Education equity

Girls Inc. of Metro Denver

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The mission of Girls Inc. is to inspire girls to be strong, smart, and bold. The vision of Girls Inc. of Metro Denver (GIMD) is a world in which every girl values her whole self, discovers her inner strengths, and achieves her goals.

GIMD is looking to connect with DU faculty and students on the following projects :

  • Research Design: We are open to discussing and developing a research project with faculty and students provided alignment of interests is mutually beneficial.
  • Program Evaluation (MATCHED): Faculty/student researcher would work closely with the Director of Training, Evaluation, and Advocacy to assess:
    • Is our method of staff/volunteer training successful? What are our gaps and opportunities for improvement?
    • What are the impacts of our engagement with the community? How can we better partner with the community to share our programs and support theirs?
    • Evaluation of middle school tutoring program
  • Curriculum Development: We are beginning to launch a more formalized advocacy program (advocating for the issues relevant to our girls on multiple levels) and would like help in understanding how to approach this.
  • Internship: We are looking for students who would like to serve as dedicated mentors to the girls in our after school programs (AY 2019 – 2020) and summer programs (2020).

Generation Exchange

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Generation Exchange‘s mission is to make technology easier, more accessible, and empowering for older adults through the one-on-pairing with student mentors in workshops. We also strive to create meaningful experiences for our mentors as they benefit from the wisdom and experience of their older counterparts. 

Generation Exchange is looking to connect with DU faculty and students on the following projects:

  • Internship: Work with Generation Exchange to design and implement a free pilot workshop at DU where older adult (40+) mentees are paired with DU student volunteer mentors to learn about technology of interest. From this pilot, we would like to explore potential for creating a DU Chapter that sustains free technology workshops through the year. 
  • Program Evaluation: We would like to improve our understanding of mentee needs and better inspire knowledge exchange between mentees and mentors. Some questions we want to explore include:  
    • How can we enhance our Mentees self-assessment of which tech questions they will explore with their Mentors?  We wish to evaluate this approach in order to discover if we and they are missing additional fruitful areas of exploration because they “don’t know what they don’t know”.
    • We’d like to evaluate and improve our process of pairing the needs of our self-directed older-adult Mentees with the resources and interests of our younger-adult Mentors. 
    • We’d like to evaluate our approach to reversing the Mentor / Mentee roles in our workshops and design more powerful techniques from that evaluation. 
    • We’d like to evaluate our current Mentor and Mentee outreach methodologies in order to design for broader application of outreach methods in other communities. 
  • Research Design: We would like to conduct psychological research that explores Karl Groos’ notion of “the pleasure at being the cause” as it pertains to our older adult mentees by exploring their desire to have the ability to cause predictable effects in their world. We believe older adult’s loss of roles and technological literacy is a precursor to detachment from one’s own identity and thus subsequent experiences of isolation and depression. We wish to explore and possibly prove that: 1) Our assumptions about the correlation of “caused effect” with optimism versus isolation and depression are valid, and 2) Our techniques and methodology for enhancing “the pleasure at being the cause” are valid and effective. 

Soccer Without Borders (SWB)

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The Soccer Without Border’s Mission is to use soccer as a vehicle for positive change, providing under-served youth with a toolkit to overcome obstacles to growth, inclusion, and personal success. 

SWB is looking to connect with DU faculty and students on the following projects:

  • Curriculum Development: SWB currently has a curriculum for socioemotional learning and development. They would like to adapt their curriculum (perhaps through developing focused skill modules) to apply to their league competitions.
  • Internship: SWB would like support delivering their trauma-informed education and academic support program in Aurora.
  • Curriculum Development: SWB is interested in developing a Leadership Program for new high school youth soccer camp counselors and would like support creating a more robust training/curriculum for these youth.

 

The Empowerment Program

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The mission of the Empowerment Program is to provide education, employment assistance, health, housing referrals, and support services for women who are in disadvantaged positions due to incarceration, poverty, homelessness, HIV/AIDS infection, and/or involvement in the criminal justice system.

Empowerment Program is looking to connect with DU faculty and students on the following projects:

  • Research Design/ Data Collection/ Data Analysis: Our research embraces new thinking about the capacity for violence and is dedicated to the prevention of bullying, violence and trauma. We have developed a theory on the Prevention of Violence and Trauma and a screening instrument to increase awareness of an individual’s capacity for violence. We need help researching the instrument so the instrument can earn an evidence base. The instrument needs to be validated – this would include an IRB, regression analysis and other statistical expertise.

