News
Beth Green Is Appointed President, Other Leadership Changes Announced
We are pleased to announce that Beth Green, Ph.D., has been appointed President of NPC Research. Dr. Green, pictured, has been NPC’s Vice President for the past 3 years, and has been a Senior Research Associate with NPC for over a decade. Dr. Green brings a lifelong commitment to the importance of producing high-quality, timely, and relevant research products useful to programs and policymakers. She is nationally recognized for her work in early childhood prevention and intervention research, and in the design and evaluation of programs to prevent and/or ameliorate child abuse and neglect. Dr. Green is looking forward to maintaining an active research portfolio while moving into NPC’s top leadership position.
In addition, Michael Finigan, Ph.D., has taken on the roles of Director of Policy Research and Director of Development. Dr. Finigan, who served as NPC President until June 2009, will maintain his position as Chairman of the Board. Senior Research Associates Juliette Mackin, Ph.D., and Shannon Carey, Ph.D., also begin new roles, Dr. Mackin as Vice President of Training and Technical Assistance, and Dr. Carey as Vice President of Development. Sonia Worcel, M.A., M.P.P., was appointed Vice President of Operations, and she will continue her role as Grants Manager. Veronica Roth-Finigan has been appointed Vice President of Finance, and she will continue her role as Human Resources Manager. Learn more about these and other NPC staff>
NPC Study Shows Continuing Efficacy of Healthy Start Services Demonstrated by Low Maltreatment Rates of Families Served by the Program
NPC Research recently published a report showing the impact of Oregon’s Health Start program in reducing child maltreatment. Results for the 2007-08 fiscal year showed the largest difference in maltreatment rates between Healthy Start families and the Oregon general population ever documented by the evaluation. Importantly, this difference was concentrated among the higher risk Intensive Service families, who had an overall maltreatment rate of only 13 per 1000, compared with 25 per 1000 in the Oregon general population of 0- to 3-year-olds. Maltreatment rates for Healthy Start higher risk, Intensive Service families dropped below the rate of maltreatment for the general 0-3 population for the third year in a row. Given the high-risk status of the Intensive Service group, this finding provides the strongest support to date for the efficacy of Healthy Start services in preventing maltreatment on those most at risk. View the Maltreatment report>
Learn more about the latest Healthy Start evaluation by visiting the following links to access the 2007-08 Status Report and related items:
Report | Executive Summary | Appendices | Service Implementation Fact Sheet | Outcomes Fact Sheet
Collaborative Study Launched to Identify Return on Investments Associated with Oregon’s Relief Nurseries' Postive Outcomes
NPC Research is partnering with Family Building Blocks (Salem) and the Children's Relief Nursery (Portland) to develop and implement a 3-year Community-Based, Participatory Research (CBPR) project to begin to answer the question: What are the long-term returns on investments that can be expected from the Relief Nurseries? Funded by the Northwest Health Foundation, the project will collect information that will be used to form the foundation for legislative and community advocacy to expand support for the Relief Nursery model across Oregon. The study follows an evaluation by NPC showing that Oregon's Relief Nursery services are effective in reducing family risk factors, promoting family well-being, improving the quality of parenting, and reducing the level of involvement of families with child welfare services. More>
Relief Nurseries Improve Child Welfare Outcomes and Promote Literacy
NPC has released the Year 2 report on the evaluation of Oregon's Relief Nurseries. One of the key goals of the Relief Nurseries is to reduce families’ level of involvement with the child welfare system, by working to reduce risk factors for child maltreatment, and helping to stabilize families so that children can live safely with their parents. Relief Nursery children were more likely than children statewide to be reunified with their parents. The evaluation also found that Relief Nurseries improved parenting among parents who received services for 1 year. Parents in Relief Nurseries also showed a 117% increase in how often they read to their young children, a critical activity that provides the foundation for later language and literacy outcomes. Learn more by visiting the following links:Report | Executive Summary | Key Findings
NPC Evaluation of Healthy Start Shows Reduction in Child Maltreatment
The evaluation of the Oregon's Healthy Start program, the state's largest child abuse prevention program, has documented that families served by Healthy Start have a reduced rate of child maltreatment. This is true even in the face of escalating maltreatment rates in Oregon and nationally. For example, since 2003, the child abuse rates for children birth through age 2 who are not in Healthy Start have been almost double the rate for children who are in Healthy Start. This year, the incidence of child abuse for children in Healthy Start is two and a half times less than for children not in the program. Learn more by visiting the following links:Report | Executive Summary | Appendices | Service Implementation Fact Sheet | Outcomes Fact Sheet
