Nick Teich, LCSW, is a Heller PhD student in the Children, Youth and Families concentration. He is also the founder and CEO of Camp Aranu'tiq, a summer camp for transgender and gender-variant youth, and Harbor Camps, a nonprofit organization that provides summer camps for youth and families of often marginalized groups, such as children with dwarfism. Nick is the author of Transgender 101: A Simple Guide to a Complex Issue, and is writing his dissertation on the effects of high school bullying on transgender adults' outcomes later in life. Nick discussed his thoughts on improving opportunity for youth at his camps and through his dissertation research with the Heller communications team.

Heller Communications: What does improving youth opportunity mean for you?

Nick Teich: Improving youth opportunity means giving youth a chance for something that they might not have had. Many people think of opportunities simply as programs or pursuits, but opportunities include the ability to find out about such programs or pursuits. Many youth -- such as those who do not have access to a computer -- cannot even find out about such programs. Increasing opportunity begins with basic access. In our case, transgender youth often don't have the chance to go away to overnight summer camp. Many traditional camps don't take transgender youth because camps don't know where to house them and don't want to deal with issues that might arise with other campers and adults. I am proud that we are serving this need while also consulting with traditional camps to train them that transgender youth are not kids to shy away from.

HC: What kinds of opportunities does Camp Aranu'tiq provide to transgender and gender-variant youth?

NT: We provide self-confidence, a sense of belonging, community and the ability to make strong bonds with others who are going through the same thing. This is all done through the typical camp experience: activities in the great outdoors without technological distractions, all with other youth who can fully understand each other. We don't have therapy groups at camp; we find feeling "normal" in a world where many people think trans youth are anything but normal is therapy enough. Our volunteers and staff also serve as role models for our youth; many are transgender or gender-variant themselves. Due to the success of Camp Aranu'tiq, we decided to expand our organization in 2014. We call the overarching organization Harbor Camps, and though Camp Aranu'tiq will remain its largest camp, we wanted to add weeklong camps for a couple of other youth populations that often face marginalization. These populations are underserved at camps, particularly in New England. In 2016 we plan to open a weeklong camp for kids with dwarfism and in 2017 we plan to open a weeklong camp for kids with craniofacial/facial differences. I look forward to this expansion, which is able to happen because of the generosity of donors who have helped us to purchase our own camp property in New Hampshire.

HC: As a PhD student, how does your dissertation research relate to youth opportunity and/or equity?

NT: My dissertation looks at transgender adults' views of their high school experience (particularly in relation to bullying) and its impact later in life on housing, employment, treatment in public settings, and suicide attempts. Every child/young adult deserves an equal chance at a good job, decent housing, etc., but we know that it often does not work out this way. I am attempting to find out if there are connections that might inform policies to make the high school experience a better one for transgender youth so they can have unlimited opportunities as adults.

HC: How has your experience at Heller contributed to your research?

NT: I came in to Heller not knowing much about how to conduct research. I had a social work background and had worked in politics, so I understood the needs of certain populations as well as the importance of policy. At Heller I learned how to turn that interest and understanding into research that can inform school districts, local policymakers and even federal policymakers on how to make school safer for transgender youth.

HC: Anything else you'd like people to know about your work or research?

NT: I didn't intend to make Harbor Camps/Camp Aranu'tiq my full-time job when I entered Heller. The success of our programs surprised even me, and now I feel as though I am able to add another element to helping transgender youth through my work at Heller. You just never know where life will take you!

Michael Levine, PhD '85, is founder and director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center , an independent research and innovation organization based at the Sesame Workshop. Founded in 2007, the Cooney Center concentrates on three core initiatives: digital games and learning, engaging families in learning together and promoting improved literacy by age 10. He spoke with the Heller communications team about his work.

Heller Communications: What does improving youth opportunity mean to you?

Michael Levine: Our work focuses on educational equity in a digital age. How can we use the unique engagement that games, mobile and social media have on youth who have often tired of traditional school offerings, but who are excited about media and technology? We are allies to the "maker movement" and to school reformers who are interested in making learning more playful, or as Seymour Papert has labeled it, learning as "hard fun."

HC: How does your work advance a youth opportunity agenda?

ML: We are agenda-setters in the children's and digital media space. We conduct pioneering research, build new educational models, convene industry leaders, policymakers, philanthropy, and practitioners and disseminate usable knowledge. We have advised the White House, the executive agencies, community organizations and researchers on the best use of resources to advance children's learning in a digital age. We also partner with key policy thought leaders such as New America in Washington, DC—in fact I will release a new book on the future of early learning and technology this fall in collaboration with them and the Pritzker Children's Initiative.

HC: How did your experience at Heller shape your career?

ML: Deeply. I began my career working for a U.S. Senator and the mayor of New York City while I was studying for my PhD at the Heller School and then continued to work in the public sector on children's and youth issues. Having the analytical tools and know-how to devise new policies for Universal Pre-K, for homeless children, to prevent dropouts and to reform professional development practices was enormously beneficial. The experience also taught me the benefits of evidence-based solutions and the vital importance of translating research knowledge through modern communications technologies.

Michael Levine invites current and former Heller students to connect with him via LinkedIn

"The 'architecture' of school spaces determines what kids have access to: food, educational experiences, after school programming and more. Healthy food options are a big part of that architecture, shaping youth health and opportunity. Results from the NOURISH study can hopefully be useful as schools across the country implement healthier food and beverage options."

