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Hennepin-University Partnership
301 19th Ave. S.
330 H. H. Humphrey Center
Minneapolis, MN 55455
Fax 612-626-0273
Kathie Doty
Program Director
kdoty@umn.edu
612-625-4383
Rachel Anderson
Graduate Assistant
and03134@umn.edu
612-626-3255
Vanee Dusoruth
Graduate Assistant
dusor001@umn.edu
612-625-9885
Hennepin County
Commissioner Jan Callison, 6th District
David Hough, County Administrator
Lois Langer Thompson, Director of Hennepin County Libraries
University of Minnesota
Andy Furco, Associate Vice President for Public Engagement
Ed Goetz, Director of the Center for Urban & Regional Affairs
Tom Fisher, Dean of the College of Design
Laura Bloomberg, Associate Dean of the Humphrey School
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 The Hennepin-University Partnership (HUP) is
supported by the Hennepin County Board and the University of
Minnesota. On behalf of the County Board, I serve as the Board lead, responsible
for providing guidance and monitoring the progress of this important
initiative. This update is intended to communicate within
Hennepin County government and the University of Minnesota about HUP activities
and outcomes. For additional information, please contact Kathie
Doty at kdoty@umn.edu or me at
jan.callison@hennepin.us.
- Jan Callison
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In 2012, HUP hosted a networking mixer to provide
a forum for Hennepin County and University of Minnesota staff and faculty to
get to know one another and create new collaborations. As a follow-up to this
event, HUP invited proposals for a Hennepin-University Collaborative Grant
(HUCG). This grant in the amount of $20,000 was to encourage University faculty
and Hennepin County staff to partner on projects that involve an issue or topic
of significance to both entities. A proposal by Professor Maria Hanratty from
the Humphrey School in collaboration with Lisa Thornquist from the Human
Services and Public Health Department and the Office to End Homelessness was
chosen after careful review by the HUP Management Team.
The funds were used to conduct a study that would
assess the impact of the recent recession on shelter entry and re-entry of
families on food support in Hennepin County. Earnings information was mainly
obtained from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development
(DEED) and connected to existing administrative data of two cohorts of families
between 2004 through 2006 and 2008 through 2011.
This research made some important findings as
follows:
Over the recession,
we have experienced a rise in the probability of shelter entry and re-entry
which has been concentrated among African Americans and Native Americans. “Blacks and Native Americans were 34% more
likely to enter shelter from Food Support in 2008-11 than in 2004-6, with no
change in the probability for other families. For Blacks and Native Americans,
the cumulative probability of entering shelter within 18 months increased from
4.3% in 2004-6 to 5.3% in 2008-11.”
The study found that
a large share of recent family shelter entries do not seem to be explained by
family income or earnings. According to the author, this might be reflective of
the deteriorating housing market during that time period.
This research draws
attention to the value of broader social and economic systems in determining
homelessness, which includes labor markets, housing markets and public
assistance. Professor Hanratty highlights the importance of this research in
helping identify those families who are more likely to enter or re-enter the
shelter. Please contact our office to obtain a final report of this research.
The
Hennepin-University Partnership, in collaboration with Hennepin County Public
Health Department and Hennepin County Library, hosted two forums to connect
front-line staff from Hennepin with University faculty with expertise on brain
development that is relevant to the County’s work with children and families.
The first forum, “Understanding Infant Brain Development”, was held on May 10th
and drew 195 County staff, primarily from the County’s Human Services and
Public Health Department. The main speakers were Megan Gunnar, Director of the University’s Institute of Child
Development and Ann Masten, Irving
B. Harris Professor of Child Psychology. The second forum, “Maladaptation and
Resilience in Maltreated Children”, was held on June 21st and drew
90 attendees. Dante Cicchetti,
William Harris Professor of Child Development and Psychiatry was the key
speaker at this forum.
 Initial
feedback from both events showed that County staff who attended, many of them
on the ‘front-line’ at County facilities where families with children are
served, reported that the information provided was of great interest and also relevant
to their work.
To gain more in depth feedback on the impacts of
the May 10th event, the Hennepin-University Partnership distributed
a 3-month post-event survey.
The
results of this survey showed that 90%
of respondents stated that their awareness of infant brain development and
toxic stress increased as a result of what they learned at the event. Additionally, 62% of respondents stated that they made changes in their work with
children and families as a result of what they learned. Some examples of
these changes include:
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"The increased
awareness of how stress affects child development has allowed me to talk about
this issue with families in a more direct way”
- “Better
understanding what issues children face in early development has helped me see
the correlation in behaviors later on. I am more compassionate in handling
those behaviors”
- “Providing
resources or activities to parents with children”
The
HUP is working with County and University contacts to develop possible follow
ups including providing more ‘research to practice’ resources for County staff.
On September 19, 2013, the Hennepin-University
Partnership (HUP) hosted a presentation for Hennepin County staff on a
technique for evaluating the qualitative elements of a program or project,
called Ripple Effect Mapping.
Scott Chazdon, Evaluation and Research Specialist,
University of Minnesota Extension, provided an overview of what Ripple Effect
Mapping is and how it works. Forty seven Hennepin County staff attended.
Respondents had the opportunity to participate in a live demonstration and
discuss possible applications of this technique with Mr. Chazdon.
