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Safe, Stable, and Nurturing Families Help Everyone Achieve their Fullest Potential

Looking Back, Moving Forward

This fall the Jordan Institute underwent a formal Periodic Institute Review at UNC. This major undertaking was led by a power-packed, dedicated and talented volunteer review committee. Chaired by Kevin FitzGerald and supported by Yvette Thompson, members included Steve Orton, Renée Ferrari, Safiyah Jackson, Erica Little, and Kandace Farrar. This process included 24 interviews and a survey. Questions were based on Appreciative Inquiry methods and offered a chance for input on the Institute's work past, present, and future. We can not begin to express our gratitude to the committee and to all of you who gave of your time and talent to contribute to this review. THANK YOU! We will provide an update in 2023 following university review.

This year we have worked across many fronts - from encouraging civic participation and voting in the spring to sponsoring the National Social Work Manager's conference, guest editing a special series of articles in Health Services Research journal and partnering with the NC Child Fatality Task Force to support a statewide webinar in October and in-person conference this coming March 2023 to improve NC's Child Fatality Prevention System. We are happy to share additional updates below. It has been a busy year - a time of readjusting (again), growth, creativity and connection.

As move into a season of light, reflection, celebration, and restoration,
we wish you the joys of the season and the many beautiful gifts of winter.
We've reached over 1600 people with our 21-Day Racial Equity Challenges!
In 2022, the Jordan Institute hosted three 21-Day Racial Equity Challenges (January, June, and October) for a total of 7 challenges. Originally designed by Dr. Eddie Moore, the 21-Day Challenge is a daily, curated set of readings, podcasts, and videos to deepen our understanding of racism and white supremacy. Our team has worked together to update and expand the offerings over the last year. Participants learn about a different topic each day and are asked to complete one action daily to deepen their understanding of power, privilege, oppression, and racial equity. There are opportunities to reflect using an individual journal, and online forum with prompts, and virtual meet-ups. Participant response has been overwhelmingly positive. One person reported “my favorite thing was just know[ing] that I'm not alone in this work. That there were others in my community … who cared about this specific work and were pushing themselves, too.” Another person shared that “It addressed the discomfort felt by everyone involved when having discussions about race, and the importance of having those discussions anyway.” The next Challenge will start February 1, 2023. You can join us by registering here.
Building a New Culture for Care

The image below emerged from National Convening on Equity-Centered Wellness - the culmination of a 4-year federal grant to improve the health and well-being of young adults. Reproductive justice means supporting people in their goals to have or not have children and raise their children in health and safety. We were honored to lead this journey and proud to share the results. Click here to read more.
Race, Racism and Racial Series Webinar #7
In November JIF co-hosted the 7th event in the Race, Racism & Racial Equity (R3) Symposium titled Highlighting Participatory Justice Scholarship: Working to Advance Racial Equity. The session explored the ways advancing participatory justice benefits everyone.Panelists highlighted the importance of acknowledging that (1) there are serious problems with systemic racism, (2) policy and practice levers exist to begin meaningfully addressing said racism, and (3) implementing said levers most often works to our collective benefit. The levers are mostly about securing and guaranteeing the centering of historically marginalized voices and perspectives in all decisions that affect the way people live, work, and play. The event featured Ariana Ávila, Lupita Vazquez Reyes, Dr. Iheoma Iruka, Dr. Andrew H. Whittemore and Catherine Fray. Dr. Allison DeMarco led JIF's work in organizing this fantastic webinar. You can view the recording here. To read more about the event check out this article in The Well and from the Daily Tar Heel.

