Smith Institute News Fall 2014

SMITH INSTITUTE NEWS ISSUE 03

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While children painted, parents and caregivers participated in a Family Engagement survey administered by JCSU students during MayFest 2014 at Reid Park Academy.

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t Reid Park Academy, children ate hot dogs and played in an open field. Their parents sat at tables completing a parent survey. Dr. Ruth Greene, professor of Psychology and Distinguished and Senior Research Scientist watched as Johnson C. Smith students administered the survey. The survey asked questions related to family engagement, child behaviors, school climate, barriers roles and responsibilities, parent support and school programs. Survey questions included what habits have students developed that shape their success in school, how do parents view their schools’ academic and social environments, how much help are students getting at home?

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Photo Courtesy of Dr. Antonia Mead

Hot Dogs, Snow Cones & Family Engagement Page 4

Preconception Peer Educators encourage students to make healthy choices.

The survey is part of the university’s ongoing effort to gauge family engagement of students attending schools in the communities surrounding JCSU. The university is partnering with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to conduct the surveys in a variety of settings.

At Reid Park, the surveys were distributed during the Legacy Festival Presents MayFest.

The survey is based on a Harvard University K-12 Family Engagement survey.

“There are all kinds of issues that impact Family Engagement,” Greene said.

JCSU researchers are working with CMS schools’ parent involvement teams to determine the needs.

Continued Family Engagement on page 2

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Seed-To-Feed teaches grade-school students how to garden.

Photo Courtesy of Seed-To-Feed

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Fall 2014

Family Engagment From Page 1 “When families are involved in their student’s education, they get better grades. Middle and high school students make better transition when their parents remain involved.

Students with active parents tend to develop more realistic plans for the future,” Greene said. “Parents play a variety of roles in students’ learning from volunteering, planning their future and making key decisions.”

Photo Courtesy of Darling Media Group

Parents fill out a Family Engagement survey during MayFest at Reid Park Academy.

Photo Credit: Jeff Cravotta Photography

JCSU Students and Staff at MayFest 2014 Once Greene’s team finishes compiling the data they will work with school improvement teams to look at intervention methods to improve actual student achievement.

Greene said her team would work with the schools throughout the academic year.

“You just don’t sweep in,” Greene said.

“This just isn’t a survey for me. I’m someone that’s been involved with CMS for several years. We have a commitment to our communities. We live in these communities. We work with teachers and family. We understand their struggle. We want to make a dif-

ference in what we do. We want to let those families speak for themselves.”

That’s good news to Angela Edwards. Her 7-year-old grandson attends Reid Park. Edwards said too often organizations come in and implement policies they think the communities need.

“People feel like their voices don’t matter.

They’re going to run it the way they want to run it,” she said. “Help people bring their thinking up, and then they’re more than a statistic. Then we are partners together.”

Telling A New West Side Story or decades, the media as well as city and community leaders defined Charlotte’s West side. Typically, the adjectives aren’t flattering, but a new voice is emerging to speak for this community. Johnson C. Smith University is taking the lead to redefine how Charlotte sees and interacts with the West side.

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The university released “Let There Be Light: An Anthology Exploring How Charlotte’s Historic West End Is Shaping The New South.”

“The Northwest Corridor has a very rich story, it’s historical and it’s powerful and others have been telling it. This was us putting a flag in the ground and saying ‘We take ownership of our story’, ” said Innovo Laboratory co-founder and author Ron Stodghill, who edited “Let There Be Light.”

