The Title V Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Internship Program supported by the National MCH Workforce Development Center provides an opportunity for teams of graduate MCH students from a Center of Excellence in Maternal and Child Health and MCH students from either an MCH Leadership, Education, and Advancement in Undergraduate Pathways (LEAP) Training Program or from an MCH graduate Public Health Catalyst program to participate in summer internships in state and jurisdictional Title V programs.
By working in teams, MCH students engage with each other, build collaboration, gain guidance and mentorship from preceptors, and develop new knowledge and skills. Three UC Berkeley students participated in the Title V Internship Program this summer: current MCAH graduate student, Julie Grassian (expected MPH/MSW ‘24) and MCAH LEAP undergraduate scholars, Grace Rajan (expected BA '23) and Amanda Tanaka (expected BA '23). Read below to learn more about their summer internship experiences:
Julie Grassian
Florida Department of Health, Children's Medical Services
This summer, Julie served as a Title V Intern working with the Florida Department of Health in their Children’s Medical Services department. In this role, she was paired with an undergraduate public health student to complete a project focused on enhancing patient, family/caregiver, and provider partnerships in a medical home, and increasing health equity for children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN). Throughout the project, Julie researched evidence-based strategies for enhancing provider knowledge on best practices in providing culturally receptive care for CYSHCN and including caregivers as partners in their child’s care. Additionally, she interviewed Title V Children Medical Services staff as well as family leaders to gain insight on the needs of CYSHCN and their families and best practices in achieving the project goals. With this gained research, two tip sheets were created, one tailored to providers, and another tailored to family/caregivers.
The Title V internship was a great opportunity to gain exposure to state Title V agencies and MCH needs outside of California. Julie was able to form relationships with Title V staff at the Florida Department of Health, as well as meet MCH professionals within the National MCH Workforce Development Center and other MCH graduate/undergraduate student interns. Julie really enjoyed having the opportunity to serve as a mentor to an undergraduate student, who she plans to keep in contact with/mentor beyond the internship.
Grace Rajan
California Department of Public Health, Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health Division
This summer, Grace Rajan interned for the California Department of Public Health MCAH Division's Child and Adolescent Health Branch. She was partnered with an MPH candidate from UCLA on a project that seeks to build CDPH’s capacity to promote family resilience. To better understand the current landscape of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) prevention, they conducted a literature review and found that the best evidence-based strategies support a multigenerational approach focused on promoting Positive Childhood Experiences (PCEs). This understanding informed the creation of a brief that highlighted evidence-based frameworks which substantiates the role of PCEs in combating toxic stress, contributing to better health outcomes over the life course. As a part of the project, they also focused on ACEs prevention within the department, constructing a crosswalk highlighting analyzing ACEs prevention in the MCAH division. They hope to bring all this information to the public in a CDPH webpage, illustrating the interdependent nature of ACEs prevention, building family resilience and PCEs. The webpage will also illustrate CDPHs commitment to helping support resilience in children and families.
The Title V Internship provided an amazing opportunity to get acquainted with the day-to-day operations of state Title V Agencies. Under the mentorship of an MPH candidate, Grace was able to receive guidance regarding potential career paths and other public health-related opportunities. Working for the California Department of Public Health under a period of rapid growth provided exciting and unique learning opportunities, experiences, and relationships with Title V staff.
Amanda Tanaka
Mississippi State Department of Health, Maternal and Child Health Workforce Development Office
This summer, Amanda worked remotely for the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) in their Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Workforce Development Office. Amanda, along with her graduate student co-intern, focused on 1) Researching national training sites on issues related to cultural humility, racial equity, work-life balance and leadership. They incorporated their findings to create a broader training database for the MSDH staff, 2) Improved MCH external communication through web page portal development and branding, 3) Assessed current MS MCH staff to discover topics and areas of further educational training needs. This data would be instrumental in the decision and design process of upcoming Health Service’s workforce development programs (October 2022 to September 2023).
They conducted a review of trainings on MCH Navigator and the Region IV Training Center to create a database on Smartsheets and MicrosoftWord. Over the course of the summer, they also contributed to the creation of a process evaluation, survey result graphics, web page mockup and office branding. Amanda even had an opportunity to participate in a leadership book club activity to help with her own capacity building.
Through this internship, Amanda expanded her skills in leadership, conflict negotiation, cultural humility and work management. She is grateful for the support and mentorship from her co-intern, her preceptor, the Title V Internship Team and UC Berkeley Leap Summer Team. The Title V Program specifically had many opportunities for check-ins and offered an immense amount of guidance, especially for the undergraduates in the program. Amanda enjoyed learning about MCH Public Health topics through the workshops with other Title V interns across the country.