UMass Memorial Medical Center

Youth Jobs Program
 
Public hospitals are helping community members with job training skills. UMass Memorial, while conducting a needs assessment among inner city youth, found that the single most important issue was the need for employment opportunities. As a result, UMass Memorial led a coalition of more than 20 local non-profit organizations, businesses, and community leaders to increase job opportunities for 14-to-22-year-olds. In addition, UMass Memorial, in collaboration with community stakeholders, instituted a “career expo” to teach local youth about careers in health care.

This past summer, UMass Memorial offered hospital-based jobs to more than 70 youth. These activities are both fostering interest among high-risk youth in completing school and serving as an investment in a future “home-grown” health care workforce. Indeed, according to program evaluations, teens completing these workforce opportunities have found their hospital job “interesting,” and many have indicated they will return to pursue a future job after graduation. The program has grown tremendously since its inception four years ago. More than 1,800 jobs were filled by city teenagers in the summer of 2008 through this collaborative effort.


Building a Healthy Community in Bell Hill
 
Bell Hill, a low income neighborhood adjacent to UMass Memorial Medical Center, is one of the poorest neighborhoods in Worcester, MA. Once a thriving working class community, by the 1990s the neighborhood was burdened with urban problems including high poverty, crime, landlord absenteeism and poor access to medical and dental care.

The primary and overarching goal of the Bell Hill Healthy Community Initiative is to develop a healthy community utilizing a broad definition of health which includes the physical, mental, socioeconomic and spiritual aspects of well-being. Through community engagement, UMass Memorial developed partnerships, brought in resources, and collaborated with residents and organizations to improve the quality of life of the Bell Hill neighborhood. Key to its success was the ability to partner with diverse groups representing education, social services, government, and the non-profit sector.

To date, among its many accomplishments, the Bell Hill Healthy Community Initiative and its broad-base of community stakeholders have successfully:

• Reduced the rate of tooth decay in elementary school children in grades K-6.
• Improved the physical and safety conditions of the neighborhood by working closely with residents, police, city officials, schools and other organizations.
• Improved neighborhood stability by reducing the high rate of landlord absenteeism, and housing revitalization. Working closely with local and state agencies, Bell Hill created a unique public/private partnership that leveraged $1 million in funding for down payment and mortgage assistance for first-time homebuyers.
• Improved access to care for elderly patients who were once isolated due to physical and language barriers.

Critical to the continued success of the program is the ability to bring non-traditional stakeholders into the decision-making process, thereby creating a long-term commitment to the residents of the community. 


For more information about these programs, please contact:

Monica Escobar Lowell, MD
Vice President
Department of Community Relations
508-334-7640
lowellm@ummhc.org