Despite joining Mizzou’s Human Development and Family Science (HDFS) department only recently, the new faculty members have already made significant strides, securing multiple external grants to fund their research and outreach projects.
Dr. Aileen Garcia is also a state specialist for Health and Human Sciences Extension and serves as the Principal Investigator (PI) on several funded projects at various stages of completion. Most recently, she and Dr. Shinyoung Jeon (Co-PI) received nearly $100,000 from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) for their project titled “More than a Home: Investigating Multilevel Predictors of Child Care Practices and Workforce Dynamics Among Listed Home-Based Child Care Providers.” This grant supports secondary data analyses to address critical questions aligned with ACF program goals. This project examines factors that influence the retention and turnover of home-based child care (HBCC) providers. Their findings will be of interest to local, state, and federal early care and education agencies, and will inform strategies for improving provider competencies through professional development. Additionally, the research will address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on HBCC providers and their recovery post-pandemic, aligning closely with efforts to strengthen childcare and early education programs, as well as the childcare workforce.
Dr. Garcia and Dr. Steven Krauss will serve as Co-PIs on HDFS Associate Professor, Dr. Louis Manfra’s Missouri Child and Youth Homelessness Study and Needs Assessment, funded by nearly a $505,000 grant from the Missouri Department of Elementary & Secondary Education. The project’s primary goal is to collect data on homelessness and related issues from children, youth, and families experiencing homelessness, and the stakeholders serving them throughout Missouri, including both urban and rural areas. The study will emphasize the role of education, schools, local education agencies, and the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, focusing on its definitions and guidelines.
Dr. Kellie Seals (PI) and colleagues received USDA NIFA’s Children, Youth, and Families at Risk (CYFAR) 5-year award totaling $607,115 to support MU Extension 4-H Hopeful Paths for Youth Futures Project. This project, starting in September 2024, will fund Missouri 4-H’s Youth Futures college and career pathways program in Jackson, St. Louis, and McDonald counties. Originally created over 20 years ago, Youth Futures provides middle and high school youth from underrepresented communities new future-ready opportunities. The program has recently been expanded to include self-awareness and career literacy, empowering participants to set and achieve personal postsecondary goals. Dr. J. Clay Hurdle will provide evaluation support for this project.
Finally, two of our new HDFS faculty members are actively strengthening our research collaborations across the SEC. Dr. Jeon, in addition to serving as co-PI on the ACF grant with Dr. Garcia, was recently awarded the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Visiting Faculty Traveling Program grant. This grant will enable her to visit the University of Oklahoma (OU) to foster research partnerships between OU and Mizzou. While at OU, Dr. Jeon will collaborate with early childhood education (ECE) scholars to design a pilot study aimed at improving parent-teacher communication in Head Start programs, with a focus on non-English-speaking families. Together, they will develop a culturally sensitive AI translation app to support dual-language learners, ultimately enhancing educational outcomes for children.
Dr. Hurdle is also advancing his research through an SEC Visiting Faculty Grant, which supports his investigation into the relationship between state-level 4-H leadership experiences and youth leadership development. His project will analyze leadership development across 4-H programs in Missouri, Florida, Tennessee, and West Virginia, with the goal of improving positive youth development curricula. As part of the SEC program, Dr. Hurdle visited his research colleague, Dr. Laura Greenhaw, at the University of Florida, where they jointly developed the project.
Please join us in congratulating our new Mizzou HDFS faculty on their impressive achievements!