Practicum (5 credit hours total, fall and spring semesters)
The Clinton School Practicum is a year-long required field service learning course that seeks to give students the opportunity to apply the skills learned in the classroom. The Practicum, which is taught in multiple sections, with each section involving a partnership with one or more Arkansas organizations, promotes the Clinton School's mission to educate young leaders to build and sustain healthy, engaged and vibrant communities in Arkansas and around the world by emphasizing the "practice" of public service by working with community leaders to achieve partner and community objectives.
During the 2007-08 academic year, Clinton School students are working with government and non-profit organizations throughout Arkansas to complete Practicum projects related to expanding children's mental health services, cataloging after school care programs and spurring business development and women's empowerment in the Delta region.
The student field work includes:
THE ARKANSAS DELTA GRASSROOTS PRACTICUM
Three student teams are partnering with area non-profit organizations to promote small business development, women’s empowerment and overall community development in the Arkansas Delta region.
A team of students is working with the Arkansas Rural Heritage Development Initiative to provide marketing research and grassroots support to the DeltaMade program, a business collaborative that brings together products made in the Delta to be sold at markets throughout the state. Recently, students traveled to the Helena Blues Festival where they operated a booth selling DeltaMade products. The students have helped to recruit participants in the market and develop marketing strategies for the initiative moving forward. They are also planning a market to be held at the Clinton School during the spring semester.
A second team is partnering with the Women’s Empowerment Bank of the Delta to improve the lives of single mothers in St. Francis County. The initiative is identifying women to take part in a business development effort to provide steady employment for these women. Students are assisting in the organizational efforts of the project to identify participants and locate resources in the county to help plan for future opportunities in housing and employment.
A third team is helping to facilitate leadership mapping at the Marvell Boys, Girls, Adults Community Development Center (BGACDC) in Marvell, Ark. The students are developing an organizational map for the BGACDC and identifying a leadership plan for transition there. The BGACDC provides social, recreational, economic, health and housing opportunities for low and moderate income residents of Marvell School District.
THE AFTER SCHOOL CARE PRACTICUM
Three student teams attended a statewide after school conference in September and have met with the Governor’s Task Force on After School Care to begin work on projects to research and catalogue after school care efforts throughout Arkansas. The Governor’s Task Force is exploring after school care as an educational initiative to help close the achievement gap for low-income children.
One team has convened a core group of state social work representatives to develop a strategic communications plan for statewide after school care efforts. The task force has identified the importance of streamlining the communications process among after school care programs so that goals can be achieved efficiently.
The Clinton School is continuing a partnership with the Pine Bluff 20/20 Commission, with a student team helping to prepare an after school care plan for the city of Pine Bluff. Students have begun the process of meeting with existing after school care providers in Pine Bluff churches, schools and community centers. They will publish their work in a directory report that will serve as a resource for citizens of Pine Bluff.
A third team is developing a demand study for after school care throughout the state. The students have begun accessing data and formulating a research plan to implement a statewide study. They’ve made plans for representative sampling, survey design and focus groups. Their work will provide informational frameworks for the use of the Governor’s Task Force in targeting areas of the state with the highest needs.
THE SYSTEMS OF CARE PRACTICUM FOR CHILDREN'S MENTAL HEALTH
Two student teams are partnering with the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS) to study the feasibility of a Systems of Care approach to deliver services to children with Severe Emotional Disturbance (SED) in Benton and Washington Counties in Northwest Arkansas, and in Phillips County in the Arkansas Delta. The teams are focusing specifically on the growing underserved Hispanic community in Northwest Arkansas and low-income African Americans in Phillips County.
The Systems of Care approach involves making children and their parents "full partners" in the process of addressing children's mental health. It also requires coordination among various mental health agencies, law enforcement agencies, advocacy groups, schools, counselors, social workers and medical personnel.
The two teams are traveling to these communities to conduct research and determine the "readiness" of each community for the Systems of Care approach, including cataloging current services, weighing general attitudes toward mental health and accessing resources available and resources needed to move forward. They are convening focus groups and surveys to gather data and will present this information and make recommendations to the children's Behavioral Health Commission later this year.