Office of Community Partnerships

Health Care, Homelessness, IT, K-12 Education, Labor, Pre-Collegiate, STEM, and Violence Prevention

Health Care/Nutrition and Wellness

Programs Summary Teaching/learning Research Services Contacts Dept. Affiliation
HORIZON Center - Roxbury Heart and Sole: A Community-based Multiple Risk Reduction Program The project focused on cardiovascular risk reduction in Roxbury, a predominantly African-American, inner city population who face multiple risks for cardiovascular disease. Ellen Stuart-Shor used lessons learned from her project to lead a group of 14 undergraduate and graduate nursing students on a trip to Kenya, where they took similar measurements to those used in Roxbury and learned some surprising similarities and differences in the two cultural groups. X X X Eileen Stuart-Shor; Daniel E Forman; Brian K Gibbs HORIZON Center
HORIZON Center - The Impact of Participatory Health Literacy on People of Color with Low-Literacy Skills Lorna Rivera’s project focused on the impact of participatory health literacy on people of color with low literacy skills. Rivera and her collaborator, literacy expert Marcia Hohn, found that incorporating health material into adult basic education programs provided both motivation for learning, and increased self-efficacy in behavioral choices related to health. Material on nutrition was found to be of particular importance to the adult learners. The findings demonstrate that adult education programs are an effective vehicle for getting public health information to health disparity populations. X X X Lorna Rivera HORIZON Center
Institute for Community Inclusion - Twa Zanmi, Haitian American Public Health Initiatives and the Haitian Media Network The  Twa Zanmi project studies the immigration experiences of Boston’s Haitian community and how those experiences may impact health. The project will create a community-directed TV program about three recent Haitian immigrants. It will show feelings of isolation, separation from friends and family, and the struggle to develop a new identity in a new community. Other immigrants share similar feelings and experiences. By watching or listening to these programs, they can learn where to get help and start a discussion about mental health issues in their own communities. The program will be aired in Creole. It will air on the radio, on the web, and on CD/DVD. Toll-free numbers will be available for questions and to provide information about local services. X X X Susan Foley Institute for Community Inclusion
Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy - CRUZA CRUZA collaborative effort of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the UMass Boston Gaston Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy, with funding from the National Institute of Health. The CRUZA study will bring evidence-based cancer education programs into Massachusetts Latino communities via partnerships with faith-based organizations that play central roles in Latino community life. One goal of the CRUZA study is to understand the resources that faith-based organizations need to implement these evidence-based programs. Other goals are to develop and evaluate community capacity-building strategies to enable faith-based organizations to deliver these evidence-based programs. X X X Rosalyn Negron Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy
Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy - Improving Food Purchasing Selection among Low-Income Spanish Speaking Latinos through Social Marketing Messages Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Salud America initiative, this study seeks first to examine food purchasing patterns of Spanish-speaking Latino families, and then to develop and evaluate a social marketing strategy.   X X Dharma Cortés Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy
Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy - Para un Futuro Mejor: feasibility of a Photovoice Approach to Increase Latino Parent-Child Communication about Sexuality This study tests the feasibility of the dual-role of photo voice as a data collection and intervention method to promote Latino parent-child communication about sexuality.   X X María Idalí Torres; Aline Gubrium Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy
UMass Boston School Counseling program partnership with the Red & Blue Foundation The School Counseling program has partnered with Red & Blue Foundation to provide a service learning opportunity to the school counseling students. The school counseling students volunteer their time tutoring student-athletes within the Boston Public School system with the intent of helping high school student-athletes develop academically within a safe and caring environment. X X X Laura Hayden College of Education and Human Development
Louis D. Brown Peace Institute Burial Guide Training The Community Action Research Initiative  (CARI) involves the dissemination and implementation of the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute’s (LDBPI) “Burial and Resource Guide” and a corresponding evaluation. The burial guide is a “step-by-step” manual with sections including: notification and correspondence with family, friends, funeral homes, officials, services and insurance companies; writing guidelines for obituaries and media statements; and tracking and contacts with police, medical examiners, and victim advocates after the murder of a loved one. The guide also includes exercises and resources for healing/coping. X X   Stephanie Hartwell College of Liberal Arts
