Healthy Communities Mapping Project

Girls Inc. of Worcester seeks support from the National Network of Libraries of Medicine to deliver a 9 month Healthy Communities Mapping Project. This mapping project will empower 90 high school students enrolled in Eureka!, our 5-year STEM science, technology, engineering, and math college and career readiness program, to discover, map out, and engage with health resources in the Greater Worcester community, using innovative technology. The information and results of this project will be presented to more than 150 girls and their families that are enrolled in Girls Inc.'s After School program. The purpose of the Eureka! Healthy Communities Mapping Project is to complement and enhance the Eureka! and After School programs through hands-on STEM, health resource, and library science education. Support for this project will provide 4 10th-11th grade students with externships at health-related sites including 1 at the Lamar Soutter Library at University of Massachusetts Medical School, train up to 30 first-year Eureka! participants in the use of research tools at the Lamar Soutter Library, and instruct up to 90 high school Eureka! participants in GIS Geographic Information Science software, using an interactive whiteboard to facilitate increased group work. In culmination, Eureka! participants will combine the skills and lessons learned in community health resources and GIS to create a Community Health Resource Map, using interactive whiteboard technology to promote collaboration. They will then present their Community Health Resource Map to over 150 girls in grades K-12 enrolled in the After School program, as well as their families. The final project will be displayed as a printed poster and handouts in our family resource area to provide ongoing health access and education to families.