Community Health Works Projects

Summary of the current year: In fall 2008 we started two prototype Metro Health Academies based on the same carefully crafted approach for the first two years of college—one at City College of San Francisco and the other at San Francisco State University. MHA seeks to develop strong foundation skills for its students, supporting them to persist and make strong academic progress toward graduation. Once City College and SF State University students have completed the lower division MHA program—with community college students simultaneously having earned their associate of science degree—they start their junior year together on an equal footing, regardless of whether they transferred from community college, or are “native” Cal State University students who started at SFSU. While our pilot effort is just now coming to the end of its first year, early qualitative evaluations are pointing to considerable differences between MHA students and similar students not in MHA. Our students participate more, express more engagement and confidence, and perform better academically. Retention rates at the close of MHA’s first year are 90% at SFSU and 75% at CCSF.

Dissemination: From the beginning, our Metro Academies effort was guided by the vision of establishing a California- and nation-wide network of Metro Academies in major US urban areas. Several California State Universities and community colleges are working with us to develop MHAs at their own campuses. Additionally, major publishers have expressed interest in publishing a series of three to four college textbooks based on MHA’s approach.

Detailed replication materials will be packaged for ready dissemination and adaptation to other campuses, accessible on the web. We will support the adaptation process through a technical assistance office, technology-assisted trainings, and annual summer institutes. We see academic technology as pivotal for both statewide and future national dissemination.

In the longer term, we are also interested in adapting the content of the program to a number of disciplines and career paths. For example our core curriculum could readily be modified for a Metro Academy of Education for teacher training; a Metro Academy of Child Development for early childhood educators; and so on.

For more information about our dissemination plans and funding needs, please contact Vicki Legion at vlegion@sfsu.edu or (415) 338-3480.

Breadth of Support for MHA

Letters of Interest from Associations and Organizations

The American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U)

The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC)
The American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU)
The Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative (a collaborative of nine Bay Area health departments)
RC 2000 Urban Coalition of Community Colleges
The California State University System (Vice Chancellor)
The National Association of County and City Health Officials

Funders

The James Irvine Foundation

U.S. Department of Education (Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education)
Cal State University Chancellor’s Office
San Francisco State University
City College of San Francisco

Health & Social Justice: Burning Issues, Taking Action
A three unit course for SF State University and City College of San Francisco Students
available during Spring semester

Spring 2007
Mondays 4pm-7pm, SFSU Humanities Bldg 207
(please consult SFSU/CCSF Class Schedules for current dates and times)

Through cutting edge documentary films and dialogs with community health leaders, this
course will take you "behind the headlines" on hot-button issues such as the drug war,
tobacco, HIV, reproductive rights, environmental justice, and Hurricane Katrina. We will
investigate the social forces driving spiraling epidemics of cancer, AIDS, and diabetes, and
explore how health outcomes are shaped by racism, class, gender, and power. How are
communities organizing to challenge unhealthy conditions? Hone your critical thinking
skills, and learn to become an effective advocate.

San Francisco State University HED 221 (3 units)
City College of San Francisco Health 221 (3 units)

Everything you need to set up a medical/social team program for prevention-oriented children's asthma care

All the tools and training materials needed to start a best practice asthma management
program in a community health center or public health clinic (2003).

YWC Toolkit Funders: The California Endowment, Kaiser Permanente, Regional Health
Occupations Resource Center

The San Francisco Interior Bay Area RHORC, hosted by City College of San Francisco, in
partnership with the Health Education Department of San Francisco State University,
develops creative ways to meet California's emerging heath care workforce training and
educational needs by establishing partnerships between public and private sector
health care employers, county agencies, community colleges and veteran health workers.

Because health care is increasingly moving out of hospitals into home and community
settings, a particular focus of our RHORC is to strengthen education and training programs
for a rapidly-growing cluster of some 40 first-level community-based health occupations,
particularly those working in primary medical care settings for traditionally medically
uninsured persons. Because California is the most diverse state in the United States, the
industry requires health workers who have experience and language skills to best serve
the emerging new majority in our state.

Internationally trained health professionals here in the US must struggle through a
maze of obstacles to be able to practice their professions.

Internationally trained health professionals here in the U.S. must struggle through a
maze of obstacles to be able to practice their professions. Yet, many community based
clinics and health programs cannot find staff who are culturally competent to work with
the communities they serve. Welcome Back is a program designed to offer counseling
and educational programs to internationally trained health professionals already in the
U.S., who are un- or underemployed in health services. Credentials and jobs: Our first
goal is to help these health professionals obtain licenses, credentials, orientation, and
to find jobs in the U.S. health system. The San Francisco Welcome Back Center is the
lead site of the Welcome Back Initiative with additional sites in Los Angeles, San Diego,
and Boston.

Funders: The California Endowment, The California Wellness Foundation, Kaiser Permanente,
The San Francisco Foundation

The currant approach towards asthma care for children focuses on diagnosis, treatment,
and brief procedures. In contrast, Asthma Care Management allows for a team approach
with a broader role for non-clinicians. The team handles routine aspects of chronic care
and follow-up and has time for more family education to promote self-management.

CHWs bridge the gap between a complex, changing healthcare system and diverse low-income communities. Our CHW curriculum teaches core competencies common to 70 community
health job titles. We use a unique pedagogy that combines performance-based and popular
education. This grounds the mastery of skills in discussion of the students' own experiences
and study of the large social-economic determinants of health. Our CHW program was the
first college credit CHW certificate in the U.S. Four out of five of graduates over eight years
have been from low-income communities of color. A post-program survey showed that 100%
of graduates had gone on to work in medically underserved communities.

Funders: U.S. Department of Education, Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE), and Bernard Osher Family Foundation

In 2000, California voters passed Proposition 36 by an overwhelming 61% majority, insisting
that drug addiction should be addressed through treatment programs rather than spiraling imprisonment.

In this spirit, our program takes a public health approach to drug addiction. We emphasize
treatment, education, and employment as the first-line response to the epidemic. This
program prepares students to become counselors in addiction prevention and treatment.
It is credentialed by the California Association of Drug and Alcohol Educators (CAADE),
and carries 38.5 units of college credit at CCSF.

We are the first Drug and Alcohol Certificate in California to focus primarily on the needs
and assets of diverse and low-income urban communities.

Developed in partnership with the San Francisco Department of Public Health (Community
Substance Abuse Services), as part of its commitment to providing drug treatment on demand.

This 2-semester program teaches bilingual/bicultural students to serve as highly skilled,
qualified interpreters for limited-English patients, ensuring culturally and linguistically
appropriate care for all. Carries 15 college units.

This certificate prepares HIV/STD educators, and offers three areas of specialization:
outreach, case management, and group facilitation. Carries nine college units.

Asthma hospitalization rates are up to 21 times higher in low-income communities of color
than in affluent white communities only blocks away. This makes asthma an important front
in the effort to eliminate health disparities. The YES WE CAN Project has developed a
medical/social model for asthma and other chronic diseases. This model relies on an
interdisciplinary community health team: clinician, clinical care coordinator, community
health worker, and families/patients. We aim to scale up high quality healthcare that is
culturally competent. We emphasize prevention, self-care and the provision of enabling services.

Funders: Kaiser Permanente, The California Endowment, the California Children and Families Commission, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and members of the partnership