Psych 430 - Undergraduate Internship in Psychology This is a 6-credit Capstone course, Psychology majors intern 15 hours/week at a wide variety of human service agencies around Massachusetts. They in a weekly seminar to share their experiences, course readings, and have case presentations that complement the learning experience. In addition, this course  also a service and learning components.  Service: Students provide much needed assistance to clients in agencies that are often under-funded and under-staffed. The intern offers 1-1 support and caring to children, adolescents, and adults struggling to improve their lives. Learning: The experience of joining a professional staff in a hospital or agency offers a chance to learn and grow on many levels. Students learn about themselves as they see first hand how agencies attempt to assist those with psychological problems. The economic and political challenges that plague the delivery of services become abundantly clear, as do the rewards that come with a career in human services. X   X Kathryn Kogan College of Liberal Arts
Community-driven Research with Boston area Women Infants and Children (WIC) clinics Since 2009 Abbey Eisenhower has developed partnerships with local WIC offices and staff to identify service-related needs of the low-income families of young children that WIC serves, which has in turn shaped our research objectives. We have also worked with these WIC offices to identify and invite families of young children to participate in our research studies, including the School Transitions Study and the Child & Family Development Project. These studies focus on identifying ways to improve social and emotional adjustment for young children facing socio-economic adversity. X X X Abbey Eisenhower College of Liberal Arts
Boston Family Planning Advanced Family Planning Course This is a two-day intensive course offered three times per year for front line staff from community Title X Family Planning Programs. X     Mary M. Aruda College of Nursing and Health Sciences
GoKids Boston Youth Fitness, Training, and Research Center GoKids Boston embodies innovation and leadership in youth health through life-changing programs, groundbreaking research, exceptional training opportunities, and dedication to the community with a focus on eliminating health disparities. X X   Meghan Feeley College of Nursing and Health Sciences
Honduras: Local, Regional and Global Partnerships to Improve Health in Olancho The Honduran Mission Team-New Hampshire (HMT-NH) in partnership with the Olancho Aid Foundation (OAF), works in the Olancho department to improve the health and education of the Honduran people. The HMT-NH 2012 Healthcare Team included UMass Boston faculty and a nursing student working with American and Honduran doctors and nurses to provide culturally-appropriate healthcare and collect data about the needs of the Honduran people in Olancho. X X X Lisa Kennedy Sheldon College of Nursing and Health Sciences
Increasing Physical Activity In Inner City Youth Using Novel Interactive Gaming The aim of this project was to assess the feasibility of participation in an afterschool physical activity program incorporating novel exercise technologies on changing physical activity level and physical fitness, compared to a nutrition education intervention alone. A second objective was to assess whether this type of intervention could modify cardiovascular risk factors and anthropometrics.   X   Laura L. Hayman College of Nursing and Health Sciences
NU 461 - Community Health Nursing Service Learning Students taking NU 461 Community Health Nursing for Registered Nurses complete a service-learning project at a variety of health related community agencies including public health departments, school health, social service agencies, aging service, and local youth development initiatives. The course serves as an in depth examination of community and public health nursing for registered nurses and enables students to perform complex, comprehensive interventions designed to improve public and community health care in the evolving health care system. Nursing practice is directed toward communicating effectively and working collaboratively with diverse urban communities and healthcare infrastructures to deliver quality, cost-effective, and accessible health across the life span.     X Diane Coste College of Nursing and Health Sciences
Working Together: Recruiting African American Female Caregivers and Pre-adolescents Girls for Longitudinal Study The aim of this project is to implement an enhanced sexual communication intervention with mother- pre adolescent girls. It also aims to maintain the short term enhanced sexual communication intervention and evaluate the long term efficacy (9 months) of an enhanced sexual communication intervention with mothers and pre-adolescent girls. Finally the project aims to determine whether the constructs of the Information Motivation- Behavioral skills (IMB) Model can account for variability in enhancing sexual communication intervention of mother and pre-adolescent girls.   X X Teri Aronowitz College of Nursing and Health Sciences
NU 680 - Primary Care of the Family: Practicum II The college’s strong commitment to integrated learning approaches has resulted in strong partnerships with some of the best healthcare organizations in the nation, such as Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Children’s Hospital, Boston Medical Center, and the VA Medical Centers, among many others. Our students’ clinical internships are in these centers of excellence in quality care, and many students enjoy employment in the same centers after graduation. The Family Nurse Practitioner Concentration focuses chiefly on the care of the family in primary and community settings. X     Margaret McAllister College of Nursing and Health Sciences
NU 682 - Primary Care of the Family: Practicum III The college’s strong commitment to integrated learning approaches has resulted in strong partnerships with some of the best healthcare organizations in the nation, such as Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Children’s Hospital, Boston Medical Center, and the VA Medical Centers, among many others. Our students’ clinical internships are in these centers of excellence in quality care, and many students enjoy employment in the same centers after graduation. The Family Nurse Practitioner Concentration focuses chiefly on the care of the family in primary and community settings. X     Margaret McAllister College of Nursing and Health Sciences
