HomeGrown StL, an initiative born of the Race and Opportunity Lab at Washington University in St. Louis, has recently formed the Regional Steering Committee (RSC) to provide direct community governance. The RSC is comprised of 25 senior-level decision makers from across the region who seek to be intentional about organizing and aligning regional strategies and infrastructures to address the critical issues impacting Black boys and young men between the ages of 12-29 years old within the St. Louis region.
Professor Sean Joe, founder and principal director of HomeGrown StL, states, “The RSC is a civic governance group of organizations in which citizens come together and assume responsibility for the outcomes that they want to see within the community. It will help fortify the region’s commitment to strategies that impact the lives of Black boys and young men and contribute to the region’s economic health.” Joe shared that the RSC is the first civic governance structure of its kind erected within the nation for a city to bring together regional leaders from both the city of St. Louis and St. Louis County to address issues that pertain specifically to Black boys and young men.
“The regional effort reflects many of the perspectives that surfaced during the university’s strategic plan discovery phase. This exciting initiative by HomeGrown StL is indicative of our commitment to the St. Louis region,” said Beverly Wendland, Washington University Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.
“Partnering with this diverse group of influential leaders will heighten the impact that Washington University can have to improve the lives of people and work toward eliminating disparities across our region,” said Wendland, who leads the university’s strategic planning process. Co-chairs of the RSC will be Flint W. Fowler, PhD, president of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis (BGCSTL); and Valerie Patton, chief diversity, equity & inclusion officer of Greater St. Louis, Inc. and president of Greater St. Louis Foundation.
Fowler stated “ensuring that the youth receive a quality education, are prepared for the region’s workforce, and have mentors as they move into young adulthood are among the goals that the RSC seeks to achieve.” He hopes that HomeGrown StL and its programs will become a national model that other communities can use.
“It’s an important time in our history to address these issues,” said Fowler. He has led BGCSTL, which now serves more than 10,000 youths, for 25 years. “The idea is that to make St. Louis an optimal place for young boys to be. It’s the best place for an effort like this and an important investment in our community.”
Fowler expressed that cooperation and information sharing among organizations led by RSC members will increase the effectiveness and impact of efforts to address common goals to improve the lives and contributions of Black boys and young adults. He believes the connection to the Brown School will bolster the effort.
“Being grounded in Washington University provides stability and access to information and research that’s needed to be effective. It gives us a network of other institutions to connect with and be able to use what we learn and start programs in other communities.”
The RSC members each serve three-year terms and are linked to Homegrown StL’s Seven Pillars of Personalized and Comprehensive Care for Black boys and young men ages 12-29: Banking and Finance, Health, Housing, Legal, Mentoring, Personal Safety, and Skills to Jobs with Livable Wages.
Fowler said that the RSC would help keep each participating organization focused on their common goals. “Groups have come together before—you make promises, shake hands, and then go back and continue to do your thing. It’s easy to look inward. Having this committee is the external impetus to keep organizations like mine focused on the greater good and working together.”
Joe expressed that “the socio-economic mobility of Black males is tied to everything that we experience in the region. We have tried everything, but we have not tried a community driven approach these past 47 years. Given the philanthropy and people, St. Louis has an opportunity to do something transformative that no city or region has ever done. Indicators are getting worse, so the Regional Steering Committee is an audacious endeavor to implement something new.”
Tonya Edmond, professor and associate dean for social work and social policy, and Rodrigo Reis, professor and associate dean for public health, have been appointed to serve as interim co-deans of the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, Provost Beverly Wendland announced. Their appointments begin Jan. 1.
Edmond and Reis will succeed Mary McKay, the Neidorff Family and Centene Corporation Dean of the Brown School, who has been appointed vice provost for interdisciplinary initiatives in the Office of the Provost. McKay will continue to serve as dean through Dec. 31 and begin her new position Jan. 1. The university will initiate an international search for McKay’s permanent successor in fall 2022.
“I’m thankful to Tonya and Rodrigo for assuming these leadership roles,” Wendland said. “The appointment of interim co-deans acts to represent the outstanding interdisciplinary educational and research programs of the Brown School. They are experienced leaders and will demonstrate great commitment and skill during this time of transition. I’m confident it will be a seamless process and that they will lead the Brown School in the right direction as we search for a new dean.”
“Rodrigo and Tonya are excellent choices to serve as interim co-deans,” McKay said. “They have both been instrumental in shaping the school’s vision and the newly released 10-year strategic plan, ‘Driving Equity 2030.’ I have no doubt the school is in great hands under their leadership.”
