Drexel University School of Public Health Website

This site is an exemplary example of NetReach's work in the realm of information dissemination and marketing. Drexel University's School of Public Health is a growing school that required advances in its navigation, site structure, and enhancements to the story of the school. Recent improvements enhance the delivery of information on work in the field and new research. The school also houses several centers and projects. NetReach developed complementary sites to complement the school's identity while showing a depth of content. The following are centers/projects at the school that use the toolset which is used on the school's site--and are administered by the staff of each entity:

• Center for Health Equality.
• GROW Project.
• Center for Public Health Readiness and Communication.

View Drexel University School of Public Health Case Study

Drexel University School of Public Health website

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What is Public Health?

This site was developed for the Association of Schools of Public Health to explain what public health encompasses, its impact, and career opportunities in public health. A visual explanation was developed to convey this information in an exciting and engaging manner.

What is Public Health? website

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Diversity Preparedness

A review of academic literature showed that minorities, when compared with others, anticipated less risk from disasters, were more skeptical of warnings, were less likely to evacuate, were less likely to receive disaster education, and relied more on family and TV for information.

Phase I of the project concentrated on delivery of a robust custom clearinghouse application — an online centralized database of resources — that is fully content managed and maintained by the center's staff. NetReach’s new advanced application building tools allowed for rapid development and cost efficiencies during development to launch a resource-rich information portal. The result: the robust website includes the following:

• Keyword and Advanced Search and filtering capabilities.
• Section 508 compliance for access to users with visual impairments and disabilities.
• The ability to have resource submissions from outside parties on the website for review.
• E-newsletter integration—seamless sign-up to client’s e-newsletter third-party application.
• Ability to easily relate data records to multiple categories and descriptors.

View Diversity Preparedness Case Study | View Diversity Preparedness Press Release

Diversity Preparedness website

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Pathways to Public Health

"Pathways to Public Health" was developed for the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH) as a way for youth to learn more about public health education and public health careers. It includes a clearinghouse of resources, the ability for site visitors to submit resources for inclusion into the resource section of the site (after review and approval by ASPH staff), student profiles, and other helpful information for students, parents, teachers, and counselors.

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Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice

In November of 2007, the Thomas Scattergood Foundation awarded Drexel University’s School of Public Health with a five-year grant to establish the Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice. The goal of the site is to support the goals of the center: to stimulate and foster dialogue among individuals, organizations, and institutions to deepen our understanding of nonviolence and social justice and the prevention of all forms of violence.

Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice website

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Witnesses to Hunger - Mothers Taking Action to Change Health Policy

Witnesses to Hunger is a project involving 40 women who have very young children in Philadelphia. These are women who have been experiencing hunger, homelessness, and community violence. They were given digital cameras to use as their voice to show people their everyday experience of living in poverty, and to inform policy makers about how policies affect them and their children.

• 40 women speaking for themselves and their children.
• 40 women taking their own pictures and videos.
• 40 women say it in their own words.
• 40 women: experts on poverty, hunger, housing, employment, and childcare.

Some of the many issues that these mothers confront in their photographs are:

• Housing.
• Food.
• Work/education.
• Childcare.
• Neighborhood violence and drugs.
• Depression and trauma.
• Access to health care.
• Racism.
• Motherhood and childhood.

A stunning photo gallery database of over 2,000 editorially selected, impactful photos will be displayed and  easily accessible through cross-referenced Browse and Advanced Search functions. Each image will be tagged with the mother's name, photo title, the issue(s) that the photograph concerns, related policies and programs that address those issues, and, if applicable, a brief description and quote from the mother. Selected photos will include a 4-5 minute mp3 audio file of an interview with the mother. Witnesses' staff are given web-based editorial tools to upload photos, PDFs, audio, and video to build the gallery.

Witnesses to Hunger website

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Learning Through Listening

Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic (RFB&D), a national non-profit organization founded in the 1940s, currently serves nearly 180,000 kindergarten through graduate level+ students with its one-of-a-kind collection of digitally recorded CD-based textbooks and novels.

NetReach worked with RFB&D staff to develop an assessment to determine the goals of the project. The findings, along with data that RFB&D had from the target audience, yielded a blueprint to develop the site that both functioned as a resource for teachers and also an easy-to-use tool for staff to implement and publish with.

The Section 508 compliant site called "Learning Through Listening," includes a rich database of classroom materials that are searchable. A custom curriculum builder allows for:

• Consistent formatting of all lesson plans; teachers can also submit plans for review.
• Downloadable related materials (blackline masters, Word and PDF documents, and audio assets).
• Printer-friendly pages and email-a-friend capabilities.
• Commenting on lesson plans.
• Display of NEW items that can be timed to stay new based on RFB&D requirements.
• Searches/display by subject and grade.
• Subscription to NEW lesson plans via a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed.
• Lesson plans and their related downloadables can be grouped by subject and grade level.

Registration for a free membership allows for access to additional resources on the site. An Application Programming Interface (API) was furnished that enables cmScribe’s user profile database to check the RFB&D Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system in real time for an existing school membership. This allows current users of RFB&D products to be recognized and eliminate double membership hassles. The site is highly interactive and allows the client to make their products available as well.

View RFB&D Case Study | View RFB&D Press Release

Learning Through Listening website

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EARLI

Pregnant mothers from families at risk for autism may help find genetic and environmental factors that cause autism. This multi-year cohort study, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), features four geographically diverse research and related clinical centers: Drexel University School of Public Health, PA; Johns Hopkins, MD; UC Davis, CA; and Kaiser Permanente, CA. The website supports the introduction of the study, dissemination of information and materials to participants, their families, and healthcare professionals, as well as acting as an intranet portal for staff centers to collaborate and exchange information.

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