NU 763 - Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Internship III Our Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Program is designed to give experienced nurses the knowledge, skills, and judgment competencies required for leading the way to the future of clinical nursing and health care delivery systems. The DNP program prepares advanced practice nurses for roles in health systems leadership, policy development, and interdisciplinary collaboration that focus on: improving health care quality, increasing health care access to all communities and groups, and applying theories of health care delivery. X     Margaret McAllister College of Nursing and Health Sciences
NU 764 - Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Capstone Seminar and Internship IV Our Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Program is designed to give experienced nurses the knowledge, skills, and judgment competencies required for leading the way to the future of clinical nursing and health care delivery systems. The DNP program prepares advanced practice nurses for roles in health systems leadership, policy development, and interdisciplinary collaboration that focus on: improving health care quality, increasing health care access to all communities and groups, and applying theories of health care delivery. X     Margaret McAllister College of Nursing and Health Sciences
EHS 420 – Pediatric Exercise: GoKids Health Ambassador’s Program at Roger Clapp Innovation School This program delivers the GoKids program out in the community impacting more students and forging ties with more schools.  It also offers Pediatric Exercise students with opportunities to be trained at GoKids, shadow a public physical education teacher, and administer programming. The program is helping the Roger Clap Innovation School administer high quality physical education classes that include a dynamic warm-up, structured cardiovascular exercise, and strength training all while teaching elementary students the importance of each activity.  Finally, the initiative is also providing younger students with role models who are physically active and attend college. X     Dana Commesso College of Nursing and Health Sciences
Northeast Region VA Nursing Alliance (NERVANA) This consortium of six schools and colleges of nursing have joined with the Veterans Administration entities in Boston and Bedford to collaborate in providing quality learning experiences for undergraduate nursing students, research, and to make known and impact the particular health care needs of the American Veteran. Toward that end NERVANA members have presented a series of colloquia on veteran issues and provided best practice workshops for VA staff nurses interested in becoming clinical teaching faculty. The VA has provided "pro bono" staff nurses to serve as clinical faculty in VA agencies. X X X Marion Winfrey College of Nursing and Health Sciences
Oral Fluid Testing, Inc. This effort has developed educational materials for distribution to parents about metal toxicity and metal testing.       X Robyn Hannigan College of Science and Mathematics
Gerontology Institute - Chronic Disease Self Management Program The Gerontology Institute surveyed CDSMP trainers on their experience including people with Alzheimer's Disease/dementia in their workshops and their assessment as to the benefits and challenges of doing so.  The Alzheimer's Association is looking for cost-effective strategies to improve the health and decrease the impact of Alzheimer's disease. Results of this project are already informing modifications in the CDSMP training materials and being disseminated to service providers for persons with Alzheimer's/dementia and their families.      X   Alison Gottlieb McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies
Gerontology Institute - Determinants and Consequences of Veterans’ Access to Nursing Home Care The purpose of this study is to identify factors associated with the use of different types of nursing home care by veterans and the outcomes associated therewith. Specific goals include examining factors related to: (i) veterans' initial nursing home placement setting type, given their available choices: (ii) transfers among different nursing home settings both directly from one setting to another, and indirectly through a hospitalization following initial admission to nursing home; and (iii) newly admitted veterans remaining in  nursing home settings for extended care. Goals also include: comparing initial type of nursing home utilization, transitions, and extended-care nursing home utilization among mandatory and non-mandatory veterans, paying particularly attention to demographic, geographic, and case-mix differences across veteran affairs medical centers.   X   Edward A. Miller McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies
Gerontology Institute - Pay-for-Performance in Five State Medicaid Programs: Lessons for the Nursing Home Sector The purpose of this study is to identify factors associated with the use of different types of nursing home care by veterans and the outcomes associated therewith. Specific goals include examining factors related to: (i) veterans' initial nursing home placement setting type, given their available choices: (ii) transfers among different nursing home settings both directly from one setting to another, and indirectly through a hospitalization following initial admission to nursing home; and (iii) newly admitted veterans remaining in  nursing home settings for extended care. Goals also include: comparing initial type of nursing home utilization, transitions, and extended-care nursing home utilization among mandatory and non-mandatory veterans, paying particularly attention to demographic, geographic, and case-mix differences across veteran affairs medical centers.   X   Edward Alan Miller McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies

