Princeton Area Community Foundation - All Kids Thrive Initiative

Grant Duration: 5 years

Award Date: November 19, 2018

Program Name

All Kids Thrive Initiative

Recipient: Trenton Health Team (THT)

Purpose

Combat absenteeism in Trenton schools by linking healthcare data with school data to identify health issues affecting attendance and connect students/families with appropriate care and services.

Data Integration Approach

• Match school absentee records with electronic medical records in Trenton Health Information Exchange (HIE)
• Identify overlaps between school absenteeism and health conditions
• Analyze data to identify specific students and families where health may be barrier to regular school attendance
• Obtain family consent to participate in interventions

Health Interventions

• Work with school personnel and partner organizations to provide appropriate interventions
• Focus on chronic illness as cause of school absence (e.g., asthma)
• Address home environment factors contributing to illness

Home Assessment and Improvement

Partner: Isles, Inc. (Healthy Homes service)

• Assess homes of children with high absenteeism
• Identify asthma triggers, lead contamination, and other indoor conditions
• Educate families about keeping homes safe and healthy
• Bring resources to address issues like:
  • Mold and moisture from roof leaks
  • Lead-based paint repairs
  • Dust and other asthma triggers

Initial Implementation Schools

• Martin Luther King, Jr. Elementary School
• Luis Munoz Rivera Community Middle School
• Plan to scale up to include additional Trenton schools

Key Partners

• Trenton Public Schools: Match absentee records with health data
• School Nurses: Collaborate to achieve better health and educational outcomes
• Isles, Inc.: Provide Healthy Homes service and assessments
• Partner Organizations: Provide interventions and community support

Community Impact

• Identify health issues among Trenton youth
• Connect students with care and services needed
• Reduce chronic absenteeism
• Improve educational and health outcomes

Community Context

• School Absenteeism Factors: Poor home conditions contribute to illnesses such as asthma (frequent cause of absence in Trenton)
• Target Challenges: Chronic absenteeism linked to poverty and related risk factors
• All Kids Thrive Goal: Transform lives of young people living in poverty

Broader Initiative

All Kids Thrive is Community Foundation's initiative to reduce chronic absenteeism and improve outcomes for young people in poverty.

Program Structure:

• Awarded 5-year, $300,000 grants to ten school and nonprofit partnerships in Mercer County region
• Long-term commitment designed to reduce administrative burdens
• Focus on impact

Organization Details

Trenton Health Team (THT):

• Community health improvement collaborative serving six zip codes of Trenton, NJ
• Innovative partnership among:
  • Capital Health
  • St. Francis Medical Center
  • Henry J. Austin Health Center
  • Department of Health and Human Services, City of Trenton

Trenton Public Schools:

• Provides supervision of nursing and school health services
• Supervisor of Nursing: Micah Freeman

Leadership

• Gregory Paulson: Executive Director, Trenton Health Team
• Micah Freeman: Supervisor of Nursing, Trenton Public Schools
• Peter Rose: Managing Director of Community Enterprises, Isles, Inc.