Projects & Research

Topic: Community Supports

Collaborative on Discovery and Innovation in Employment (CODIE)

The purpose of the project is to build the capacity of school professionals in collaboration with community action partners to use the Discovery Process in supporting youth and adults with developmental disabilities (DD) in achieving customized employment.

Community Workshop: Youth Suicide Prevention-A Community Approach

This interactive one or two day workshop provides an opportunity for community and school representatives to gain knowledge and skill in planning a community approach to youth suicide prevention. Individuals with accurate information can be better prepared to identify youth at risk for suicide, demonstrate caring behavior, and refer or link youth to appropriate resources.

Community-Defined Evidence Project (CDEP)

CDEP aims to evolve and contribute to a developing body of knowledge that takes into consideration cultural values and beliefs and indigenous knowledge to assess the results of practices and treatments for Latinos.

ConnectFamilias Partnership Evaluation

This evaluation examined a community partnership in the Little Havana community of Miami, Florida that includes a resident council, network of providers, and community health workers overseen by representative governance board. The evaluation was based on a theory of change based logic model that employs a participatory and culturally competent approach.  

Development of an Intervention Model to Improve Educational Outcomes of Youth in Foster Care by Decreasing Runaway Behavior (RUN Grant)

RUN Grant is developing an intervention model for decreasing runaway behavior of youth in foster care and improving educational outcomes. 

Effectiveness of a Parent Support Program: Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)

This four year study conducted a random controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of a parent-to-parent support program for families who have a child with serious emotional disturbances and served in a special education setting.

EQUIPO Leadership Training

EQUIPO is a front-line practice strategy. The EQUIPO curriculum is designed to strengthen the partnership between natural helpers in the community and formal service providers.

Families and Children Together In Seminole (FACTS)

The FACTS system transformation is being implemented in order to ensure that services and supports for children, youth, young adults and families are integrated across human service systems and implemented consistent with System of Care and Trauma-informed Care values and principles.

Healthy Transitions Initiative Process Evaluation

The purpose of this project is to conduct a four-year process evaluation for the Healthy Transitions Initiative, working with sites to assess the fidelity of program effort related to the comprehensive transitional support model for youth and young adults.

Institute for Translational Research and Education (ITRE)

This research education project will provide a team mentoring approach with student researchers and professionals in the field. Paired with local and national experts serving as mentors, students and professionals will work together in the study of applied proven treatment programs while adapting them for various adolescent populations in a range of settings.

Interdisciplinary Center for Evaluation and Intervention (ICEI)

ICEI innovative clinic is one of five in the Florida Diagnostic Learning and Resource System Network. The ICEI serves school-aged children with complex learning, behavioral, medical and socio-emotional problems as well as their families and teachers. The program is a uniqueresource for students, families, and school districts in Florida, providing comprehensive evaluation, consultation, and intervention services, parent education and support services and professional development for educators and other professionals.

Parent Connectors

A parent support program to improve outcomes for students who have emotional disturbances.

Project Conectar: Building Capacity in a Community to Learn the Signs: Act Early

This project aims to reduce disparities in early identification of autism and other developmental disabilities (DD) and increase access to services in the largely Latino/Hispanic Little Havana community in Miami, FL. Prior to the project, families in Little Havana were not only not screening, they were seeing their children go without intervention, for the most part, until ages 7 or 8+.  

RAICES: Resources, Advocacy, Integration, Collaboration, Empowerment, and Services

The RAICES project was funded to develop a training curriculum that integrates the promotora outreach model with the local school-based case management program, known as the Family and School Support Team (FASST) to support families. This project is complete but being disseminated.

System of Care Practice Review Training (SOCPR)

The SOCPR will support the mandate of Coordinated Access to bring mental health and developmental agencies together in the provision of case resolution and referral services through a focus on community-based, individualized and culturally competent care for children and families. This training will occur over the course of one year and will be conducted in five phases.  

Teaching Pyramid Research Project

This project is funded by the Institute for Education Science, and is a collaborative research study conducted by investigators at Vanderbilt University, the University of South Florida, and the University of Florida.

Theory-driven Evaluation for the Children’s Mental Health Initiative – Phases VI and VII

The purpose of this component of the National Evaluation is to build community capacity for system development by supporting community-driven planning, data-driven decision making, and evidence-based technical assistance through the use of theory-driven logic model development. This effort builds upon more than 10 years of established work on theory of change and logic model development in funded system of care communities.

Trauma Recovery Initiative for Youth (TRI) Center

The TRI Center aims to demonstrate and evaluate the effectiveness of sustainable, culturally competent, trauma-focused interventions and trauma-informed system approaches to ameliorate adverse consequences of complex trauma experience for abused and neglected youth in foster care and other out-of-home family care in the Florida Panhandle region.