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Lindsay Rosenfeld of the Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy is a co-investigator on the NOURISH study (Nutrition Opportunities to Understand Reforms Involving Student Health), a two-year policy evaluation which looks at the impact of Massachusetts school food and beverage reform on school compliance and student eating habits. In 2012, Massachusetts adopted comprehensive school competitive food and beverage standards as well as new "Smart Snacks in Schools" standards. While unfunded mandates in school food regulations are common, the NOURISH study explores the impact of this state mandate on students, schools and school district budgets.

Read the full item in Heller News.

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"Innovative ideas are necessary, but we also know a lot about what works. We need educators and policy makers with the knowledge base and political will to put that knowledge into practice in all educational settings."

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In addition to her studies in the Master's in Public Policy Program and her work as a research consultant at the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, Kaytie Dowcett, MPP '15, sits on the Waltham School Committee, a district where she was once a teacher.

As a school committee member, she is working to usher in a dual language immersion program that will keep native English and Spanish speaking students in classes together, promoting bilingualism and multicultural appreciation. "Heller gave me the language, skills, and confidence to access the worlds of policy analysis and policy-making." Dowcett reflects. "My hope is to empower educators and young people with those same skills, so that those who are closest and most impacted by education policy can help shape those policies."

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"The data are startling for our low-income students—only 14 percent obtain a degree within six years of high school graduation. Early college is an opportunity for high schoolers to engage in college-level work, to develop a deeper understanding of the college experience, and to envision themselves as college students."

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Anna (Gazos) O'Connor, MPP '09, joined the Massachusetts Department of Education upon graduating Heller five years ago, and recently moved into the role of Early College Coordinator in the Department's Office of College and Career Readiness. The early college programming that O'Connor helps school districts implement incorporates credit-bearing college coursework and academic guidance into the high school experience to support students, particularly those who are most vulnerable.

The early college model includes dual enrollment, providing high school students with the opportunity to experience college-level coursework at a college or high school campus for free or at a reduced rate. The goal is for these students to graduate high school and complete a postsecondary credential with currency in the labor market, such as advanced manufacturing, IT or health care.

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"As a National Trainer at Playworks, I provide professional development to educators across the country to integrate more play into their schools and organizations. We help schools to create a place for every kid on the playground, a place where every kid belongs, has fun and is part of the game."

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Lynn Debilzen, MBA '12, is a National Trainer for Playworks in Denver, Colorado. At Playworks, she provides professional development to educators across the country, helping them integrate more play into their schools and organizations. At a time when recess has rapidly disappeared in many schools and districts, Debilzen and Playworks push to make recess not just a place where every kid belongs and has fun, but also a place where kids develop socio-emotional skills within a recreational culture of respect and inclusion. Debilzen notes that Playworks' programs have an impact not only on individual students, but also on long-time educators and administrators.

An interactive map of CYC initiatives

The Center for Youth and Communities (CYC) collaborates with an extended network of partners to promote initiatives that employ, educate and support youth. "Youth development without real work experience is a recipe for failure. And so is work experience isolated from education and youth development," says Susan Curnan, director of the CYC.

Elizabeth Palley, PhD '03, seeks equitable solutions to one of childhood's earliest problems

"When I was at Heller, I attended some faculty meetings as a student representative. Once during a discussion Professor David Gil just stood up and said, 'What does this have to do with social justice?' He went on to explain that there's already a lot of research out there—we could look at foster care again and research why it's not working, but we know why it's not working, we know why children in this country have problems, and it's largely about poverty. Until we address that, a lot of new research is irrelevant. That stuck in my mind when creating a research agenda for myself. I want to produce research that's not just interesting, but will really make a difference, and my research has to have something to do with social justice."

Elizabeth Palley, PhD '03, is a professor of social work at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York, and co-author of the recent book In Our Hands: The Struggle for U.S. Childcare Policy . In it, Palley and Corey S. Shdaimah explore why despite the almost universal struggle that parents face in the United States in securing quality affordable child care, there has been no mass social movement. They review the history of advocacy efforts, the limitation of current policies and recommend future steps.

Dolores Acevedo-Garcia on improving youth opportunities by shaping policy

Dolores Acevedo-Garcia is director of the Institute for Child, Youth and Family Policy and principal investigator of the diversitydatakids.org project, a comprehensive database of indicators on child health and opportunity in the U.S. The diversitydatakids.org project provides data by race and ethnicity, making it a unique source of information on the levels of diversity, opportunity and equity among American children. The Child Opportunity Index, one of the tools available at diversitydatakids.org, combines 19 separate indicators to evaluate healthy child development resources at the neighborhood level for the 100 largest U.S. metropolitan areas.

Social entrepreneurs create InnoBox to reach children in urban slums

Evan Roth-Howe, MA-SID '15; Jonathan Dweck '16, Simone LaPray, MA-SID/MBA '16, Christina Castellani, MA-SID '15

Hult Challenge competitors want to bring their project to children in five countries

Heller students Christina Castellani, MA-SID '15, and Simone LaPray, MA-SID/MBA '16, led a team of classmates that competed in this year's Hult Challenge.

The competition invited social entrepreneurs to design an early childhood development program that would reach 10 million children in urban slums by 2020. Heller's team responded with InnoBox, which leverages the ubiquity of radio and simple raw materials to create enriching developmental experiences. The Heller team, which advanced to the regional finals of the Hult Challenge, is currently in pursuit of start-up funding and hopes to launch InnoBox in Uganda by the end of 2015.