Feedback from the respondents
was overwhelmingly positive.
One attendee shared that this tool “could
be used in several ways to evaluate informal collaborations and initiatives
that are not currently being evaluated at all.”
Many respondents also shared that they found the
presentation informative and engaging. HUP has been in contact with attendees
to determine possible follow ups to the event.
HUP has created an interactive forum where University
of Minnesota researchers, staff, and students can post interests related to
local government, particularly Hennepin County, and vice versa. Members can
pose questions, offer suggestions, refer people to materials and contacts, and
generally exchange ideas. Currently, nine main forums exist where members can post
items of interest and connect. They are: Children and Families, Economic
Development/Jobs, Ending Homelessness, Environment, Health, Housing, Student
Success, Transportation, and a “General” forum for miscellaneous topics. All of
the University and Hennepin County community is encouraged and welcomed to
join the conversation. Please join at: http://hup.hoop.la/join
HUP is also excited to announce the official launch of
its new website now available at http://hup.umn.edu/.
Please visit us to find more information about County relevant University of
Minnesota events, current ongoing collaborations, and archives of past
newsletters and reports.
- Hennepin
County Attorney’s Office “Be @ School” Program Evaluation
 The Hennepin County Attorney's Office has launched
the be@school program which is intended to increase school attendance and
improve community connections across Hennepin County through a coordinated
early intervention effort that provides educational and support services to
school-age children and their families. It is estimated that thousands of
children in Hennepin County have far too many unexcused absences from school.
Professor Tim Sheldon and Martha Daugherty from the Center for Applied Research and Educational
Improvement (CAREI) collaborated to carry
out an evaluation of the program. Findings suggest that the be@school program
is substantially reducing the number of unexcused absences among program
participants. Please contact our office to get copies of the final Evaluation Reports of the be@school program.
Image Source: Attendance Works.org
- Programmatic
Review of Hennepin County Delinquent/ Tax-Forfeit Program
 Hennepin
County Taxpayer Services, in collaboration with Ryan Allan, University of
Minnesota Professor, has begun a programmatic review of their
delinquent/tax-forfeit program. This involves research and evaluation of
Hennepin County's delinquent property tax enforcement and tax-forfeited land
administration programs. The review will provide recommendations for county
administration and policy makers. Additionally, they are evaluating efficacy of
confession of judgment for delinquent taxes, repurchase of tax-forfeited lands,
public auction sales of tax-forfeited lands.
Image source: mn.clay.co
 Professor Jamie Stang is a former chair of the
Public Health Nutrition program and the Director of the Leadership Education
and Training Program in Maternal and Child Nutrition. She also co-directs the
Midwest Center for Lifelong Learning in Public Health. Her research interests include
community-based participatory research methods to improve health and reduce
obesity and diabetes among low-income, rural and disavantaged populations,
focusing on women, families and children. Dr Stang is a registered
dietian/nutrition who holds a masters degree in public health from the
University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill and a Ph.D. in nutrition from the
University of Minnesota.
Professor Stang recently collaborated with
Hennepin County’s Human Services and Public Health Department to investigate
best practices for food banks/food shelves in reaching underserved populations.
Students Sarah MapelLentz, Lisa Mays, and Anne Marie Castleman as well as
research associate Chrisa Arcan assisted in this research. The researchers
conducted interviews with food assistance program participants as well as food
shelf administrators in Hennepin County from March to June 2013. They
identified main barriers in access to food assistance programs including
transportation issues, problems with distribution hours as well as language
barriers. This report will be helpful in guiding future discussion about
possible solutions to help improve food assistance program services in Hennepin
County. Please contact our office to obtain a final report of this research.
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The Hennepin County Cohort has three new members.
Please join us in welcoming new members Kalin McCormick from Hennepin County’s
Internal Audit Department, Dana Colestock representing the Taxpayer Services Department and Lisa
Thornquist representing the Human Services
Department. Vanessa Bailey has also accepted a position with the Taxpayer Services Department.
Not sure who your department cohort member is?
Click here for a
complete list.
Cohort member Vanessa Bailey reported that within the Operation Resources and Support (ORS)
area of the Human Services and Public Health Department, there is a new program
titled Bridge the Gaps, which has successfully recruited and hired graduate
students from the UMN for specific short-term projects. They have found that
the students are highly motivated and are able to meet their business needs.
Bridge the Gaps has developed processes that could be replicated in other
County departments.
HUP covered this story for the interactive website
and had the opportunity to learn more about the experience of two of the
graduate student hires, Dominique Rolando and Amanda Koonjbeharry, as well as
one of the supervisors, Bina Thompson Nikrin.
 Amanda Koonjbeharry, who is currently pursuing a Master of Public Policy and
a Master of Social Work, shared that this experience has helped expand her “knowledge
by working on various projects with various people in the organization.”
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 Dominique Rolando, another student pursuing a
Master of Public Policy, explained that through this opportunity, he is
“gaining more understanding of the discipline of policy analysis and
implementation.”
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 Bina Thompson Nikrin shared that this has been a positive
experience. She noted that these students “are eager to take on new assignments
and solicit feedback and direction.”
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Please join our interactive site to get the full
story and share your own! Join here.
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