Promising practices: Leadership development and mentoring of undergraduate students from under-represented groups participating in an MCH pipeline training program

The paucity of models to identify, support, and matriculate students from under-represented groups into graduate preparation in health care and social welfare fields contributes to the challenges of eliminating health disparities. We report on a model of pre-service preparation that provides three levels of training on a continuum from early academic support to later pre-service preparation of undergraduates preparing for graduate training in their fields. A core component of this interdisciplinary program is the mentoring of students across their undergraduate education by discipline coordinators. This one-to-one relationship with a mentor has proven critical to retention and successful progression of students at-risk for not being accepted into their majors during this critical time. Other core components of this training model include a year of research experience as a mechanism for opening students' eyes to the critical thinking and the relationships between research, policy, and practice. The final component of this program is leadership-based with an emphasis on family-centered care, public policy and public health, where trainees move through an intensive curriculum as a cohort. Assessments of students as they progress across all levels of the program are evaluated against their pre-program awareness and knowledge related to disabilities and special health care needs. Quantitative and qualitative outcomes from these assessments will be reported to demonstrate the strengths and challenges of this multi-layered undergraduate model . Our urban university with an access mission is particularly well-positioned to develop innovative programs to shape diversity in tomorrow's workforce to serve people with disabilities.