Hennepin-University Symposium January 29, 2010

Educational Attainment Breakout Session

Presenters Cathy Jordan, Director University of

Minnesota Children, Youth and Family Consortium

Luanne Nyberg, Hennepin County A-GRAD Senior Manager

Why Focus on Educational Attainment? HUP Planning Session Results

Late April 2009- HUP held a planning session with leaders from the County and the University

15 policy areas were discussed and prioritized(previously identified by County and University faculty and staff, including suggestions from the Oct 2008 HUP Symposium)

3 policy areas selected for HUP focus: Child Well-Being (increasing

successful outcomes for children placed in foster care)

Educational Attainment (increasing graduation rates for Hennepin County students)

Impacts of an Aging Population (planning for the effects of the Baby Boomer “age wave”)

Cathy Jordan, PhDAssociate Professor of Pediatrics

Director, Children, Youth and Family ConsortiumUniversity of Minnesota

The Interaction of Educational and Health Disparities:

County Connection

The 5 ways education and health interact:- Predictive- Concurrent- Common root causes- Potential for common intervention/prevention- Intergenerational

Hennepin / CYFC interaction:- Mutual advisory participation

-Kristine Martin serves on CYFC Advisory Council

-Cathy Jordan has served in various advisory capacities for HUP

Hennepin / CYFC policy work:

Hennepin County funded the launch of CYFC’s Family Impact Policy Initiative and the anchor event, the Family Impact Seminar.

Hennepin County sparked CYFC interest in working at policy implementation (as opposed to policy making) level, resulting in burgeoning relationships with other counties as well.

CYFC has provided training to Hennepin County staff on a family perspective in policy implementation using the Family Impact Checklist

Other Potential Interactions

CYFC sponsors the CYFC Scholars program, a research support and professional development, multi-year program for University faculty, research staff and graduate students.

Scholar Ross Macmillan is working on aging project with Hennepin. Will use Hennepin connections when his scholar project enters community engagement stage.

This is a burgeoning relationship and set of interactions.

How else can we work together?

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Hennepin County’s A-GRAD Initiative

A-GRAD is Hennepin County’s commitment to setting policy and making investments to ensure youth graduate from high school

A-GRAD focuses on how Hennepin County does its work, leverages its investments engages with partners and hold itself accountable for increased educational success.

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What’s Being Done?

Hard look at County practices when in contact with families with children

New response to truancy: be@schoolCase plan scan – is school success included?Partnerships with school districtsWaiting rooms becoming learning environments

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A Cozy Corner-for Play and Learning

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Research Questions Do be@school adolescents assigned to

Hennepin County Library become more engaged with learning?

Are there individual student Attendance, Attachment, and/or Achievement gains related to school-based family service centers?