An opportunity for intensive learning and interaction

On-Site Institutes

On-site institutes can provide more than an intensive learning experience. They can also strengthen bonds between staff members and facilitate organizational improvements. Each on-site institute is specially designed for the sponsoring organization.

The Experience

Take a college campus--the ideal place for learning and exploration.

Combine it with a human services institute--an ideal forum to examine issues and access practices.

Each summer managers, supervisors and workers from around the nation come to University of California, Davis. Institutes offer a unique opportunity to learn new techniques for efficient, sensitive delivery of services.

The Impact

An intensive learning process takes place during lectures and workshops. Instructors discuss timely topics, stimulate thought and encourage interaction.

Conversations during breaks, at meals and in residence halls continue the process. And contacts made at an institute allow for the ongoing exchange of ideas and information.

The Program

Institute subjects vary from year-to-year, which allows managers and staff in different functions and different programs to attend. Past institutes have been designed for

• eligibility workers and supervisors
• welfare fraud investigators
• adult services workers
• child welfare workers and supervisors
• employment services staff
• clerical staff and supervisors
• program managers
• staff development personnel
• independent living coordinators
• community-based organizations involved in family violence prevention and intervention

The Process

Information about institutes is distributed in early spring. Institute enrollment is limited to encourage interaction with instructors and between participants. For information about the institutes, contact The Center.

Public Policy Conferences

Bringing together the public, services professionals and policymakers

In the best tradition of university discourse, The Center's public policy conferences offer a neutral forum for representatives of many sides of an issue to present and discuss their views. Issues addressed at conferences have included

• the feminization of poverty
• runaway and homeless youth
• immigration
• AIDS
• child abuse
• the homeless
• youth gangs and drugs
• drug babies
• abortion
• press, politics and the law
• the future of corrections
• human rights and the North American Free Trade Agreement
• welfare reform
• affirmative action
• family violence

For each conference, an advisory committee of experts in various aspects of the issue plans an agenda and recommends speakers. Conferences take place at the California State Capitol. Legislators, their staff and the general public are invited to join the discussion with members of cosponsoring organizations.

Developmental Disabilities in Community Care

Providing resources to enhance services

Over the past few decades, more and more people with developmental disabilities have moved from living in large institutions to living, working and going to school in the community. Many of the residences for these individuals are group homes and facilities that are licensed and reviewed by the Community Care Licensing Division of the California Department of Social Services.

The goal of this training program is to help licensing staff increase their knowledge and skills related to developmental disabilities. The program provides staff with resources to enhance service to people with developmental disabilities and to the other professionals and community members who support them.

The program is funded by the California Department of Social Services.

California Medical Training Center at UC Davis

Improving professional prevention and intervention

Family violence is a public health, criminal justice and social welfare problem requiring multidisciplinary approaches and intervention. To help train medical providers, criminal justice and social work professionals, The Center has partnered with the UC Davis Medical Center (UCDMC) to form the California Medical Training Center at UC Davis.

This center addresses prevention and intervention strategies in five domains of family violence: child physical abuse, child sexual abuse, domestic violence, elder abuse and sexual assault. Curriculum in these domains has objectives that include

• enhancing health care providers' knowledge and skills in family violence
• increasing nonmedical professionals' understanding of medical examination protocols and findings
• promoting multidisciplinary approaches to family violence
• improving access to qualified medical personnel

Training is delivered at sites throughout California and through UCDMC telemedicine facilities. Significant partnerships have been developed with UCLA and USC to implement programs in Southern California.

The California Medical Training Center at UC Davis is funded by the Office of Criminal Justice Planning.

Small Counties Mental Health Training Program

Supporting regional training and development

California's mental health system has been undergoing a fundamental and comprehensive transition to a system-of-care approach that is client-centered and community-based. Counties have had to reshape how mental health services are planned, delivered and used. The magnitude of this system change underscores the need to provide quality training services for the mental health workforce in small counties.

The Center's partnership with the 33 small county departments of mental health is aimed at supporting county and regional training and development efforts. Following the direction of the small county directors, The Center has built a curriculum of courses that reflects the most pressing administrative and clinical needs of the agencies.

This project is funded by the California Mental Health Directors Association.