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.

In November JIF co-hosted the 7^th 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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.