Edmond has been a faculty fellow in the Office of the Provost, working on women faculty leadership development and other diversity and inclusion initiatives. She also currently serves as co-director of the Center for Violence and Injury Prevention. Edmond’s research focuses on testing the effectiveness of interventions for survivors of childhood sexual abuse, sexual assault, sex trafficking and intimate partner violence. She is committed to strengthening services for survivors through research and teaching to advance the development of trauma-informed systems of care and the implementation of evidence-based trauma treatments.
She is currently the principal investigator of a Department of Justice-funded study testing the effectiveness of a learning collaborative as an implementation strategy to enhance the uptake of cognitive processing therapy in rape crisis centers. She also teaches “Intervention Approaches with Women” and “Core Concepts in Trauma Treatment with Children & Adolescents.”
Reis is an investigator at the Prevention Research Center, and his research focuses on the built and community environment and public health, with particular interest in community interventions for promoting physical activity, as well as the effect of the built environment and active transportation on health and well-being.
At the Brown School, Reis teaches courses focusing on the built environment and public health and is the chair of the urban design specialization in the Master of Public Health program.
Prior to joining the Brown School, Reis was on the faculty at Pontifical Catholic University of Parana, as well as the Federal University of Parana in Curitiba, Brazil. He has played an important role in international projects, such as Project GUIA (Guide for Community in Latin America); the International Physical Activity and Environment Network; the Design to Move initiative; and Centers for Disease Control physical activity courses in Latin America.
He has published extensively in leading peer-reviewed journals and is also part of The Lancet Physical Activity Series published in 2012, 2016 and 2021 and The Lancet Urban Design, Transport, and Health Series published in 2016.
We invite you to join during the hybrid annual program meeting for the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), November 4-7. This year’s theme is Leading Critical Conversations 2021: Racial, Economic & Environmental Justice. Find registration information and the program on the website.
Enola Proctor, Shanti K. Khinduka Distinguished Professor Emeritus, will receive the the Significant Lifetime Achievement in Social Work Education Award.
Conference organizers extend their gratitude to all of the track chairs and co-chairs who worked hard to make the event a success, including Assistant Professor Tyriesa Howell, co-chair of the African Americans and the African Diaspora track.
Presentations
| Leading Critical Conversations in Field Education: A Multilevel Approach | Jewel D . Stafford (Research Contributors: Cynthia D . Williams, Jennifer Harpring) | Interactive Workshop |
|---|---|---|
| Building Collaborations for a Just and Equitable Region, Nation, and World | Cynthia Williams | Interactive Workshop |
| Why Seeing Colorism Matters: People of Color, Cultural Competence in Curriculum Content | Maya Williams | Interactive Workshop |
Warning labels on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) and menu labeling requirements for chain restaurants could be a cost-effective policy leverage to prevent weight gain and reduce medical expenses, but their impact is expected to fade over time, finds a new study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.
“Accurate, readily accessible and easy-to-understand nutrition labeling is a promising policy strategy to address poor diet quality and prevent obesity,” said Ruopeng An, associate professor and lead author of the paper “Projecting the Influence of Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Warning Labels and Restaurant Menu Labeling Regulations on Energy Intake, Weight Status, and Health Care Expenditures in US Adults: A Microsimulation.”
“Our policy simulation shows that SSB warning labels and the FDA’s menu labeling law could discourage overconsumption, prevent obesity and save medical costs down the road,” An said. The study was published online in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
About half of American adults drink SSBs on a given day, with an average consumption of 145 calories from SSBs daily. During the past decade, various types of warning labels have been developed and tested that aimed to inform consumers about the health impact or nutritional implications of SSB consumption.
Some SSB warning labels conveyed messages in text form, some adopted symbols or graphics, and others used a combination of different means to communicate with consumers. However, to date, no law mandating SSB warning labels has been implemented in the United States.
American adults consume a third of daily calories away from home. The Affordable Care Act required chain restaurants with 20 or more locations in the U.S. to offer calorie and other nutrition information for menu items. The regulations, known as the menu labeling law or calorie count law, were finalized by the FDA and took effect in 2018.
An and his co-authors used microsimulation modeling to estimate the effects of nationwide implementation of SSB warning labels and menu labeling regulations on daily energy intake, body weight, BMI and health care expenditures. Microsimulation is a systems science approach that examines behaviors and outcomes resulting from interactions among multiple system components over time.
“The reduced per capita health care expenditures translate into an annual total health care cost savings of $720 million for SSB warning labels and $1.11 billion for the menu labeling regulations over a 10-year period,” An said. “However, both policy effects tend to diminish after the first two years of implementation.