Realm of Caring

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Realm of Caring Foundation empowers people to take control of their health and enhance their quality of life by providing cannabinoid research initiatives in addition to educational programs and services.

Realm of Caring is looking to connect with DU faculty and students on the following projects:

  • Information Dissemination: The Creative Intern helps plan and complete projects to support fundraising, graphic design, marketing, social media, and website initiatives. Projects may involve any media (print, audio, web, video, etc). Under direction of various staff members, the Creative Intern must understand what is needed, produce quality deliverables, and accept comments to reach a final design. This position reports to the Outreach Director.
  • Grant Writing: The Grant Writing Intern seeks out and applies for grants pertaining to Realm of Caring’s mission. The intern will learn about key business operations, cannabis science, broad healthcare issues, and essential funding sources for non-profits. The Grant Writing Intern reports to the Operations Director.
  • Information Dissemination: The Social Media Intern crafts and executes engaging campaigns and posts to effectively communicate Realm of Caring’s mission with the world. The intern completes their responsibilities with direction and cooperation from other team members, while also monitoring relevant statistics: reach, followers, etc. This position reports to the Outreach Director.
  • Information Dissemination (MATCHED): The Realm of Caring is reorganizing and rethinking their current website. A Web Strategy Intern would contribute to website design and functionality. In collaboration with other team members, the intern defines and implements upgrades and modifications to the website front end, back-end, and underlying framework while prioritizing a friendly user experience. This position reports to the Technology and Data Director. 
  • Research Design (MATCHED): Data Analyst and/or Psychometrician Intern would work under the guidance of our Research Coordinator and Technology Director, contributing to one or more of the five ongoing collaborative initiatives with Johns Hopkins, Thomas Jefferson University, Colorado State University, Harvard University, UPENN, and Palo Alto Veterans Affairs. They would be assisting in our recruitment and potentially analyzing existing data sets. We currently use several validated measures in an active and ongoing Observational Research Registry, but there is an opportunity for a psychometrician intern to work with our research team on some current measurements, especially around cannabinoid therapy and health outcomes. 
  • Internship: The Business Intern position is an opportunity to gain real-world experience while being a productive member of a non-profit. Interns will learn about key operations with approved quality product companies that pass a rigorous quality checklist, cannabis science, and broad healthcare issues. They will gain understanding of the functions, goals, and workings of the nonprofit sector. The Business Intern reports to the Operations Director.

PC’s for People

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Through electronic reuse PCs for People provides the opportunity for all low-income individuals and nonprofits to benefit from the life changing impact of computers and mobile internet.

PC’s for People is looking to connect with DU faculty and students on the following projects:

  • Program Evaluation: Implement a pre- and post-assessment to measure the impact of providing computers in students homes who did not have the money to purchase one and did not have one previously
  • Data Collection: What information and/or experience helps a person feel confident in purchasing internet and technology?
  • Literature Review/ Research Design: What level of education/competence is needed to make computer use most beneficial? Are there certain best practices that allow a person to use that technology better (e.g. resources, classes)?
  • Policy Review: What government policies for internet inclusion would grow the market for low cost internet on refurbished computers? (e.g. San Antonio has a goal for 95% of families to have internet in their home by 2020.)
  • Policy Review: What are some effective policies that would influence CO to recycle e-waste? CO currently has a 12% e-waste recycling rate vs 30% average in the nation.
  • Literature Review/Data Collection: How do you get more corporate entities to donate technology waste? Do they need green goals? Do they need to better learn the value of their technology? How do we rethink corporate giving? (e.g. Case studies for current corporate tech donators)
  • Research Design: Environmental scan to see what types of refurbishing and e-waste recycling is happening across the country. Create a set of criteria to identify current efforts, established recycling orgs, and identify what needs they have (e.g. software needs, full recycling effort)
  • Literature Review: What makes a trailblazer city within the digital inclusion/digital equity movement (according to the National Digital Inclusion Alliance)?
  • Research Design/ Data Collection: How do you set up connection points for technology and internet access in Denver Metro? Are there small technology hubs that people are accessing and that PCs for People can help resource (e.g family resource centers, recreation centers)?