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FACT can help you make connections across campus and in the community
and find partners for your work. As part of our commitment to keep
you linked with each other, FACT is:
Maintaining
a listserv with over 700 participants to disseminate
information and promote discussion on child and family issues, and
community issues
Building
a growing directory
of faculty, Extension staff and community professionals that will
help you find partners for your work..
Are you listed yet?
Fill out our quick survey to create your entry in FACT's directory
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FACT fosters collaborative work across MSU's campus
and with community partners to address unmet community needs throughout
Michigan.
FACT invests
in innovative research, Extension and outreach efforts through our
annual competitive grant program. Through our annual grant program
and targeted funds we have awarded over $1,700,000 to collaborative
research projects throughout Michigan.
FACT projects address a broad range of topics including: positive
youth development, building community assets, family health and
nutrition, early learning and school readiness, and kinship care.
Beginning with the
"Building Bridges" forum that brought together over 250 campus
and community partners in Fall 1998, FACT has sponsored a series of forums
for interdisciplinary work and professional development on children, youth,
and family topics.
Participants of the sessions examined the cutting edge issues and unmet
community needs in the areas of youth, health & healthy lifestyles, young
children, violence & violence prevention, and diversity in families.
Learn more about FACT's forums and their outcomes
As communities throughout the Midwest search for ways to create positive environments
for youth, there is a need for research, teaching, and evaluation focused
on positive youth development.
To address the challenges of creating positive environments for youth, MSU
Extension, hosted a three-day summit entitled "Furthering Our Understanding
of Youth Development Work: Removing Barriers, Exploring Opportunities."
The working conference brought together over 70 professionals from
11 states in the north central region.
Learn more about the outcomes of the summit
Michigan has one of the highest obesity rates in the nation. According to the Center for Disease Control's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, Michigan was the 3rd most obese state in the union in 2001, surpassed only by Mississippi and West Virginia, with 24.4% of the population being obese. To address this critical public health issue, MSU faculty and staff participated in a roundtable on obesity sponsored by the FACT Coalition to make recommendations on ways MSU research and outreach efforts can help reduce obesity in Michigan.
Learn more about Obesity
Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm has identified early childhood
learning as one of her top priorities for the state. Through her
Great Start initiative, she has challenged the state to focus on
early childhood literacy and on educating new parents.
The MSU FACT Coalition has coordinated a group on early literacy-a timely and responsive collaboration between Michigan State University, state agencies and community organizations to share MSU expertise in early childhood, literacy, and parenting.
Learn more about Early Literacy
This multidisciplinary
initiative, led by the School of Criminal Justice and involving the School
of Social Work, MSU Extension and the College of Education, responds to
a state legislative mandate to develop protocols for emergency preparedness
in all Michigan schools. Over
40 community agencies are involved in this safe school effort affecting
every school in all 83 counties.
FACT is bridging the gap between the knowledge base on campus and the critical decisions made by policymakers. Our goal is to inform policy and catalyze action on children, youth, and family issues. Some of our recent efforts include supporting a statewide child care and education effort, educational seminars for policymakers, and a briefing report for legislators on early childhood.
Learn more about Community and Policy Outreach
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