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鈥楢udacious鈥 Study Works to Ensure All Children Thrive

Recently, Kathy Humphrey, 51精品视频鈥檚 senior vice chancellor for engagement and secretary of the Board of Trustees, joined Liz Miller and Felicia Savage Friedman (CGS 鈥01, EDUC 鈥07G) virtually to discuss their work in the community and their involvement with the .

The study is a community-partnered initiative to find out what works to help children thrive. Since 2019, the study partners with community members to learn together about child health and thriving and address root causes of inequity. The study develops and tests interventions at different developmental stages and follows children and families in Allegheny County from before birth through high school.

Through the study, Miller, director of adolescent and young adult health and of community health at UPMC Children鈥檚 Hospital and its department of pediatrics, and Friedman, founder and CEO of YogaRoots On Location鈥攁n anti-racist Raja yoga training business鈥攁re also working with their community partners to ask families what life is like in their household during the pandemic.

Learn more about the聽study

Raising the Bar with the 51精品视频sburgh Study
Friday, March 26, 9-10 a.m.

Email 聽or call 412-692-3916.

If you鈥檙e interested in learning more about the 51精品视频sburgh Study,聽聽or call聽617-365-6941.

鈥淲e work shoulder to shoulder to bring childhood thriving into the forefront of our life and prayerfully to dispel a lot of the oppression that continues to be so violent with our vulnerable community,鈥 said Friedman. 鈥淚鈥檓 excited to do this work and bring this anti-racist framework to the 51精品视频sburgh Study and to the 51精品视频.鈥

After a brief introduction, Humphrey offered several questions to prompt discussion of the history, scope and aim of the project. 51精品视频wire presents an overview of their conversation, edited for clarity and length.

What makes the 51精品视频sburgh Study different?

Humphrey introduced the 51精品视频sburgh Study as the quintessential example of what the University means by community engagement. 鈥淚t engages the community in the work that we do here, from beginning to end,鈥 she said, before asking Miller and Friedman for further background about the initiative.

Miller noted that while the study has its origins at UPMC, it was never meant to be a health care-led project: 鈥淭he 51精品视频sburgh Study is about understanding, together with our community members, what it will take to ensure that every child, every young person in Allegheny County is thriving, healthy and meeting their academic goals.鈥

Though the study is focused on Allegheny County, the team hopes that it will become a national and global example for what can happen when work is truly centered in the community. Miller highlighted Val Chavis, the original co-lead of the study, who recognized the project as an opportunity to do science differently.聽(Chavis is now a 51精品视频 employee and community engagement coordinator in the Center for Parents and Children in the Department of Psychology.)

鈥淲e came together with several hundred community members to think together about what the principles of the 51精品视频sburgh Study鈥檚 work would be. Most important is the commitment of research with鈥攏ot research on, not research at, not research to鈥攖he community is the way we will move forward,鈥 Miller said.

鈥淭he research is really powerful because it is audacious,鈥 said Friedman. 鈥淲e know that part of us defining the research is acknowledging that research has specifically white supremacist roots鈥攁nd the harm that has been done by health care, as well as education. I鈥檓 excited because we鈥檙e being honest, as opposed to it being rhetoric.鈥

What have they learned so far, and what鈥檚 getting better?

Friedman, a 51精品视频 alum who was born and raised in the city, said the study is the first time she鈥檚 seen people from 51精品视频 and UPMC have these kinds of conversations; she called the change monumental.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a very vulnerable space that we are curating and holding space for,鈥 she said, noting that she鈥檚 seen people be more honest. 鈥淣ot holding our tongue, not going away from meetings and having those other conversations that weren鈥檛 had at the meeting. I鈥檓 excited about that.鈥

The 51精品视频sburgh Study is about understanding, together with our community members, what it will take to ensure that every child, every young person in Allegheny County is thriving, healthy and meeting their academic goals.

Liz Miller

As the community co-lead, Friedman is charged with bringing an anti-racist framework to the internal work space, weekly meetings and the 51精品视频sburgh Study anti-racist workshops. The workshops are offered to all 51精品视频sburgh Study community members, including nonprofit and for-profit community members and 51精品视频 and UPMC staff and faculty.