Homelessness/Hunger/Housing

Program Summary Teaching/learning Research Services Contacts Dept. Affiliation
Center for Social Policy - Evaluation of Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) The Center for Social Policy has been engaged by the Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership to evaluate efforts funded by the Federal Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) to provide housing for families experiencing homelessness. Lesson learned, both in terms of program features and family outcomes, will inform the Massachusetts Home Base program, the successor to HPRP.   X   Tim Davis McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies
Center for Social Policy - Family to Family Project The Family-to Family Project (FtF)  commissioned the Center for Social Policy to evaluate its Family Homelessness Prevention Program during the period 2011 - 2013.  Through this initiative, FtF provides one-time cash grants of $500 - $3600 to 225 families who are at risk of losing their homes. Three partner agencies (Project Hope, Home Start, and Travelers Aid) refer candidate families to FtF for assistance and provide wrap around services such as case management. The intention of the project is to support families to maintain their housing stability with modest cash assistance and to generate solid evidence of the efficacy of this approach for preventing homelessness.   X   Mary Coonan McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies
Center for Social Policy - Negotiation to Unify Advocacy for Successful Passage of Foreclosure Legislation to Protect Low Income Households in Massachusetts The Coalition for Occupied Homes in Foreclosure (COHIF) was formed in response to the wave of foreclosures that has affected communities across Massachusetts. While widespread predatory lending practices left homeowners vulnerable to foreclosure, falling property values have prevented owners from avoiding foreclosure through sale or refinancing of their homes. With Over 20 bills pending, COHiF members were not united in their advocacy.  Unless they developed some level of consensus on which bills to push, no legal protections for these low income households would stand a chance of passing.   Animosity was present among sub-camps having to do with differences on strategy tactics and provisions within pending bills. The Center for Social Policy partnered with COHiF's organizational members to enable them to work at cross-purposes relative to pending foreclosure bills     X Brandynn Holgate McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies
Center for Social Policy - Washington Beech HOPE VI Evaluation The Boston Housing Authority (BHA) commissioned the Center for Social Policy to conduct a four-year evaluation of the revitalization of the Washington Beech public housing development in Roslindale, a Boston neighborhood.  Now in the third year of this evaluation, the CSP team is following 25 households through the phases of change—relocation and re-occupancy, Additional evaluation tasks include provision of on-going feedback and recommendations to BHA personnel and the contracted case management and relocation agency staff .   X   Elaine Werby McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies
Give US Your Poor-A National Public Education Campaign Addressing Homelessness Give US Your Poor is a national, non-partisan public education and action initiative based at UMass Boston's McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies. Its mission is to dispel myths and promote structural solutions to homelessness with the general public and leaders through a comprehensive approach. It works to affect change at the policy level and engage volunteerism and contributions at the individual and corporate levels through media, technology and education; and to channel support to partner homeless organizations.   X X John McGah McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies
Office of Student Leadership and Community Engagement - Campus Kitchen at the University of Massachusetts Boston (CKUMB) CKUMB has been serving the East Zone Early Learning Center since February of 2010. Since this inception, we have served participating families within this school one meal weekly during the academic school year.     X Sherrod Williams Student Affairs

Information Technology

Program Summary Teaching/Learning Research Services Contacts Dept. Affiliation
IT 240L - Web Fluency Service-Learning Project: website redesign for Josiah Quincy School Association This course develop an in-depth understanding of how the web works from a technical standpoint, meaning how dynamic pages are created and delivered by web servers, and then used by browsers and other clients. Students demonstrate this understanding by achieving competency by using a current integrated development environment (IDE) to develop web applications. In the Spring 2011 term, UMass Boston students worked with Josiah Quincy School Association to redesign the organization's website while reinforcing course learning objectives. X     Wei  Zhang College of Management

