Springdale School District partners with UAMS to pilot Marshallese community health worker and parenting program at two elementary schools

The Springdale School Board on March 11 heard plans for a district pilot that will place a Marshallese community health worker in two elementary schools and launch a 24/7 parenting-education program, both funded and staffed by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).

The pilot will begin next month at Turnbull Elementary and Jones Elementary, officials said. Nicole Bedard, a program representative with UAMS’ Institute for Community Health and Innovation, said the district will not carry the program cost: "We are funding this for the district," she said.

The community health worker, a trusted member of the Marshallese community, will provide culturally appropriate developmental screenings, help families enroll in insurance, and connect children to early developmental services and pre-K where appropriate. "We will be embedding a community health worker... to create easier, earlier access to early developmental screens and helping families navigate to providers," Bedard said.

Peter Cooper, a UAMS representative, described the 24/7 parent program as a combined parenting-education and case-management initiative. He said the educational portion uses a 12-lesson curriculum delivered over about six to 12 weeks and that the case-management side helps families with needs ranging from employment and training to clinical navigation: "Case management is supporting families, meeting where they are, doing needs assessments, figuring out where can we help you," Cooper said.

District staff said the initial target children are ages 3 to 5, but the community health worker will follow families younger than 3 if she identifies needs. School leaders emphasized the pilot is intended to be proactive: the worker will perform outreach in homes, churches and community sites to find children who would benefit from screenings and pre-K enrollment.

School officials said the pilot team expects to coordinate closely with the district’s pre-K director and special education director to make transitions seamless and to keep the community health worker working year-round so services continue when school buildings are closed.

Board members were told UAMS and partner organizations have longstanding community programs; UAMS representatives said their parent-education and navigation programs have enrolled and graduated substantial numbers of adults over multiple years. The district and UAMS officials said they will evaluate the pilot before considering expansion to other schools.

If the pilot proceeds as described, the district will not incur direct program cost; UAMS staff said they will fund and staff the initial effort and are willing to expand the work if it proves effective.

Board members requested that the district bring the community health worker to a future meeting so trustees can meet her in person once she is on board.