utexas.edu College of Natural Sciences School of Human Ecology
Department of Human Development & Family Sciences
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Community Impact

Our department values science that contributes to the greater good and centers the experiences of children, adolescents, older adults and families alike. Many faculty and graduate students use community-based participatory principles to ensure that our research answers questions relevant to multiple communities and leverages sciences to impact our broader community whether in Austin, greater Texas, nationally or even internationally. 

Local & State Partners

  • Amala Foundation
    Our collaboration evaluates juvenile justice diversion programs for youth. Amala Foundation co-designed the program and conducts restorative justice circles with youth and families who are in the program.

  • CommUnityCare
    Our faculty are in collaboration with CommUnity Care to test the feasibility of incorporating the responsive and sensitive caregiving intervention created for our pilot project into the ongoing Centering Parenting groups at CommUnityCare. 

  • El Futuro
    CAMINOS lab is partnering to develop a community-research-clinical partnership to develop community-based interventions to address mental health in Latinx adolescents.

  • Equidad ATX
    We participate in the LiveWell/ViveBien programming that provides mobile resources to residents of Austin’s Eastern Crescent. We distribute healthy aging resources every month, while also engaging the community in existing research focused on promoting mental, physical and cognitive health. 

  • Excellence and Advancement Foundation
    Our collaboration evaluates juvenile justice diversion programs for youth. EAF co-designed the program and provides support to youth and families who are in the program. 

  • Greater Austin YMCA
    In collaboration with the Greater Austin YMCA, we aim to promote the mental health of adults 55 and older after the isolation experienced due to the stay-at-home orders during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are leading focus groups of members aged 55+ in two YMCA locations to learn about views on mental health and how it can be incorporated into existing programming. Our overall goal is to develop programming focused on bolstering the mental health of older adults while simultaneously maintaining their physical health.

  • Little Tiger Chinese Immersion School
    We conduct research on word learning in toddlers, including recruiting participants for our study at Little Tiger festivals. We also host a small group of international students from National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU).

  • Morning Glories at Waterloo Park
    Every semester, for five weeks, the ChiLDS lab recruits at Waterloo Park at its Morning Glories events, which foster young learning in the community with other passionate Austin organizations.

  • Out Youth
    Together we provide undergraduate student internship placements and supervision; volunteer placement; graduate student-designed research (by Dr. Meg Bishop); and collaborative research including academic publications testing a school-based intervention to support LGBTQ youth.

  • The Parenting Center
    We are collaborating on research investigating the impact of relationship education courses, financial planning and career services on couples.

  • Pathfinders
    We are collaborating on research investigating the impact of relationship education courses, financial planning and career services on couples.

  • Texas AEYC
    We work with the Austin Chapter of Texas Association for the Education of Young Children (TXAEYC) to provide high-quality, research-based professional development to early childhood educators across the state of Texas. We also create a network for emerging and experienced early childhood professionals in the greater Austin area. 

  • Travis County District Attorney
    The TCDA's office is supporting the design of a juvenile justice diversion program along with EAF and the Amala Foundation. 

  • Todos Juntos
    Todos Juntos and the ChiLDS lab are teaming up to run our Friendship study, which looks at how children prioritize three types of social categories (dialect variety, gender and race) when making first- and third-person friendship judgments. 

  • United Way for Greater Austin & Austin Public Health
    We’re evaluating a universal, short-term home-visiting program for new mothers (Family Connects) that Austin Public Health is implementing in partnership with United Way for Greater Austin.

  • The Women’s Center
    We are collaborating on research investigating the impact of relationship education courses, financial planning and career services on couples.

Nationwide Partners

  • Prevent Child Abuse America
    We’re partnering with Prevent Child Abuse America on a national survey regarding corporal punishment in schools.

International Partners

 

If you are a community-based organization interested in collaborating with our department, please contact Dr. Gabriela Livas Stein.