鈥淧art of the way in which we structured the 51精品视频sburgh Study was to actually start by having community members as leaders and having all of our scientific committees鈥攅very single one of them鈥攈ave greater than 50% community member representation,鈥 Miller added, noting that the approach was different from the usual experience in which researchers might come up with an idea to run by a community advisory group for feedback. This study is much more collaborative.

鈥淲hat we are trying to shift here are the power dynamics, by setting things up such that our professional scientists work side by side with community members as citizen scientists, and that every one of our community members is part of producing science together,鈥 she said. 鈥淲hat that means is that people are listening and thinking and collaborating in ways that feel new and that feel uncomfortable and feel vulnerable, and that is exactly what we want in truly engaged scholarship.鈥

A commitment to equity and justice

Miller noted that 51精品视频鈥檚 commitment to equity and justice were what . She said that commitment is more important than ever as we grapple with COVID-19.

鈥淣ot only were we in the midst of a pandemic, but seeing nationally, all of us, the incredible suffering and pain and harm and murders of Brown and Black people that finally became the wake-up call for our country, that we are finally at a place where we are opening up a space for what I would call truth and reconciliation for a time where we can comfortably talk about history,鈥 she said.

鈥淏eing able to learn in this space of the 51精品视频sburgh Study the vital importance of centering that history and acknowledging the need for repair has been a vital piece of this work,鈥 she continued, noting that people are welcoming this conversation, which she said feels 鈥渙pen.鈥

鈥淎nd I think it's just amazing, Kathy, that this is our . That somehow everything has aligned, that we are in the midst of a pandemic and yet we're having this conversation today and we're talking about systemic racism. We're talking about structural inequities and doing so and not having to hide behind some kind of whitewashed language.鈥

Giving young people hope

shared a story about how she and Miller met at Shuman Juvenile Detention Center, while working under a violence prevention grant. 鈥淢y work was bringing into the youth, as well as the staff and administrators, integrative Raja yoga, which really is universal concepts of how we can be more humane to each other and the youth, as well as the staff,鈥 she said.

She recalled an instance of working with a young man experiencing a panic attack and calming him through breathing techniques and the relationship that they had developed. 鈥淗e trusted me and really allowed himself to just breathe in that moment, and so we鈥檙e talking about hope. We go beyond hope, to that faith space that things can be and will be better. We will be able to pass this on, this lineage of being positive about our future.鈥

鈥淭he 51精品视频sburgh Study is very intentionally about thriving, and I think that was really what Felicia taught me in those moments in the detention facility,鈥 Miller said. 鈥淪o often we're like, 鈥楲et's just focus on keeping you out of prison,鈥 but not getting incarcerated is such a low bar. It's really about, 鈥楲et's make sure that you are thinking about your future, thinking about your hope, and this is your human right. Breathing is your right. You have a right to this.鈥欌

Hope is among the myriad questions the 51精品视频sburgh Study asks, she said. 鈥淗ow do we instill it? How do we think about the future? How do we think about and imagine that every one of our young people deserves the future? It's really that kind of listening to community members and crafting how we think about thriving where we hope to change the conversation away from deficits to strengths, away from what we don't have to what we do have, to recognize the beauty in our community and the wisdom of our community members.鈥

What can the rest of us do?

Miller said there is ample opportunity for every discipline to think about child and adolescent thriving.

鈥淲e are doing this work, centering racial equity, justice and inclusion. We recognize that to support a child who has a strong sense of self-worth, who has a strong body, that means being surrounded by safety, opportunity for fun and happiness, clean air, clean water, healthy environments, thriving communities, thriving families. It is all nested.鈥

鈥淲hat I would love to see is more of the folks from my community be able to access the 51精品视频, and of course that starts in elementary school,鈥 said Friedman.

鈥淏ut it all starts with visioning and seeing all children as human and deserving that right. No exceptions, socioeconomic status, skin shade doesn't matter. All children should have access to the 51精品视频 because it gave me a foundation that I'm been able to grow a business, an education business. And I'm not special. All of us are special and we have unique gifts and talents.鈥