The Indaba group, a counsil of elders on the West side, shaped the issues included in the book. The 11 essays’ topics range from the history of the West side to food deserts to education. Authors include Levine Museum Of The New South historian Tom Hanchett, Charlotte Observer reporter Eric

Frazier, and former Observer editorial writer Mary Newsom. JCSU will host a series of community roundtables in which the authors will discuss the topics outlined The in the book, Stodghill said. anthology, “Let There Be “‘Let There Be Light’ very Light,” takes a much is a reflection of voyeuristic view into what the community Charlotte’s Northwest leaders view as urgent, Corridor. It is a commucritical topical issues,” nity filled with charm and Stodghill said. challenges. This poignant anthology describes the spirit Johnson C. Smith of the community and prohas been an anchor vides a historical account of a in this community place that has suffered years of for nearly 150 years. struggle with health care, educational inequality, and the devaluing of The push over the land, but is now brimming with possibility and hope. As we peer past few years at JCSU through the annals of time, we are transported to a simpler era as has been to break outTom Hanchett speaks of cozy streets of Biddleville that date back side of the ivory tower into the 1870s, and the handsome 1920s bungalows of Wesley Heights, and the mid-century modern dwellings of Mcand touch the community Crorey Heights and University Heights. Johnson C. through development, but Smith University’s history and legacy are interthere are also the ideas mingled with the rhythm of the Hisaround it and the prescriptions, toric West End. Stodghill said. This is one more attempt to be proactive in shaping what this Source: “Let There Be Light” Preface by Dr. Diane Bowles, community looks like.

Director of the Smith Institute for Applied Research

The contents of this Smith Institute for Applied Research publication were developed under a Title III student aid and fiscal responsibility act (SAFRA), award number PO31B100094, from the Department of Education. However, the contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.

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healthy living and eating movement is quietly sweeping through the communities surrounding Johnson C. Smith University. In an area, known for high morbidity rates attributable to unhealthy lifestyles, two programs are underway to change those habits.

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One effort, Village Heartbeat, targets adults that are high risk for cardiovascular disease. The other, Seed-To-Feed: A Youth Sustainable Food Project, targets youth in title I schools that are located in Charlotte’s “Food Deserts”.

Johnson C. Smith University is leading the way by developing policies and best practices specifically for closing the gap on health disparities that are caused by high percentage of smoking, obesity, and lack of physical activity within the African American community.

VILLAGE HEARTBEAT Johnson C. Smith’s HealthPlex is a key partner in the Mecklenburg County Health Department’s Village Heart B.E.A.T. (Building Education & Accountability Together) program. The program invited 15 churches to participate in an approximately 10-month wellness program that encouraged these churches to engage in activities from exercise classes to healthy cooking demonstrations. The final 16 weeks involved a “Biggest Loser” style competition.

“Johnson C. Smith University’s HealthPlex prides itself on impacting the community, concentrating on the Northwest Corridor of Charlotte North Carolina. The Village HeartBEAT program assisted in developing and sustaining a relationship with local faith based congregations to ensure the need for minorities to be more involved with the health and wellness of their community and themselves. We are enthusiastic about the efforts Village HeartBEAT has contributed to broadening our community outreach.”

SEED-TO-FEED: A Youth Sustainable Food Project In communities throughout Charlotte, young African-American students are putting down their video games to play in the dirt. The youngsters are participating in JCSU’s Seed-to-Feed: A

Youth Sustainable Food Project.

The program teaches grade-school students the benefits of eating healthy, locally grown organic food. This is the second year of the program, which launched at Beatties Ford Road Library and expanded this year to Spring Sugar Creek Charter School’s after-school program.

The students plant seeds as well as plants. The JCSU HealthPlex developed

Photo Courtesy of Seed-To-Feed

Getting Healthy With JCSU

Seed-To-Feed participants prep basil for planting.

a curriculum based on the growing cycle of the vegetables, fruit and herbs that were planted, said Dr. Victor Romano, Wellness Director. The curriculum was integrated into the corresponding school’s curriculum for science and health common core standards. The students keep all of the food.

The goal is to change the youth’s eating practices, purchasing habits and attitudes toward food.

“We want the students driving the decision-making when it comes to their food choices,” Romano said.

It is working.

Assessments show there has been a 20-30 percent decrease in the presence of unhealthy snacks in the children’s homes.

