,000
Spring 2016

43. Upper Level course in Child Studies
●LBST 156: Child Advocacy (Burns)
Spring 2016 Data Analysis
Studied survey results from TNI
and best practice on how to
promote child and family wellness
in communities facing economic
disadvantage and high community
violence
●Created flyers
●Outlined focus groups

44. Course Integration
Next Steps
Introduction & Background
Community Leadership in Assessment
Data Analysis
Conceptualization of Methodology

45. 2016-2017

46. Next Steps
●Share findings with the
Washington and SCU
communities
●Plan next steps to respond to
expressed community needs and
faculty interests
●Involve faculty and students from
other departments and disciplines
●Archive community materials
using library resources
2016-2017

47. Questions?Q&A

48. Discussion/Poster Review
1) Resilient Families Program in the Thriving Neighbors Initiative: Better Understanding
Stress in Parenting
2) Sustainable Grant Projects: Community Gardening and Parents Discussion Group
3) Building Health and Leadership at Washington Elementary School through Project-
Based Learning: The Washington Elementary Health Equity Collaborative
4) Resilient Families: Babies (Program to support nurturing parenting led by promotoras
and university students)
5) Opening Doors to Early Childhood Education via iPads
6) Participatory Action Research (PAR) Training, Course, and Community Based Projects
7) Community-Based Air Pollution Analysis
2016-2017