Penn State’s Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) has been awarded a three-year, $650,000 Institutional Challenge Grant from the William T. Grant Foundation (WT Grant Foundation) to strengthen research-practice partnerships that focus on improving health and wellbeing outcomes for youth.
The project, one of four funded across the United States, will enhance ongoing collaboration between SSRI’s Child Maltreatment Solutions Network and Pennsylvania’s Office of Children, Youth, and Families (OCYF), with a shared focus on expanding postsecondary access and success for youth with a history of foster care involvement.
In addition to addressing disparities in educational outcomes, the initiative aims to deepen cross-sector collaboration, promote institutional support for faculty engagement in public-sector partnerships, and build lasting capacity to use research evidence to inform policy and practice.
Penn State principal investigator Deborah Ehrenthal, director of SSRI, highlighted the initiative’s focus on building capacity at both Penn State and OCYF.
“We are thrilled to have been selected by the WT Grant Foundation to receive support to partner with OCYF to increase the use of evidence in the development of policy and practice at all levels,” Ehrenthal said. “As the land grant — and sea and space grant — institution for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, we have a strong commitment to grow public impact research This grant will help guide us as an institution to effectively increase support for research practice partnerships and community-engaged research broadly.”
OCYF principal investigator Laval Miller-Wilson, deputy secretary for OCYF, echoed the sentiment.
“We’re excited about the opportunity address disparities in postsecondary education and independent living for transition-age youth,” Miller-Wilson said. “This research-practice partnership positions the commonwealth to lead by example in developing and applying evidence-based policies that help youth in foster care achieve their educational goals.”
Co-principal investigator Christian Connell, Ken Young Family Professor for Healthy Children and director of the Child Maltreatment Solutions Network, explained that giving all young people equitable access to postsecondary educational opportunities is key to helping them succeed and thrive as they enter adulthood.
“We know that young people leaving foster care often face extra hurdles when trying to continue their education — whether that’s at a two- or four-year college or through vocational training,” Connell said. “This grant will help us better understand what gets in the way, what helps and how we can support more youth in reaching their postsecondary goals.”
The partnership with OCYF will also build on the existing Fostering Lions Program, which operates through the Child Maltreatment Solutions Network. The Fostering Lions Program supports the needs of transition-age foster youth enrolled across Penn State’s campuses, including World Campus, promoting their academic success and reducing inequality in higher educational outcomes.
Cheri L. Hillard, coach for the Fostering Lions Program and education coordinator for the Child Maltreatment Solutions Network, said foster youth may lack the financial resources and familial supports other young people have when they enter college, which can increase feelings of isolation.
“They can struggle to afford their education, even with various scholarships, grants and loans,” Hillard said. “All the challenges faced by foster youth greatly increase their likelihood of dropping out of college.”
Other collaborators on the project include Carlo Panlilio, associate professor of educational psychology and SSRI co-funded faculty member. Panlilio will help design the research study and will be the first of three mid-career fellows to receive support from the grant. Other fellows will join the research after a brief planning period. In addition, SSRI Associate Directors Erica Frankenberg, professor of education, and Cheryl Thompson, professor of public health sciences in the College of Medicine, will work to support the research at Penn State.
Established in 2012, the Child Maltreatment Solutions Network, part of SSRI, is a national leader in research designed to influence public policy that better protects vulnerable children from abuse.