Jane Powers

Jane Powers

Since 1985, I have been a senior staff member of Cornell University's Family Life Development Center, now the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research, where I have worked on a variety of research projects which have examined the impact of violence on the lives of children, youth and families. Since 2000, I have been involved in the application of research to practice, specifically around promoting the health and well being of adolescents and preventing risk behaviors, including violence, sexually risky behavior, and abuse.  I currently am the PII and Project Director for the Assets Coming Together (ACT) for Youth Center of Excellence, which is a collaboration of Cornell, the University of Rochester Division of Adolescent Medicine the New York State Center for School Safet, and Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC.  We work with communities and youth serving organizations across New York State helping them implement positive youth development strategies, and provide resources, tools and expertise on using anad evaluating evidence based programs.  My research interests include positive youth development, evaluation of community based programs, implementation science,  adolescent sexual health, child abuse and neglect, and youth homelessness.  I received my Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Cornell University in 1985.

Since 1985, I have been on the research staff of the Familiy Life Development Center now the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research.  I currently serve as the Project Director and PI of the Assets Coming Together (ACT) for Youth Center of Excellence which supports the implementation of positive youth development strategies throughout communities and youth serving programs across New York State. I also provide training, resources and evaluation support for grantees funded by the New York State Department of Health to promote adolescent sexual health. I am interested in the application of knowledge to practice and in using research to improve the lives of children, youth and families. Much of my work focuses  supporting the implementation and evaluation of evidence based programs that promote adolescent sexual health of 58 grantees located across New York State  My research interests include positive youth development, adolescent sexual health, implementation science, program evaluation,  violence prevention, and youth homelessness. I have a special interest in participatory research approaches with youth and have been involved in a number of projects that engage youth as research and evaluation partners. I have had a long standing project collaborating with a community based organization that serves homeless youth.  We have conducted a participatory research project,  partnering with homeless youth to study the scope and nature of youth homelessness.  We have collected data 3 times in the past 8 years.

1) Evaluating NYS Department of Health funded adolescent sexual health programs: examining individual behavioral outcomes, as well as community outcomes.  Also studying whether programs that integrate youth development principles and practices are more effective in reducing adolescent risk behavior. 
2) Evaluating the implementation of evidence based programs that promote adolescent sexual health for grantees funded by the NYSDOH.  Examining the extent to which programs are implemented with fidelity and with quality.  Developing tools and systems to track implementation and adapatation.
3) Documenting the adaptation of Evidence Based Programs in Adolescent Sexual Health among special sectors of the adolescent population (e.g., foster care , runaway and homeless, LGBTQ youth)
4) Analyzing findings from  focus groups as part of an NIJ funded study with a statewide sample of at-risk youth to obtain views on Adolescent Orders of Protection as a remedy for Teen Dating Violence.

5) Analyzing findings from 36 focus groups conducted with youth across NYS to assess views of family planning services.
6) Homeless Youth Study: A participatory project that engages formerly homeless youth to study the scope and nature of youth homelessness in Tompkins County (a collaborative project with the Learning Web and Tompkins County Youth Services Department). We completed a third cycle of data collection.

7) Conduct focus group projects for the NYSDOH on topics pertianing to adolescent health that inform statewide policies and initiatives (e.g., preconception health, utlization of family planning services).

8) Examining Youth Participatory Evaluation (YPE) efforts that use a youth-adult partnership model: identifying YPE efforts across the United States to document effective strategies and outcomes for youth, programs, and communities.
9)  Engaging Youth as Evaluation Partners: a collaborative project with the University of Wisconsin, Cooperative Extension, which promotes the use of a youth led evaluation approach for collecting and using data to bring about organizational change and improvement that strengthen youth development practices within programs.
 