K-12 Education

Programs Summary Teaching/Learning Research Services Contacts Dept. Affiliation
Beacons of Hope - UMass Boston Latino Leadership Initiative (LLI) The Latino Leadership Initiative (LLI), annually serves up to 50 of the nation’s most promising undergraduates with demonstrated interest in serving the Latino(a)community.  The  objectives of this program are to enhance the leadership capacity of students committed to serving the Latino community, to help participants form a strong and durable bond among themselves and with other leaders and to inspire participants to view their own possibilities for leadership and professional achievement as limitless. The UMass Boston student cohort created a student club called Beacons of Hope (BOH). BOH is a college awareness program that works with middle school students to foster college aspirations and academic excellence at the Boston Public Schools' Dever-McCormack K-8 School.     X Albis Mejia Academic Support Services and Undergraduate Studies
Project REACH (Realizing Educational And Career Hopes) REACH identifies and serves disadvantaged young people who have the potential for education at the post-secondary level and encourages them to continue and graduate from secondary school and enroll in programs of post-secondary education. High school and post-secondary dropouts are also encouraged and assisted in returning to school.     X Andrea Dawes Academic Support Services and Undergraduate Studies
2010 Out of school Time Summer Learning Promotion Grant  This report evaluates a project funded by the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) to stem summer reading loss by funding literacy initiatives, through which urban youth participate in out-of-school-time programs. This evaluation focused on work in high need communities to support literacy in summer program.      X   Mary Lu Love Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care
Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy - An Imperative for Change This project focuses on the unique needs of students who require both special education and English language learning and has already produced a report by Dr. Maria de Lourdes Serpa.   X   Miren Uriarte Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy
Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy - Identifying Success in Schools and Programs for English Language Learners in Boston Public Schools A collaborative project of researchers and practitioners from Boston Public Schools, the Gastón Institute, and the Center for Collaborative Education (CCE). 1. The enrollment and outcomes of English language learners in BPS. 2. Best ELL practices in four schools that were consistently high performing or steadily improving with respect to ELL student outcomes.   X   Miren Uriarte Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy
Amesbury Early College Program: Second-Year Outcomes This program involves creating five-year longitudinal community-based program evaluation reports annually based on outcomes for early college program for academically average students in grades 10-12, in a suburban high school partnership with MA community college. The mixed methodology employed uses surveys and interviews and quantitative student data to illuminate program design, measure student outcomes, investigate changes in teaching practice and examine effective leadership practices. The two-year results show impressive credit accumulation and improved college readiness skills in students. It also shows that strong support mechanisms promote student success. This Program is now being replicated in other communities.   X   Jack Leonard College of Education and Human Development
Getting Past Go Education Commission of the States This project seeks to conduct research and engage state policymakers, system and institutional leaders around improving remedial/developmental education policy and outcomes.   X   Tara Parker College of Education and Human Development
Institute for Learning and Teaching - Project ALERTA Project ALERTA was initiated in 1988 by the Institute for Learning and Teaching (ILT) at the University of Massachusetts Boston in order to improve the educational opportunities and achievement of Latino students (particularly gifted and talented) in the Boston Public Schools. The program sought to accomplish two broad goals: reduce the dropout rate among Latino students in Boston schools and increase the number of Latino students enrolled in Boston’s three academic high schools known as exam schools. Project ALERTA was developed to complement the Talented and Gifted Latino program (TAG), by providing supplementary academic enrichment services to Latino students in the more critical early years of school (grades 3-5). X   X Sonnya Luz Espinal College of Education and Human Development
Institute for Learning and Teaching - Talented And Gifted Latino Program (TAG) TAG accomplishes its mission through six program components which provide comprehensive academic, personal, and social support to Latino youth and English Language Learners (ELL). In each component TAG integrates leadership development and community building, thereby creating the next generation of Latino leaders that will uplift the Boston community. The six components of TAG are: 1) Intensive academic tutoring; 2) School vacation and Saturday academies that combine academic support and enrichment/recreation programming; 3) Intensive one-to-one or two-to-one mentoring with volunteer adult Latino mentors; 4) Student-led, school-based TAG Clubs which offer leadership development and a vehicle for community involvement and support; 5) College awareness activities and scholarship fund; and 6) An intensive summer program on site at UMass Boston. X   X Ilyitch Nahiely Tábora College of Education and Human Development
Roger Clap Innovation School  Community Partner Governing Board The College of Education and Human Development places students there as pre-practicum and practicum student teachers, provides professional development in writing instruction for Grades 3-5 teachers, and  works with teachers' professional development in the area of writing and literacy. X   X Patricia Paugh College of Education and Human Development
SPY 685 Practicum in School Psychology – Prevention and Systems and SPY 686 Practicum in School Psychology - Assessment Graduate students provide prevention and early intervention social/emotional services (e.g., violence prevention curriculum implementation, group counseling). X X X Melissa Pearrow College of Education and Human Development
