Eight more ideas submitted to the Johns Hopkins Idea Lab this spring have been chosen to receive funding, joining the five initial popular vote winners announced earlier this month.
The selection by committee of two more programs to assist citizens returning from incarceration—the theme this year for President Ronald J. Daniels' Ten by Twenty Challenge—brings the total for the 2016 round of that grant program to $80,000.
Individuals affiliated with the School of Nursing proposed the Passport to Freedom program in cooperation with health professionals from community organizations. The "woman-centered, trauma-informed reentry program" includes eight weeks of trauma intervention, job training, and parent support services for women leaving incarceration.
In the proposal the team wrote: "The interdisciplinary team involved in this project allows for the coordination of integrated services so that, in addition to healing from trauma, women will receive instrumental supportive assistance in areas of employment and parenting so they may successfully reunite their families and social networks and build healthy and satisfying lives."
The other program selected by the committee is The Identity Clinic, a partnership between the Living Classrooms Foundation and Johns Hopkins' Student Outreach Resource Center to assist returning citizens to secure any identification documents they may be missing.
The clinic at Living Classrooms' Adult Resource Center will be staffed by volunteers—including students, faculty, and staff from Johns Hopkins—who will be trained by case managers from the foundation. The program will include funds to cover the cost of obtaining documents and mobile clinics to ensure accessibility.
The idea submission said the Living Classrooms Foundation found 90 percent of participants in its existing program for returning citizens need assistance with gaining a Maryland state ID. "Without identification and money, [these individuals] are likely to experience major barriers in finding jobs, housing, and accessing transportation."
These programs join the Hop Back Home program and Build. Develop. Empower. as this year's Ten by Twenty challenge winners.
The Diversity Leadership Council has chosen six more Idea Lab submissions to receive Diversity Innovation Grants to foster diversity and inclusion among the communities of Johns Hopkins.
Women of Hopkins will be a collaboration with the Maryland Institute College of Art to commission permanent art installations at the university's Homewood campus highlighting Hopkins' most accomplished women.
Enhancing Patient-Provider Communication with Deaf Patients will provide trainings to medical and nursing students on issues related to patient-provider communication with deaf patients.
Interrogating Identity: Power & Privilege at Hopkins will pilot a year-long series of workshops at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine that would establish a pedagogical framework for critical conversations around diversity and social inequity.
AM I OK? will offer a colloquium on the Homewood campus for students to access experts who will teach about self-advocacy, self-care, and mental health in regards to specific intersections of marginalization.
¡Bienvenido! Promoting respect, diversity, and inclusion at JH will offer training to Johns Hopkins staff and students to help them better serve the Latino population that is "limited English proficient" in medical settings.
Beyond the Binary: Understanding Gender as a Spectrum will work to improve gender inclusivity on campus by designating gender neutral bathrooms and promoting awareness of the gender spectrum.
The ideas that received the most votes are the Baltimore STEM Outreach program to inspire Baltimore high school students to pursue science, technology, engineering, and math; and NavBot – Mentors and Mentees Building Robots, which will also work with Baltimore City students.
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