Take a look at Andrew’s Vita Here.
Here Are a Few of the Research Projects Andrew’s Working on:
Project: Fathers Count Study - http://www.csun.edu/plunk/fatherscount/
Objective: Working with professors from California State University-Northridge (Plunkett) and Oklahoma State University (Henry) to identify the role of fathers, neighborhoods, and peers in preventing delinquency and enhancing academics in African American and Latino youth.
Summary: This project was funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to look at ways to help Latino and African American parents/parent figures to be more involved in the schooling of their 9th graders and to prevent delinquency. It also will attempt to show the differences between father involvement in NC, CA, and OK. The study is for two years and will hopefully receive funding for another two years of research. A total of six hundred adolescent boys and their fathers or father figures will be surveyed at two points over the course of the two-year longitudinal data collection.
Project: Latino Domestic Abuse Program
Objective: To provide congregations and promotoras (Latino home-visit social workers) working with new immigrant Latino families across the state with a Spanish-language curriculum for working with fathers and their families. Collaborators: Tina Hancock and Natalie Ames
Summary: This program was funded by Z. Smith Reynolds and others to involve a daylong, train-the-trainer workshop held in six regions of North Carolina, to train clergy, promotoras, extension staff, and other partners in how to use this exciting new curriculum. Evaluations include pre- and post-tests as well as focus groups conducted with participants.
Project: Healthy Relationship and Marriage Education Training Project - http://missourifamilies.org/hrmet/overview.htm
Objective: To develop and evaluate a curriculum for Healthy Relationships and Marriages to be promoted by Cooperative Extension. Currently most of the 16 modules are completed and undergoing review.
Project: Essential Life Skills for Military Families - http://www.militaryfamilylifeskills.org/
Objective: East Carolina University in collaboration with NC Cooperative Extension and University of North Carolina are providing free educational classes for military couples from around the state. Funding was made possible through a 5 year $2.5 million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Family Assistance. Essential Life Skills for Military Families is an 8 or 12-hour program designed to help military members and their families deal with the unique challenges they experience. Sessions are held in members own communities, and the classes are taught by local Cooperative Extension Family & Consumer Sciences Agents. NEW YEARLY REPORT
Project: Riverside Families FIRST Project – http://familystudies.ucr.edu/#
Objective: Working with professors from the University of California-Riverside (Parke, Coltrane, Duffy, Buriel, Widaman) to better understand the impact of economics on the parenting and well-being of Latino families.
Summary: This collaborative was the basis of Dr Behnke’s dissertation and will produce 2 publications. Dr. Behnke’s collaboration with these researchers lays the foundation for future collaborative research projects.
Project: Latino Adolescent Development (LAD) Study - http://www.csun.edu/plunk/armcc/index.html
Objective: Collaborating with professors from California State University-Northridge (Plunkett, Sands) and Arizona State University (Bamaca) to study Latino Youth’s perceptions of parent involvement and its relation to their school outcomes. The LAD project has resulted in self-report and school record data from 2108 9th grade youth (mostly Latino) from a high school in Los Angeles. We will be finishing a manuscript examining contextual factors related to depression in Latino youth.
Summary: This collaborative is ongoing and will produce 3-4 publications two of which are currently under review.
Project: Hispanic Achievement Conference Survey - http://www.thencshp.org/
Objective: To implement a survey of 100 Latino serving administrators and 500 Latino youth from North Carolina to investigate how to better involve parents in Latino youth education and schooling. These surveys also intend to understand why these youth dropout of school and what can be done to reduce the dropout rate.
Summary: Data has been collected from over 100 administrators and more than 500 youth and is undergoing analysis for submission of publications in late 2008 – early 2009.
Other Activities Planned for 2010
- Develop proposal with Krista Perriera to extend the Juntos program to more communities and make connections to community colleges.
- Develop programing for military families using the eXtension military families COP.
- Develop a yellow ribbon (returning soldier) program for military families.
