Dear fellow colleagues/librarians,

I am part of a research team at the University of Maryland that is currently working on a study called HackHealth (http://hackhealth.umd.edu), funded by the National Library of Medicine. To extend the work of this program (described in more detail below), our team has developed a proposal for the Knight News Challenge. This proposal emphasizes the importance of school libraries in the development of youth literacies, and showcases how, with the right tools and support, youth can serve as information and health advocates to their families and communities. Your feedback and advocacy for this project would help show the Knight Foundation that there is a strong interest in supporting the important work of school libraries.

We would greatly appreciate it if you could post comments, feedback, and/or support on the Knight website at http://ter.ps/3de.

Our current project, HackHealth, leverages the power of school library programs to increase the interest of middle school students from disadvantaged backgrounds in the health sciences, while working to improve their health-related literacy and health outcomes. We will be starting the HackHealth after-school program in selected local schools in Maryland in a week! As the program continues, we will be adding our modules and materials to our website (http://hackhealth.umd.edu). Please visit our site if you're interested in learning more!

Thank you for support! And please spread the news around!
Natalie (and the HackHealth team)

Note: If the short URL above does not work, here is the actual URL:
https://www.newschallenge.org/challenge/healthdata/entries/improving-disadvantaged-youth-health-trajectories-enabling-and-motivating-youth-to-serve-as-health-ambassadors-for-their-families-and-communities

Natalie Greene Taylor
Graduate Research Associate & Doctoral Student
Information Policy and Access Center (iPAC)
College of Information Studies
University of Maryland
ngreenetaylor@gmail.com
Twitter: @ngreenetaylor