See It: The Community being helped

In my final year at the University of Michigan School of Nursing, I organized an
independent study surveying the community and researching the lack of education given to expecting parents regarding male circumcision. Many do not know that this procedure is not recommended by any health organization in the world. Additionally, parents are not given the necessary information to provide informed consent which is needed for any surgical proceure.

With the assistance a community health professor I designed a brochure to be distributed throughout the community. I have contacted many midwifery clinics in southeast Michigan, and The Oakland County Health Department in Walled Lake. The brochure is currently being reviewed by the board of the health department, and is being used by many midwifes in surrounding areas. I concluded the study with a paper of the problem analysis, and proposal of the intervention. I am working on getting it published this summer.

I am now working to educate Labor and Delivery floors in surrounding areas to educate
nurses on the new facts and information regarding male circumcision, and teach the
importance of educating mothers in order to decrease the regret and lack of informed
consent that was found with my survey. I will soon be working with a nurse manager (my
management preceptor from fall semester) to propose this education to be counted as
Continuing Education (CE) credits for these nurses. I would like to have many brochures
available to be distributed to the expecting parents. Additionally, I designed a button
to be worn by nurses who wish that says 'ask about circumcision'. This will help to
provide opportunity for education, and beginning conversation about the topic.

See It: The Community being helped

Our event is called Healthy Kids Day. This event is organized by High School students that want to be involved in the community and want to see a change. We want to educate children and families about being healthy. Not just healthy as in they eat right but as whole individual. The event is hosted at the YMCA where we have a variety of activities going on from 10-2pm. We invite any agency that is working towards the goal of developing healthy children to attend and host a booth with an activity. The Northern California Nutritionist Consortium provides a program called 5-a-Day and this program usually provides fruit smoothies, vegetable tasting and cookbooks, to teach children and families about eating more fruits and vegetables. The Butte County Literacy Coach provides books and a game for children to teach them that reading is fun and important. IDent-A-Child provides pictures and identification cards of children for parents to help keep children safe and they also hand out bike helmets. Valley Oaks provides information about other resources in town and provides parents with information about subsidized child care. The Girl Scouts provide a craft project to teach kids about using their creative side and to introduce them in to getting involved in the community through Girl Scouts. The YMCA offers a fitness challenge to teach kids to be more active and also provides a water safety activity to teach kids to be safe in and around the water. Children and their families visit each of the booths with a passport and learn about what the agency has to offer. The children participate in a game and when they have completed it they get a stamp on their passport. When a minimum number of booths have stamped the passport they may proceed to the check out area. At the check-out area they will get an event survey to fill out. When the survey has been completed they turn it in and the children receive a goodie bag filled with toys and a poster. We plan on having a bigger event this year with more booths and more activities. All of our booths will educate parents about local community resources and educate children about being a healthier individual. We really want to set our families and community up to be better connected. What better way then to invite our community agencies to come host a booth and then to invite the families to the YMCA to learn and connect.

See It: The Community being helped

The Kids that Care Fun Fair was created by two high school students who wanted to help children with cancer. They discovered the Emmanuel Cancer Foundation and agreed with its mission to help improve the quality of life for children and their families affected by cancer.
They brainstormed to organize a carnival-like event to spread awareness about cancer to the community, to raise money for the Emmanuel Cancer Foundation, and to have fun! At the fair local bands play, there is a white elephant sale, fun games and activities are enjoyed by local kids and members of the foundation, prizes are awarded, and much much more! All of the money raised at the fair is donated to Emmanuel Cancer Foundation.
This year will be the fourth annual Kids that Care Fun Fair and it will be bigger and better! The sum of the fairs' profits are over $8,000.

See It: The Community being helped

I want to organize a community organization that helps with after school programs for those who are in poverty and are identified for at-risk. I vision a place where students can go after school for various things(examples: homework help, computer usage and training, fitness programs, nutrition programs, music lessons, dance lessons, career education, work training, counseling, game rooms to keep them off the street, movie nights, teacher volunteers to help students, and etc..,)

Our community is very small, a poverty stricken area, and teens here are greatly in need of help. Teen pregnancy is high, and drugs and alchol abuse are all to common. There is nothing here to keep them out of trouble. THey find their own form of entertainment. Most can not afford recreational activities so they find themselves getting in trouble quickly. THis is a patter and I would love to make a change. Many do not havea good influence in their lives. There are not many adults in the children's lives that can make a possitive impact on them. IT is in GREAT need of a change.

Community-driven school reform strategies would enable community members to identify the reasons their students are not achieving; propose solutions; and advocate for meaningful change our schools.These strategies increase the likelihood that the changes being implemented are appropriate to the needs of the schools and students, and are sustainable.

Specifically, I am interested in initiatives that:

1. Raise the visibility of the dropout crisis;
2. Strengthen the capacity of youth-serving organizations to advocate for the needs of vulnerable youth;
3. Develop, identify and disseminate promising practices that support this population;
4. Re-shape policies across systems (i.e., education, workforce and public care) that serve these
youth and increase their educational achievement and opportunities.
5. Help to get them on the right track with an opportunity to do something possitive with their lives.

After school support is greatly needed here. I have been trying to locate a building so I can get help writing a grant. The thing that I have found most complicated so far is building public awareness about the importance of expanded resources for afterschool programs and raising public will to support them financially.