Teach Next Year / Noyce Urban Teacher Scholarship Program UMass Boston has hosted Noyce Scholars for the last four academic years (2006-2010). The program is built upon seven years of an existing program in the UMass Boston Graduate College of Education: Teach Next Year (TNY). TNY is an accelerated teacher education program designed to prepare interns for urban teaching as they obtain their initial licensure. Noyce funding supports TNY interns who are dedicated to teaching math and science in urban schools. Graduates have all gone on to teaching positions in the Boston Public Schools. X     Lisa Gonsalves College of Education and Human Development
Urban Partnerships Promoting Academic Excellence This program aims that incorporating service learning in curricula will prepare school counseling students to promote educational excellence and equity among urban youth, and Co-creating school counseling interventions between UMass Boston faculty and BPS personnel will foster communication and meet student needs. School counseling students complete a 100-hour practicum experience in the Boston Public Schools as a group, attending one of two high schools (Urban Science Academy or Tech Boston Academy). They complete this experience over the course of one semester, attending the school one day per week. X     Amy Cook College of Education and Human Development
Girls Reading Literature Society (G.R.L.S.) and Guys Read programs Based out of the College of Liberal Arts and in partnerships with the Boston Public Library’s neighborhood branch libraries, Guys Read and Girls Reading Literature Society (G.R.L.S.) make reading come alive for pre-teen boys and girls.  Guys Read and G.R.L.S. are book clubs that enact two simple principles: 1) pre-teens will be motivated to read if they are given books that are of interest to them, and 2) pre-teens will be motivated to read if they have role models who lead them in interesting conversations about literature.  Both book clubs address the concern that pre-teens “drop out” of reading because reading is no longer perceived as “cool.” UMass Boston graduate student mentors help transforms reading into a lively and meaningful group experience. X   X Cheryl Nixon College of Liberal Arts
Research Center for Urban Cultural History (RCUCH) - Mapping the Urban Streets of Boston In partnership with Tech Boston Academy  Dorchester, MA, the purpose of this project was to produce team-created multi-media presentations that commemorate a particular street, with each team choosing its own street site. Several professors at UMass Boston conducted a short workshop by videoconferencing, or a longer workshop or field trip by visiting Tech Boston Academy. Students posted the results of their workshopping on an online site so that the UMass project participants could follow the students' work and offer feedback. UMass teaching interns and MFA graduate students helped project teams integrate photograph images with poetry, interviews, and other writing, and helped them shape their overall presentation narratives. X X X Alex Mueller College of Liberal Arts
Teacher Parent Literacy Program The Department of Applied Linguistics and the Center for World Languages and Cultures at the University of Massachusetts Boston were awarded a Title III grant by the U.S. Department's Office of English Language Acquisition for the Teacher Parent Literacy Program to implement a two-pronged collaborative program with Boston and Brockton public schools and community agencies. The dual purposes include (1) preparing urgently needed English as a Second Language (ESL) educators to successfully collaborate with the parents of their limited English proficient (LEP) students; and (2) offering immigrant Haitian and Cape Verdean Creole-speaking parents in Boston and Brockton access to ESL instruction that is simultaneously culturally relevant, linked to their children's schooling, and effective preparation for later English-language GED and citizenship classes. X   X Lilia I. Bartolome College of Liberal Arts
Teachers as Scholars Teachers as Scholars represents both a new vision of professional development and a vital collaboration between college and university faculty and public and private school teachers. Through this program, K-12 teachers participate in small, multiple-day seminars led by leading professors in the humanities, social sciences and sciences and are, thus, reconnected to the world of scholarship – the reason many of them became teachers in the first place. In turn, university faculty become far more fully involved in the ongoing efforts of the schools, not only by teaching seminars, but also by visiting schools to discuss standards and improve curriculum. X   X Cheryl Nixon College of Liberal Arts
Madison Park Technical High School Nursing Assisting Program Advisory Council Peter Terres advises the Nursing Assisting Program at Madison Park Technical Vocational High School, which prepares students for post graduation work and educational experiences. This is accomplished through clinical rotations and internships with industry partners to further prepare our students for licensing, certifications and college programs in their chosen careers.     X Peter Terres College of Nursing and Health Sciences
Family Academy Project The Family Academy Project, in partnership with Urban Edge, strives to have families work together to share and support one another with educational objectives for their children, as their children move from early ages up to and through college.      X Carroy U "Cuf" Ferguson College of Public and Community Service
Harbor Point Outreach Partnership- Walter Denney Center The Harbor Point Outreach Partnership is a community-university tutoring and afterschool youth enrichment program based on the work of students in service-learning classes, volunteers and work study students from UMass Boston and the community. We are part of the UMass Boston-Harbor Point Apartment Community Memorandum of Agreement. Our primary partner is the Walter Denney Youth Center and most activities take place at this location. We also partner with the Dever-McCormack School. X   X Joan Arches College of Public and Community Service
Life Outcomes for University High School Students University High School is a community-based alternative school for youth not successful in their home high schools. Our study, which is in progress, will identify the life outcomes of students graduating from UHS and the impact the alternative high school had on graduates lives.   X   Christine Brenner McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies

Labor

Projects Summary Teaching/learning Research Services Contacts Dept. Affiliation
Labor Resource Center The mission of the LRC – to advance the interests of workers and their organizations through education and research – is carried out through its three programs: 1) the Labor Studies Program which includes the BA in Labor Studies and a professional Certificate in Labor Studies and Leadership; 2) the Future of Work Research Initiative which conducts and disseminates labor research on economic and workforce development; and 3) the Labor Extension Program. X X X Susan Moir College of Public and Community Service
Labor Resource Center - Future of Work Research Program The Future of Work in Massachusetts is a joint research project of the Labor Centers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, and Lowell, funded by the University of Massachusetts' President's Office with monies provided by the Massachusetts legislature. The project encompasses diverse research efforts to describe, analyze, and document the rapid transformation that work is undergoing in Massachusetts. Up and down the occupational structure, citizens in the Commonwealth are facing a complex web of changes in their workplaces and work lives. Policy makers, leaders of community, civic and labor organizations need resources to assist them in understanding and responding to these changes. The goal of this project is to help provide those resources.   X   Anneta Argyres College of Public and Community Service
Labor Resource Center - Labor Extension Program Since 1995, the Labor Extension Program has provided hands-on training and technical assistance to workers, union members and community organizations. While our educational sessions are as diverse as the participants we attract, one simple principle unites everything we do: linking education with action to build a stronger labor movement. Recent training sessions have dealt with such topics as workplace rights, organizing, computer skills, and corporate research, as well as skills trainings for union stewards. X   X Susan Moir; Anneta Argyres College of Public and Community Service
Labor Resource Center - Unfinished Business: Building Equality for Women in the Construction Trades Using the wide array of available sources, this report provides a historical overview of policy efforts to integrate women into construction and documents the gateways and gatekeepers that control access to construction work. Scholarship on gender socialization informs this in-depth analysis of the pervasive forms of sexism and discrimination in the industry. The report examines the labor needs of the construction industry and identifies sources of female workers who will be a good match for the industry’s needs. Finally, the history of compliance and enforcement is reviewed and includes the rare and instructive projects where affirmative efforts were made to ensure a welcoming work environment and an increase in women’s participation.   X X Susan Moir; Anneta Argyres College of Public and Community Service

Pre-collegiate Programs

Programs Summary Teaching/Learning Research Services Contacts Dept. Affiliation
Admission Guaranteed Program The goals of Admission Guaranteed are: 1) to help students and their parents formulate clear educational goals and the steps necessary to achieve them. 2) To provide concrete incentives for students to achieve at a higher level. 3) To increase student's awareness of available opportunities for post-secondary education. 4) To raise the level of student's preparedness for higher education. 5) To provide support for the target schools in their efforts to help students with the process of applying for admission to college and seeking financial aid. 6) To increase the number of graduates from the target schools who go on to enroll in the University of Massachusetts Boston, or in other institutions of higher education. 7) To strengthen the partnership between the University and the target schools.     X Joan Becker Academic Support Services and Undergraduate Studies
Upward Bound Upward Bound is an intensive, year-round college-prep program. Our mission is to assist low-income, first-generation college bound high school students in the successful completion of secondary education and prepare them academically and socially for enrollment and completion of higher education. Upward Bound offers services to students through an after-school program at UMass Boston during the school year and a six-week residential program, currently at Regis College, during the summer. X   X Erica Pernell Academic Support Services and Undergraduate Studies
Urban Scholars Program Urban Scholars Program provides talented and gifted students—especially those from low income and minority backgrounds—with the resources to develop the skills and self-motivation needed to enter and successfully complete post-secondary education. The program accommodates 120 students, 75 students at the high school level and 45 at the middle school level. X   X David Lemmel Academic Support Services and Undergraduate Studies
Institute for New England Native American Studies (INENAS) - Native American and Indigenous Studies Annual Conference 2012 The Native American and Indigenous Studies Association has become the premier organization for those in the field of native and indigenous studies.  With over 700 members, it comprises of scholars from around the globe representing numerous indigenous peoples and their non-indigenous allies.  While it has held several annual conferences, this is its first year in New England, something that was made possible only as a result of a multi-university (UMass Boston, UMass Amherst, Yale University, Harvard University, Dartmouth College) and tribal (Mohegan Tribe) collaboration.      X James Cedric Woods Institute for New England Native American Studies
Institute for New England Native American Studies (INENAS) - Native Tribal Scholars Native Tribal Scholars is a pre-collegiate initiative developed and run as a collaboration between the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, the North American Indian Center of Boston, and UMass Boston (Institute for New England Native American Studies and Academic Support Services). Native youth in grades 8-12 consistently lag behind their non-Native peers on many key academic indicators contributing to fewer Native high school students adequately prepared for college. The goal of this initiative is to provide academic support to Native American youth in these age groups. This is a Massachusetts based summer residential program that focuses on teaching science, math and writing through a culturally relevant curricula. The program also has a academic year component. X   X James Cedric Woods Institute for New England Native American Studies