At least 60 percent of the children report helping prepare meals at home.

The program continues to expand.

Romano said the Seed-to-Feed program is planning to expand to three other schools.

TA Youth HE SEED-TO-FEED Sustainable Food Project Impact • By the end of the program the number of participants who indicated that they consumed junk food “everyday” decreased 34.10%.

• 18.75% increase in the percentage of participants that indicated that healthy snacks were “always” present in their home.

• 4th grade showed an increase in the percentage of participants who helped prepare a meal 1-3x/week by 125%.

• 5th grade saw a 27% increase in helping prepare a meal 1-3x/week.

• 6th grade students who indicated that they helped prepare a meal 4-7x/week rose 60%.

• 17.65% decrease in the percentage of participants who consumed food from either a vending machine, fast food, or did not eat at all.

• Unhealthy snacking saw a 70% decrease across all grade levels in the number of participants that used to believe that they were healthy options.

Photo Courtesy of Smith Institute

2014 'Hearts of Champions' Village HeartBEAT Gala SMITH INSTITUTE NEWS

Source: The Seed-to-Feed: A Youth Sustainable Food Project Assessment

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Photo Courtesy of Dr. Antonia Mead

INNOVO UPDATES

Innovo Scholar Pitches Dance Studio nnovo scholar Radijah Hudson pitched her business PhenomX, a dance and fitness studio, during Demo Day at Johnson & Radijah Hudson Wales Auditorium. Hudson, a junior, participated in Queen City Forward’s Impact U Program.

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“My experience with Queen City Forward at Packard Place was phenomenal,” Hudson said. “I grew so much as a person and a business woman. I received the chance to be around so many different people. This experience helped my network a ton, especially as a rising junior.”

Combined with her participation in Innovo, Hudson had a formative year.

The math and dance major said working with Innovo helped prepare her for Demo Day because she received brutally, honest feedback and spiritual support. The program pushed her to “think outside of the box.”

Healthy Living Now, Healthy Babies Later ohnson C. Smith’s Preconception Peer Educators will be busy this fall. The signature program of the Center for Excellence and Minority Health & Family Wellness welcomed new co-faculty liaison Dr. Lisa Workman. She is an Assistant Professor and the Chairperson of the Social Work Department.

age them to look at preconception health, Mead said. This includes the health of a woman and man before they begin to think about pregnancy. College students teach their peers to make healthy lifestyle changes prior to conception, such as eating healthy, being physically active and reducing or eliminating illicit drug use.

JCSU is vying to host this fall’s state training for the Preconception Peer Educators, said Dr. Antonia Mead, advisor of the Preconception Peer Educators program and co-faculty liason of the center. During the 2 ½-day training peer educators from various North Carolina schools will attend training sessions and then take what they learned back to their schools to educate their peers, Mead said.

“What you do now has an impact on you in the future and also your future child,” Mead said.

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“It’s great,” Mead said. “They get to meet other schools and get ideas.”

The Preconception Peer Educators program focuses on college students engaging other college students to encour-

Photo Courtesy of Dr. Antonia Mead

Photo courtesy of Innovo Laboratory

Hudson admits she was extremely nervous during Demo Day, but she appreciated the honest feedback. The experience will prepare her to pitch to investors in the near future, she said.

Preconception Peer Educators at the 2014 March of Dimes

Ron Stodghill, Keisha Talbot Johnson & Radijah Hudson

PPEs Taurean Tindal and Kiana Thomas at PPE event “Are You a Soul Food Junkie?”

Don't Miss Nov. 13 & 14: Smith Institute Invitational Symposium

Photo Courtesy of Dr. Antonia Mead

PPE Tauress Campbell promoting Folic Acid Awareness Month.

The contents of this Smith Institute for Applied Research publication were developed under a Title III student aid and fiscal responsibility act (SAFRA), award number PO31B100094, from the Department of Education. However, the contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.

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