Grant Program: STATE PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE TO ADDRESS HEALTH DISPARITIES (SPI)

Partnership Grants

Grant Program: STATE PARTNERSHIP INITIATIVE TO ADDRESS HEALTH DISPARITIES (SPI)

Grantee Information

Organization: Rhode Island Department of Health, Division of Community Family Health and Equity (CFHE), Office of Minority Health (RI-OMH)

Organization Address: 3 Capitol Hill, Providence, RI, 02908

Phone Number: 401-222-7630

Fax Number: N/A

Organization website URL (if any): http://www.health.ri.gov/programs/detail.php?pgm_id=1051

Brief Description of the Organization: The Rhode Island Department of Health (HEALTH) is the sole public health agency in the State of Rhode Island. HEALTH promotes a vision for Rhode Island that 1) addresses the social and environmental determinants of health, 2) eliminates the disparities in health and promotes health equity, and 3) promotes access to quality health services for residents of Rhode Island, especially vulnerable populations. Rhode Island’s Office of Minority Health (RI-OMH) is located in the Rhode Island Department of Health’s Division of Community, Family Health and Equity (CFHE). CFHE’s goal is to achieve health equity for all populations, through eliminating health disparities, assuring healthy child development, preventing and controlling disease and disability, and working to make the environment healthy. CFHE aims to achieve health equity for all populations and includes among its core values: respect for diversity of the communities it serves; valuing community involvement and participation at all levels; and, being accountable to its communities. CFHE is organized into six priority areas: Health Disparities and Access to Care; Healthy Homes and Environment; Chronic Care and Disease Management; Health Promotion and Wellness; Perinatal, Early Childhood, and Adolescent Health; and, Preventative Services and Community Practices.

Grant Project Information

Title of Grant Project: Rhode Island Partnership to Address Health Disparities

Amount of OMH Award: $200,000

Name of Project Director: Angela Ankoma

Phone Number of Project Director: 401-222-7630

E-mail Address of Project Director: Angela.Ankoma@health.ri.gov.

Abstract

Nationwide trends show disparate rates of high school graduation by race and ethnicity with lower rates for black and Hispanic youth, trends that are consistent with Rhode Island’s capital city of Providence. Hundreds of Providence students fail to complete high school each year, with minority populations often leading the ranks in high school dropout rates due to cultural and linguistic barriers, lack of positive role models, poverty, and family trauma. Those who do not graduate or obtain a GED have increased rates of unemployment, poverty, incarceration, exposure to violence, unplanned pregnancy, chronic health conditions, and overall shorter life expectancies. HEALTH seeks to address unhealthy behaviors for at-risk minority male youth with the Princes to Kings (P2K) project, which will provide opportunities for youth to learn skills and gain experiences that contribute to a more positive healthy lifestyle and enhance their capacity to make healthier life choices. P2K will provide mentoring and support services to serve and maintain a cohort of at-risk African American, Southeast Asian and Hispanic youth in the West End and South Side neighborhoods of Providence, RI. The overarching goal of this of project is to increase the high school graduation rates among African American, Latino and Southeast Asian males between the ages of 12-18 years old living and attending school in the West End and Southside of Providence, RI.

Princes to Kings is intended to reduce the number of disciplinary actions in school, decrease the behaviors that contribute to injury and violence, develop skills and behaviors that lead to healthier lifestyles and graduation from high school. The program will focus on academic scholarship, leadership and community service as core elements to empower black/African American, Southeast Asian and Hispanic/Latino males to work towards successful future outcomes throughout the life course. Princes to Kings will be a year-round program providing mentoring and additional support services to minority male youth ages 12-18 years old. The overall program will include four major components modeled after locally and national recognized evidence-based and promising practices models:

P2K Mentorship Program: The Mentorship Program will offer 10-18 year old minority youth a comprehensive mentoring program, engaging them in one-on-one and group interactions with male mentors after school. The program provides guidance, counsel, and affirmation to young men at risk for poor academic and developmental achievement. Participants are also engaged in academic tutoring, career advisement, character building, life-skills training, and gang violence counseling, as well as extracurricular activities and learning opportunities organized by the program.
P2K Summer Leadership Academy: Adapted from the Upward Bound evidence-based model, P2K’s summer leadership academy is an intensive six-week program that integrates counseling, tutoring services, and recreational activities.
P2K Recruitment and Development Training: This initiative will recruit and train males from the community to serve as mentors and serve as a required mentor training component of P2K. The effort is completely community led and driven by leaders from the community who are committed to serving young men of color. The mentorship training will teach mentors how to help male youth make good decisions and become healthy adults and equip mentors with the information, skills, and support they will need to counsel youth.
Enrichment Activities: These activities will include a monthly study hall for P2K participants, community service experiences, college visits, and social and cultural events such as sporting events, retreats, tours, and museum days.

Over the course of the project, the grantee will also develop a Health Disparities Profile that informs the leading health indicator of high school graduation rates and identifies gaps that indicate health disparities among minority males in the West End and Southside of Providence. The Health Disparities Profile will leverage data and resources already in existence for the geographical hotspots (Southside and West End of Providence) while also further investigating health, education and social well-being outcomes for adolescent minority males enrolled in the P2K program.

The Rhode Island Department of Health expects this project to have short-term, intermediate, and long-term impacts on the targeted communities, including:

Short Term: Increased resources for reaching minority males, increased supportive relationships in minority males’ lives, increased knowledge about risky and unhealthy behaviors, and, increased use of data tracking for risky and unhealthy behaviors and evaluation of mentoring programs;
Intermediate Term: Increase in number of youth leaders in the community; increased positive behavior choices, improved educational outcomes, and Increased evaluated mentoring programs in the community; and
Long Term: Increased high school graduation rates; reduced violence, crime, and arrest rates; reduced disciplinary actions; decreased behaviors contributing to injury/violence; increased behaviors leading to healthier lifestyle choices; decreased teen pregnancies; decreased reported STIs; reduced unprotected sexual activity; increased condom use; increased reading/math levels; and, increased promotion to next grade.

The evaluation plan will be focused on collecting data to answer the following four overarching evaluation questions:

What education, health and social well-being disparities affect graduation rates among this population?
What are the key activities and resources considered critical to the culturally competent recruitment and referral of “hotspot” minority adolescent males?
What evidence-based or practice-tested programs, activities and opportunities are essential to maintaining minority male youth involvement in the program, and to becoming leaders in their communities?
How are youth retained in the program, and how does program retention affect rates of graduation and career preparation?

The grantee will develop a P2K Advisory Council, a sub-committee of which will be dedicated to guiding the evaluation of the project. Several data collection and analysis methods, including both qualitative and quantitative methods, are utilized in the evaluation including a yearly P2K program participant survey, P2K mentor focus groups, review of program and school records, and a pre-post program comparison of indicators of interest to project outcomes. The Rhode Island Department of Health identified the following measures to evaluate the process and impact of their project:

Number of mentors and staff recruited, trained & retained;
Number of minority males who enroll in program;
Number of youth positively impacted by P2K;
Number of arrests, number of arrests for violent offenses; and average age at first arrest;
Number of disciplinary actions, suspensions, expulsions;
Incidences of carrying weapons, having been in a fight, drug use, and age of first drug use;
Age at first sexual encounter;
Number of reported pregnancies, and age at first pregnancy;
Incidence of STIs;
Incidence and frequency of unprotected sex;
Incidence and frequency of condom use;
Number of students at appropriate school-designated reading level;
Number of students promoted to next grade; and
Number of students on target to graduate.