The Skillman Center for Children provides a direct connection between the university and the community.

“We’re much more than a collection of community outreach programs,” explains Director Kris Miranne.

“We’re an organization that translates knowledge from the university and brings it to the community and, in turn, brings expertise from the community back to the university.
It’s a never-ending circle — and every time we partner with the community, everyone benefits.”

As the community expresses concerns about issues such as juvenile justice, health disparities and teen parenting, the university addresses them. The Skillman Center conducts applied community-based research and provides education, training and model service programs that focus on at-risk children, youths and families. The forums and workshops created in response to community needs have helped shape public policy on a wide range of issues, including racial and ethnic disparities, child-care practices and welfare reform.

“One of our most rewarding projects at the Skillman Center is the Urban Families program,” Miranne says. This comprehensive program involves training, consulting and technical assistance for students, organizations and agencies that target children and family support services.

“Like our other programs, this, too, just continues to get better,” she says. “We recently became partners with Detroit’s Healthy Start project and will be working to build support networks in an effort to improve the lives of at-risk mothers and their children in the urban community.”

Another study on the health and well-being of families and children is being conducted by the School of Social Work. Through the interdisciplinary Children’s Bridge program, Eileen Trzcinski, professor and interim director of research for the school, is investigating how mothers’ employment, both before and after the birth of a child, affects the development and health of their infants.