“The diminishing returns of the policies should not be surprising, as weight loss and energy restriction interventions often result in a number of metabolic adaptations, such as decreasing energy expenditure, improving metabolic efficiency and increasing cues for energy intake, which compromise the intervention effect,” An said.
In addition, the study found larger policy effects in men, Black people and younger adults. “The differential effects reflect the fact that they on average consumed more calories from SSB and chain restaurant food, so if the policy effects are proportional to people’s daily energy consumption, the reduction in caloric intake would be larger,” An said.
Join Brown School presenters at this year’s hybrid American Public Health Association annual meeting and expo from October 24-27, 2021 in Denver, CO. This year’s theme is “Strengthening Social Connectedness.”
Online meetings and poster sessions began on October 18. Find sessions and presenters at apha.org/annualmeeting. Brown School presenters are listed below; please note that all presentations are listed in Mountain Time (MT).
Thursday, October 21
| 11:00 AM- 12:30 PM | Matthew Ellis Zachary Kasper | Low Recency and Gaps in HIV Testing Among Treatment-Seeking Opioid Users: Associated Behaviors and Implications for HIV Prevention |
| 12:30-2:00 PM | Ross C. Brownson | An Assessment of Administrative Evidence-Based Practices at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) |
| 12:30-2:00 PM | Tess Thompson Ebuwa Evbuoma Rachel Garg Amy McQueen Charlene Caburnay Matthew Kreuter | Psychosocial Correlates of Total Home Smoking Ban Among Low-Income Smokers |
| 3:30-5:00 PM | Jeremy Goldbach | Sexual Identity Change, Identity Management Stress and Depression Among a National Sample of Sexual Minority Adolescents |
| 3:30-5:00 PM | Louise Farah Saliba Sarah Moreland-Russell Eliot Jost Jessica Gannon | Perceived Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Tobacco Control Programs and the Need for Technical Assistance to Navigate These Times |
Friday, October 22
Sunday, October 24
| 9:00-9:15 AM | Kimberly Johnson | Introduction to R Statistical Software for Public Health Part 1 |
| 9:15-9:30 AM | Jenine Harris | Introduction to R Statistical Software for Public Health Part 2 |
Monday, October 25
| 2:00-2:15 PM | Tess Thompson Amy McQueen Enguday Teshome Matthew Kreuter | COVID-19 Related Life Changes and Health Service Use Among Parents/Guardians of Child Medicaid Beneficiaries |
| 4:00-4:15 PM | Phionah Namatovu Joshua Kiyingi Josephine Nabayinda Ozge Sensoy Bahar Mary McKay Fred Ssewamala | A Multiple Family Group-Based Intervention (SMART-Africa( to Promote Child and Adolescent Mental Health in Uganda: A Costing Study |
| 4:15-4:30 PM | Matthew Ellis Zachary Kasper Theodore Cicero | Increases in Kratom Use Among Individuals with Opioid Use Disorder |
Tuesday, October 26
| 11:15-11:30 AM | Deborah Salvo | Sociodemographic Factors Associated with Economic-, Food Security- and Health-Related Concerns During COVID-19 Among Adults From Low-Income, Majority-Minority Urban Areas |
| 12:30-1:45 PM | Anne Trolard Kimberly Johnson | Employer Policies to Prevent Transmission of COVID-19 Differed by Industry, Income, and Race: A County-Level General Population Survey |
| 2:15-2:30 PM | Kim Johnson Anne Trolard | Challenges of Conducting a Population-Based Survey with Subsequent COVID-19 Testing During a Pandemic |
| 3:00-3:15 PM | Avery Fredman | Intent to Vaccinate Children Against COVID-19: The Intersection of Trust and Geography |
| 4:15-4:30 PM | Sean Joe Amy McQueen Kathleen Bucholz | Exposure to Perceived Racism-Based Police Violence, Race-Based Trauma, and Substance Use Among Black Emerging Adult Men and Women |
Wednesday, October 27
Thursday, October 28
| 8:30-8:45 AM | Mary McKay | Changes in Perceived Priorities and Influences on State Mental Health Agendas for Children and Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic |
| 8:45-9:00 AM | Kimberly Johnson Anne Trolard | Assessment of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Healthcare Services Use |
| 9:00-9:15 AM | Eric Wiedenman | The Role of Sport Participation on Exercise Self-Efficacy, Psychological Need Satisfaction, and Resilience |
| 12:30-12:45 PM | Tyler Frank Stephen Roll Jason Jabbari Kourtney Gilbert Sydney Rothman Laura McDermott Dan Ferris Sarah Moreland-Russell Ashley Byrd Sam Hsu | Fresh RX: An innovative, Evidence-Based Nutritional Intervention in Underserved Communities |
| 12:30-12:45 PM | JaNiene Peoples | Addressing Comorbid Mental Health Symptoms and Opioid Misuse Patterns Among Opioid Use Disorder Patients in Recovery |
| 1:00-1:15 PM | Alan Beck Natalicio Serrano Audrey Toler Ross Brownson | Individual and Environmental Correlates of Domain-Specific Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity Levels in Rural Residents |
More than two years in the making and impacted by a pandemic, the Brown School’s next 10-year strategic plan, Driving Equity 2030, has launched to take one of the nation’s premiere schools of social work, public health and public policy into the next decade.
