MCH Internship Description

A masters student project opportunity is available with Shape NC, a North Carolina initiative focused on childhood obesity prevention. The student would support one of three projects: 1) assisting with an online course for childcare providers on healthy eating and active play, 2) providing implementation support for a collaborative working to improve health policies in childcare settings, or 3) aiding with grant writing and research to sustain Shape NC funding beyond 2016. The flexible start date allows work to be done partially remotely from Raleigh, North Carolina.

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MCH Internship Description

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Masters Student Project Opportunity

Start Date: Flexible

Location: Raleigh, NC (some, but not all, of the work may be done remotely)
About: Shape NC: Healthy Starts for Young Children is a six-year, $6 million initiative of Blue
Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina (BCBSNC) Foundation and The North Carolina Partnership
for Children, Inc. (NCPC) created to increase the number of children starting kindergarten at a
healthy weight and ready to learn. Shape NC assists communities across the state to promote
healthy eating and active play among North Carolinas youngest children, from birth through age
five. The initiative works with child care programs to instill healthy behaviors early on, creating a
solid foundation for a healthy life.
Internship Opportunities: We are offering an opportunity for a masters student project
focused on obesity prevention and health promotion among children in child care. We have
several projects that may interest an MCH graduate student. Brief descriptions of the options are
listed below; the assignments may change depending on the timing of the student practicum.
Child Care Provider Professional Development support: A student will support the
implementation of the online course Shape NC: Healthy Starts for Early Care and Education. This
course is open to early care and education providers across the state of North Carolina, and is
designed to increase knowledge of best practice in the following content areas: obesity,
breastfeeding and infant feeding, childhood nutrition, physical activity, outdoor play and
learning, and screen time. The student will review students assignments and posts to the online
discussion board, identifying themes and providing feedback to the Shape NC project team.
He/she will generate questions for discussion board topics, engaging participants in ongoing
online discussions. A student intern will assist in qualitative and quantitative analyses related to
course analytics and pre-and post-test data. He/she will identify the gaps between course
knowledge acquisition and implementation of that knowledge in child care settings, and
brainstorm opportunities for bridging these gaps.
Shape NC Breakthrough Series Collaborative support: The Collaborative approach is a practice
tested model adapted from the evidence-informed Breakthrough Series Collaborative, developed
in 1995 as a way to accelerate local quality improvement efforts. The Collaborative model
focuses on testing, adapting, spreading, and maintaining improvements across multiple settings
and within organizations to promote the sustainability of desired outcomes. Shape NC has made
great strides with child care settings across the state and is ready to take on the goal of
sustained policy and practice changes. The Collaborative will allow Child Care Directors/Owners,
Child Care staff, Local Partnership staff, Technical Assistance Specialists, and parents/caregivers
to gather as one Community of Practice to engage in quality improvement efforts across
communities by sharing lessons learned locally. Collaborative participants will work to improve
the health and nutrition policies and practices in child care settings by: 1) exchanging new ideas
for addressing challenges; 2) working together to sustain the gains already made; 3) sharing the
results of small changes; and 4) creating a culture of health and wellness that extends beyond
children to families, staff, and the wider community. A student will provide implementation

support during the Collaborative, which will include: helping to facilitate monthly phone calls for
participating affinity group members (i.e., Child Care Center Director calls or TA Specialist calls),
analyzing monthly team metrics and teaching participants how to use the data to guide them in
making changes, helping to create agendas for in-person day-long Learning Sessions, and
attending monthly team meetings held in participants home counties throughout North Carolina.
Grant Support: Phase I of Shape NC lasted from Jan. 1, 2011-Dec. 31 st, 2013. The duration of
Shape NC Phase II is from Jan. 1, 2014-Dec. 31 st, 2016. We will devote much of 2015 to searching
for grant opportunities to maintain Shape NC. We will request renewal of funding from the
BCBSNC Foundation and will submit grant proposals to other foundations. We request student
support for the grant-writing process, including: conducting a literature review for the
Assessment of Need portion of grant applications, reviewing and editing grant proposals, and
creating a descriptive list of promising grant opportunities. Depending on the timing of the
practicum, the student may participate in strategy sessions to discuss creative possibilities for
Phase III of Shape NC.