1) Disseminate youth development knowledge, best practice and resources to policy makers, educators, and service providers across NYS and nationally through training, workshops, conferences and the ACT for Youth website www.actforyouth.net.
2) Support the implementation of youth development principles and practices in youth serving programs and community settings
3)  Assist community based programs implement evidence based interventions with fidelity and quality
4) Build capacity of practitioners to conduct program evaluation
5) Build capacity of programs to use data for quality improvement
6) Build capacity of practitioners to engage youth as evaluation partners;
7) Facilitate program assessment and action planning through youth/adult partnerships;
8) Develop tools and resources to facilitate the implementation of effective youth-adult partnerships;
9) Provide information and resources to state agencies and policy makers on youth development to enhance their efforts and build statewide youth development agenda
10) Conduct research that informs the development of adolescent sexual health initiatives  programs, and policies for the NYS Department of Health.

11)  Develop a youth development basic training for new youth workers and volunteers in the extension system and other youth serving organizations,

Ph.D., 1985, Developmental Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca NY.

B.A., 1977, Social Science, Residential College, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
 

www.actforyouth.net
www.nysyouth.net

https://www.bctr.cornell.edu/

I serve as PI and Project Director for the Assets Coming Together (ACT) for Youth Center of Excellence and oversee and manage several additional youth development research projects, and grants and contracts from other state agencies including the Office of Children and Family  Services, and the Office of Mental Health. I manage the budgets and contracts for the COE research projects, communicating with fiscal units in state agencies and Cornell. I also manage and supervise 10 staff based at Cornell, and 10 staff based off campus.

 Zeldin, S., Christens, B., Powers, J. (2012) The Psychology and Practice of Youth-Adult Partnership.  American Journal of Community Psychology, DO! 10.10007/s10464-012-9558-y.
 

Eckenrode, J, Campa, M., Cole, R., Kitzman, H., Anson, E., Sidora, K., Luckey, D., Powers, J., Henderson, C., Olds, D. (2010) Long-Term Effects of Prenatal and Infancy Nurse Home Visitation on the Life-Course of Youth: 19-Year Follow-Up of a Randomized Trial. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine; 164(1): 9-15.

Whitlock, J., and Powers, J. (2008) Places to be and Belong: Youth Perceptions of Life in Community, The Prevention Researcher, 15 (2) : 12-15.

Whitlock, J., Powers, J., and Eckenrode, J (2006) The Virtual Cutting Edge: The Internet and Adolescent Self Injury. Developmental Psychology, 42(3):1-11.

Powers, J. and Tiffany, J. (2006) Engaging youth in participatory research and evaluation. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, November Supplement, p 68-76.

Eckenrode, J., Zielinski, D., Smith, El., Marcynszyn, L., Henderson, C., Kitzman, H., Cole, R., Powers, J., and Olds, D. “Child Maltreatment and the early onset of problem behaviors: Can a program of nurse home visitation break the link?” Development and Psychopathology, 13 (2001), 873-890.

Eckenrode, J., Ganzel, B., Henderson, C., Smith, E., Olds, D., Powers, J., Cole, R., Kitzman, H., and Sidora, K. Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect with a Program of Nurse Home Visitation: The Limiting Effects of Domestic Violence, , Journal of the American Medical Association, September 20, 2000, Vol 284, No. 11.

Garbarino, J., Eckenrode, J., and Powers, J. (1997) The maltreatment of youth. In J. Garbarino and J. Eckenrode (Eds.), Understanding Abusive Families. (2nd ed.) San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.

Eckenrode, J., Powers, J., and Garbarino, J. (1997) Youth in trouble are youth who have been hurt. In J. Garbarino and J. Eckenrode (Eds.), Understanding Abusive Families. (2nd ed.) San Francisco, CA: Jossey Bass.

Powers, J. and Jaklitsch, B. (1992)Adolescence and Homelessness: The Unique Challenge for Secondary Educators, in J. Stronge, Ed. Educating Homeless Children and Adolescents: Evaluating Policy and Practice . CA: Sage Publications.

Powers, J. and Jaklitsch, B. (1989) Understanding Survivors of Abuse: Stories of Homeless and Runaway Adolescents Lexington Books, D.C. Heath and Company, Lexington, Massachusetts.

Powers, J., Jaklitsch, B., and Eckenrode, J. (1989) Behavioral Indicators of Maltreatment Among Runaway and Homeless Youth. In J.T. Pardeck (ed.) Child Abuse and Neglect: Theory, Research, and Practice. London: Gordon and Breach Science Publishers.