Earned Income Tax Credit Study Sets the Course for Future Work

Our team at the Jordan Institute for Families recently wrapped up our project Creating Community-Designed Approaches for EITC Uptake in Rural North Carolina. This project, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, was a wonderful partnership with our team here in the School of Social Work, the UNC School of Government and ncIMPACT, Together Transforming Lives, Inc. and Rural Forward NC. Information about our project findings, including helpful resources about the Earned Income Tax Credit, are available on our website. The image above summarizes our results. And the larger image below shows larger thinking toward the future.
A Jordan Institute team, led by Dr. Paul Lanier began a new partnership with Youth Villages, a national leader in children’s mental health services and family support. The project focuses on developing an evaluation plan of two of Youth Villages North Carolina evidence-based programs; Intercept and LifeSet. Building on Youth Villages research in other states, the JIF team is assessing the feasibility of using integrated multi-sector administrative data in North Carolina to track long-term outcomes for youth served by these programs.
Update

Todd Jensen has joined Sarah Verbiest as part of the LCIRN led by UCLA. This year Todd became the leader of the Family Measurement Node in the Life Course Intervention Research Network. He is leading efforts to conduct a pilot study titled "Family Ages and Stages": A Qualitative Investigation of Key Periods of Family Development and Functioning. This project seeks to understand common “family ages and stages”—or key periods of family life—from the perspective of adults who have experience parenting at least one child from birth to young adulthood. Study findings could further understanding of complex process of family development and functioning, as well as help inform the development of programs and services that are intended to benefit children and families across the life course.
Team Awards and Milestones

The Office of the Provost Engaged Scholarship Award recognizes extraordinary public service and engaged scholarship at UNC. Recipients serve as an example of excellence, including responsiveness to community concerns and strong community partnerships. This year, Allison De Marco won the Provost Award for Teaching for her partnership with the Community Empowerment Fund on an undergraduate service-learning course focused on racial equity and economic justice. Click here to learn more.

Yvette Thompson was awarded the School of Social Work's Positivity Award. Anyone who has interacted with Yvette knows how perfect this recognition is! Her energy and support keeps the team bolstered every day. Pictured on the left.
 
Sarah Verbiest was awarded the William Lloyd Garrison Ally award at the Reaching Our Sisters Everywhere Annual Summit. The award was for action taken to recognized and call out racism to transform the work of achieving health diversity, equity and inclusion.

Todd Jensen published 14 peer reviewed papers in 2022 - we think this must be a world record. Go Todd! He has also brought joy to the team with his clear pride and joy in his little son Charlie who is growing so fast - see picture above!

Katherine Bryant probably had the most exciting year as she became mom to an amazing baby girl - Mia - in March. Mia's occasional zoom appearances always brighten the day.

Paul Lanier has many major professional accomplishments including winning several large grants. The team, however, has appreciated the fresh eggs he brings to us in the office from his COVID-era chickens who have turned into JIF zoom mascots!
Kayden Coleman Webinar

On December 1, in partnership with the Maternal Health, Learning, and Innovation Center, we co-hosted a webinar, Transmasculine Birth and Fertility, with Kayden Coleman, a Black, gay transgender dad of two young daughters. Attended by over 125 people (in-person and online), participants learned more about the challenges Kayden faced experiencing pregnancy and birth, learned about strategies to make care better and increased their ability to be a trans-affirmative ally. It was a rich evening and it was wonderful to be able to share food again with the folks there in person!
Keeping Preschoolers in School
JIF, in partnership with Wake County Smart Start, is wrapping up data collection on a pilot study of preschool exclusionary discipline in North Carolina. The team has collected surveys from ~400 families in 5 counties (Wake, Mecklenburg, Martin, Pitt, and Randolph) and conducted individual interviews with families and providers to learn about their experiences with suspension and expulsion in preschool settings. Stay tuned for results.
Carlton Johnson (he/him) is a first year MSW candidate working with our team on social justice focused projects. Carlton has a Bachelors degree in Neuroscience from Duke University. His research experience includes drug addiction, neuro-developmental disease and adolescent mental health. He is a passionate advocate for increasing access to mental health resources in rural, Black and Brown communities. Other interests include educational justice, housing security and racial equity.
Molly Carroll (she/her) is an Advanced Standing MSW candidate from Charlotte, NC. She is working on a JIF research project with Paul Lanier. Her areas of interest include the effects of trauma on childhood development, educational justice, and housing. The majority of her research experience has been around education reform and creating safe spaces for children to develop in schools. Molly is passionate about the therapeutic benefits of gardening and food justice movements!
Building on the Jordan legacy, we leverage evidence, policy, collaboration, innovation, and the wisdom of communities to work together to create the conditions where ALL families can thrive.