STEM Education

Programs Summary Teaching/Learning Research Services Contacts Dept. Affiliation
Math/Science Upward Bound The UMass Boston-Noble and Greenough School Math/Science Upward Bound Program (MSUB) is a six-week residential program, serving 50 high school students with promising academic records and a desire to improve their future prospects. MSUB specifically identifies students interested in math and science who wish to pursue advanced study and careers in related fields. Our students come from the greater Boston and Lawrence areas, primarily from the John D. O'Bryant High School in Boston and Lawrence High School. In addition to meeting family income and educational qualifications, candidates must demonstrate, through their academic records and teacher recommendations, the potential to succeed in an accelerated math/science program, as well as the ability and desire to work hard. X   X Joan Becker Academic Support Services and Undergraduate Studies
STEM Fellowship Greater Boston Readiness Center  Together with experts in the field, 18 STEM fellows developed this set of recommendations to the state and the field for improvements to professional development for early childhood educators in STEM education. This project was a collaboration between STEM fellows, STEM faculty, University of Massachusetts early childhood faculty and was funded by the Professional Development Partnerships in Regions 4 and 6. This seminar came out of a grant partnership between Regions 4 and 6, the Readiness Centers, Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care and the UMass Boston. STEM Fellows examined the gaps that exist and ways to strengthen STEM education. X X   Mary Lu Love Institute for Community Inclusion
COSMIC (Center of Science and Mathematics in Context) - Boston Energy in Science Teaching (BEST) The purpose of BEST is to deepen the work of the Boston Science Partnership that has been going on since 2004. The BEST project is helping teachers understand and teach the big ideas of science, like energy, which can sometimes be excluded when the lessons prepared are organized to fit only one specific area of science. BEST's goals are to help increase the development of students of science in the classroom. One way that BEST is going to complete their goal is by having Professional Development Opportunities for teachers. Not only that, BEST will also be researching the progress of the the project and will be watching the development of the students. X     Allison Scheff College of Education and Human Development
COSMIC (Center of Science and Mathematics in Context) - Boston Science Partnership The Boston Science Partnership (BSP) aims to improve science education in Boston from middle school through graduate school. This will be accomplished by 1) raising student achievement in science; 2) significantly improving the quality of BPS science teachers; 3) increasing the number of students who succeed in higher-level courses in science, and who are admitted to and retained in university science and engineering programs; 4) improving science teaching both in BPS and at the universities; and 5) institutionalizing changes so that the Boston Science Partnership and its work will be sustained. X     Allison Scheff College of Education and Human Development
UMass Boston Anthropology Outreach The program serves as a science enrichment program for the Boston area K-12 public schools where science teachers are provided with fossil casts of early human ancestors and the expertise of UMass Boston faculty. The program helps students further their understanding of biological evolution and the program was free to 13 pre- qualified Boston area schools. X     Claire Gold College of Liberal Arts
Youth Astronomy Apprenticeship (YAA) Professor Bala Sundaram worked with students to extend the reach to 'this side of the river' and to host informal observational astronomy programs for the general public as a part of an after-school program targeting older youth and operated out of MIT's Kavli Institute. X     Bala Sundaram College of Science and Mathematics

Violence Prevention

Programs Summary Teaching/Learning Research Services Contacts Dept. Affiliation
Training for Educators: “She did WHAT?” “He said WHAT?” How to respond to the sexual behaviors of children The goal of the training is to demonstrate a model for responding to sexual behaviors to promote healthy child development and prevent child sexual abuse. The training draws upon the latest research on child sexual abuse prevention to provide new information and strategies about how to increase early education professionals’ skills and confidence in responding proactively to issues of sexual development and sexual abuse. The training is for early childhood educators who work with children ages 0 to 5. X     Anne Douglass College of Education and Human Development