Henry Barr, Spring 2015
Henry Barr completed his Mann Child Policy externship at Starting Point under the supervision of Constance Walker. His work at Starting Point was focused on the expansion of the Boys’ Project and researching best practices for out of school time. Due to the success of the Boys’ Project in early childcare, Starting Point was expanding their program to out of school time programs. Throughout this semester, Henry learned a lot about the child care services that exist in Cleveland, and about the efforts to quantify the impacts of these programs.Starting Point links families to programs and services that meet their children’s early care/education and related needs, and strengthens the community’s capacity to respond to those needs.
“The experiential learning provided by the Mann Externship guided me towards a career in special education.”
Jasmine High, Spring 2015
Jasmine High was placed at East End Neighborhood House (EENH)and operated under the supervision of Zulma Zabala, the CEO. Jasmine’s policy research was in the area of early care and education. She reviewed the various practice standards and created a crosswalk comparing the policies the early childhood center was required to operate by, according to Cuyahoga County’s Universal Pre-K (UPK) program, Starting Point’s Step up to Quality, and the Council for Economic Opportunities in Greater Cleveland’s Head Start. EENH will be able to utilize this document in training new daycare staff, as well as for ensuring quality administration. From the crosswalk, Jasmine was able to identify areas where EENH could update written policies to be more consistent with the above programs. She also composed a research brief on UPK and its effectiveness, thus far, within Cleveland. In addition, Jasmine was able to help EENH staff plan for community outreach events, scheduled to take place in the summer and fall. The work Jasmine contributed was focused on the needs of the community members, such as affordable food options.East End Neighborhood House’s mission is to provide the families of our community culturally diverse and compassionate social services, education and activities so that each member—from child to senior—can become self sufficient and thrive.
“I really appreciated the give and take of my externship placement. I learned so much from my coworkers but also felt able to make meaningful contributions to the organization. I hope to take the knowledge I gained with me on my path to becoming a pediatric clinician.”
Amanda Richardson, Spring 2015
Amanda Richardson’s placement was at the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court under guidance of Tim McDevitt and Renee Edel in the probation department. During her placement, she was able to observe hearings and shadow key players including a juvenile judge, attorneys, detention center and diagnostic staff and others throughout the court. Her policy research involved alternatives to detention for youth with a focus on the CALM (Coordinated Approach to Low-risk Misdemeanors) diversion program. CALM is a pilot program designed to divert low-risk juveniles where police are responding to a domestic violence call and offer immediate support services to youth and families through a community program. Amanda compared outcomes of youth who participated in CALM to youth placed in the detention center for domestic violence offenses. Preliminary findings were promising and the court plans to use this information to expand CALM to service the entire county in the near future
The mission statement of the Juvenile Court of Cuyahoga County is to administer justice, rehabilitate juveniles, support and strengthen families and promote public safety.
“I will use the skills and knowledge gained through the Mann Child Policy Externship to address juvenile justice policy during my graduate studies.”