“This strategic plan prioritizes rigorous science, transformative educational programs and mutually beneficial partnerships aimed at advancing social, economic, health, environmental and racial justice,” said Mary McKay, the Neidorff Family and Centene Corporation Dean of the Brown School. McKay emphasized the plan’s goal to make the school’s graduate programs affordable and accessible. “For far too long, bright and talented students who struggle with undergraduate debt or constrained resources have had limited access to a graduate education,” she said. “We are committed to fully meeting the financial needs of these talented students.”
Tom Hillman, the Brown School’s National Council Chair, said the school’s long record of academic achievement positions it well to work toward eliminating a broad range of social and health disparities in the St. Louis region, the nation, and the world. “Building on a legacy of excellence and success, the next 10 years represent a significant opportunity for the Brown School to expand on its pursuit of equity and impact,” he said.
The plan was led by Jacqueline Martinez Pullen, chief of staff and assistant dean for strategic initiatives; and Nancy Mueller, assistant dean for planning and evaluation. Development of the plan began in early 2019 with the convening of a wide array of faculty, staff, students, community partners, alumni, and National Council members who worked over the next several months to brainstorm the outlines of a comprehensive plan for the next 10 years. A final draft was completed and school leaders began announcing it and putting parts into effect in early 2020. “We were really excited,” Martinez Pullen recalled.
Then, the Covid-19 pandemic struck.
“We focused on the emergency at hand first,” Martinez Pullen said. “Rather quickly, we were able to mobilize our community to take another look at the plan through the lens of the pandemic. During our ‘visioning the future’ exercises regarding what could happen in the next 10 years, no one said ‘pandemic.’ So it was important to go back.” Ten new action teams were created in the summer of 2020 to review goals, the school’s mission and create action plans. At the end of the school year in May 2021, all the action plans were pooled and the final plan came into focus. A new Brown School Leadership Council was created to put the plan into effect. The 15-person council is a combination of academic and administrative leaders led by Dean McKay. “It’s been an inspiring journey,” Martinez Pullen said.
Martinez Pullen and Mueller said the pre-pandemic plan’s goals were not altered drastically, but the public health crisis did add urgency to key goals, such as the Affordable and Financially Accessible Brown School Education, which became even more important due to the economic distress many families experienced due to the pandemic. Other goals included Data Science and Technology to Advance the Social Good; Climate Change, Environmental Health & Justice; and Community-Driven Science.
Mueller, who leads the Brown School’s Evaluation Center, said the plan’s reboot after the pandemic increased the breadth and depth of feedback from more than 500 stakeholders in surveys, listening sessions, and focus groups. “Because of our commitment to broad engagement, people in our school communities can see themselves in this plan,” Mueller said. The pandemic also required on-line learning and more flexibility for students, which became an important part of the school’s strategy moving forward. Open Classroom, the school’s new on-line learning platform, will be holding a session about the strategic plan on Oct. 27 at 12:30 pm.
The affordable education initiative comes in tandem with Washington University’s investment in graduate education, announced at the same time as the new undergraduate needs-blind admissions policy and recently elevated by Chancellor Andrew D. Martin. Martin has also emphasized the university’s need to serve its local community, also reflected in one of the strategic plan’s core commitments: Impact in, for and with the St. Louis Region. “Our plan aligns very well with the way the university is heading,” Mueller said. Other core commitments in the Brown School plan include Global Teaching and Research, Transdisciplinary Research and Education; and its marquee commitment: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.
“The key here is that driving equity is the foundation from which we do everything,” said Martinez Pullen, who also serves on the university’s strategic planning coordinating committee. “Our vision is a just and equitable region, nation, and world — that’s the core of what we’re doing. We talk about equity as being an outcome, so that our impact is no longer impeded by individual or community identity.”
Mueller said her experience in co-leading the development of the plan was invigorating. “I’ve done strategic planning for organizations, but this is my first time to do so at a university level. The momentum and the energy from faculty and staff and partners and students was exciting to see.
“It’s going to be a great 10 years.”