Posted by BEN BEAUMONT – Clinton School students will continue completing group public service projects throughout Arkansas when they return from holiday break. As part of our Practicum program here at the school, the students team up with government and non-government organizations to perform projects related to expanding children’s mental health services, cataloging after school care programs and spurring business development and women’s empowerment in the Delta region.
The 30 students are dispersed throughout the state for their projects. A map (pictured below) in the lobby of Sturgis Hall indicates where they are all working.
The projects include:
THE ARKANSAS DELTA GRASSROOTS PRACTICUM
Three student teams are partnering with area non-profit organizations to promote small business development, women’s empowerment and overall community development in the Arkansas Delta region.
A team of students is working with the Arkansas Rural Heritage Development Initiative to provide marketing research and grassroots support to the DeltaMade program, a business collaborative that brings together products made in the Delta to be sold at markets throughout the state.
A second team is partnering with the Women’s Empowerment Bank of the Delta to improve the lives of single mothers in St. Francis County. The initiative is identifying women to take part in a business development effort to provide steady employment for these women.
A third team is helping to facilitate leadership mapping at the Marvell Boys, Girls, Adults Community Development Center (BGACDC) in Marvell, Ark. The students are developing an organizational map for the BGACDC and identifying a leadership plan for transition there.
THE AFTER SCHOOL CARE PRACTICUM
Three student teams attended a statewide after school conference in September and have met with the Governor’s Task Force on After School Care to begin work on projects to research and catalogue after school care efforts throughout Arkansas. The Governor’s Task Force is exploring after school care as an educational initiative to help close the achievement gap for low-income children.
One team has convened a core group of state social work representatives to develop a strategic communications plan for statewide after school care efforts.
The Clinton School is continuing a partnership with the Pine Bluff 20/20 Commission, with a student team helping to prepare an after school care plan for the city of Pine Bluff.
A third team is developing a demand study for after school care throughout the state. The students have begun accessing data and formulating a research plan to implement a statewide study.
THE SYSTEMS OF CARE PRACTICUM FOR CHILDREN’S MENTAL HEALTH
Two student teams are partnering with the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) to study the feasibility of a Systems of Care approach to deliver services to children with Severe Emotional Disturbance (SED) in Benton and Washington Counties in Northwest Arkansas, and in Phillips County in the Arkansas Delta. The teams are focusing specifically on the growing underserved Hispanic community in Northwest Arkansas and low-income African Americans in Phillips County.
The Systems of Care approach involves making children and their parents “full partners” in the process of addressing children’s mental health. It also requires coordination among various mental health agencies, law enforcement agencies, advocacy groups, schools, counselors, social workers and medical personnel.