Johns Hopkins Center for Adolescent Health

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Project Summary/Abstract The Johns Hopkins Center for Adolescent Health (CAH) has a 25-year history of working collaboratively within Baltimore to improve the health and wellbeing of young people ages 10-24. CAH has a strong record of accomplishments in training, applied research, and academic-community partnerships. CAH faculty work with a diverse set of partners, municipal agencies, and organizations in Baltimore, including the school district and health department. CAH is guided by Community and Youth Advisory Boards, in partnership with citywide practice networks that serve youth. Our long-term goal is to improve youth population health, eliminate youth health disparities, and achieve health equity for young people. We will achieve this goal through our youth-focused research and translation agenda and our investment in Center infrastructure, translation partnerships, dissemination and translation of Center knowledge and products, commitment to training, multi- channel communication about Center activities and products, and participation in the PRC network. Our Core Research Project will examine the role of several health factors in shaping young people’s participation in a citywide employment initiative (Grads2Careers) and their longer-term employment and health. The project involves partnerships with the Mayor’s Office of Employment Development and Baltimore City Public Schools, as well as with ‘Baltimore’s Promise’, a citywide collaborative dedicated to improving outcomes for youth. This public health practice-based evidence research will yield new and practicable information about factors related to engagement in job training. The Grads2Careers model targets improvement in economic stability among vulnerable youth, which is one of the social determinants of health highlighted in Healthy People 2020. Grads2Careers participants are recent high school graduates without plans to attend college, a population at high risk for long-term disconnection from higher education and the workforce. The program links participants with occupational training programs that provide wraparound supports to help them achieve sustainable employment at a living wage (e.g., mental health services). We will build on a process evaluation we are conducting for Baltimore’s Promise by surveying the health of youth at recruitment and five additional points over a two-year period. Our sample will be youth who meet with a program recruiter, regardless of whether they enroll in or complete training. Specific aims are: 1) examine how youth mental health is related to program participation; 2) assess associations of health and program exposure to youth employment and health outcomes over the two-year follow up; 3) conduct a cost analysis to inform future program use and dissemination; and 4) disseminate research findings and products widely and initiate translation activities to support large-scale program adoption across other. cities. Our mission and Core Research Project support priorities of CDC’s Health Impact in 5 Years (HI-5) Initiative and Healthy People 2020, including prevention, social determinants of health, and youth health promotion.