We are so excited to announce 8 new 1994 institutions are joining the EXCITE Activity 2 program Immunization Education Pilots Projects. These funded projects work cooperatively with the CDC, local health professionals and programs to improve immunization rates with priority populations. The purpose is to create and test innovative delivery methods for each pilot project and inform future immunization education methodologies of best practices.
8 Land Grant Universities joining the EXCITE Pilot Project Effort:
- College of Menominee Nation
- Fort Peck Community College
- Nebraska Indian Community College
- United Tribes Technical College
- Institute of American Indian Arts
- College of the Muscogee Nation
- Little Priest Tribal College
- Little Big Horn College
The EXCITE project used its first year of experience working with the 1994 institutions to develop a model to support the new 1994 projects, including hiring a dedicated coordinator to guide them and provide them with the necessary resources. Ruth Hursman, the 1994 Engagement Coordinator, will help coach the new teams and guide them through the project completion process. The EXCITE team hopes to overcome some of the capacity issues that many 1994 Extension institutions face as barriers to being involved in projects by involving a coordinator and learning from the Tribal Colleges' involvement in Vaccine With Confidence projects
Six of the eight new tribal colleges to join the EXCITE effort have never been involved in an EXCITE project before, so the program is thrilled to be testing this new model and involving tribal colleges and partners in this system-wide effort!
About the New Projects:
The Native American students and larger campus communities, as well as their families, are the project's priority population. The 1994 team projects will be completed in May of 2023, on the same timeline as the other Pilot Projects. One of the lessons learned from the Vaccine with Confidence 1994 educational campaigns is that it is imperative to utilize trusted community members to deliver messages about vaccines. The teams discovered that in order for their audiences to hear the messages, they must come from a trusted source, such as individuals from health partners; however, many of the projects rely on elders or the student body as messengers.
Moving forward in their projects, they will concentrate on forming partnerships with healthcare organizations in order to increase vaccine uptake.
The EXCITE project welcomes these new tribal colleges and looks forward to hearing from the projects sharing in the Spring!
Comments (0)