About

LEAP stands for Leadership, Education, and Advancement in Undergraduate Pathways in Maternal and Child Health.

The Maternal and Child Health Leadership, Education, and Advancement in Undergraduate Pathways (LEAP) Training Program promotes the development of a culturally diverse and responsive health care workforce; improves levels of representation; reduces health disparities; and increases access to health care for vulnerable and underserved MCH populations by recruiting, training, and retaining students from historically underrepresented groups, including those who are racially and ethnically diverse, into maternal and child public health professions.

Program Overview

The Maternal and Child Health Leadership, Education, and Advancement in Undergraduate Pathways (LEAP) Training Program is an innovative and integrative training program for interested undergraduate students at GW to develop their interest, knowledge, self-efficacy, skills, and opportunities to be best prepared for graduate MCH public health or related MCH health profession programs. The GW-LEAP into MCH will provide students from underserved or underrepresented backgrounds with opportunities for training and engagement to ultimately improve levels of representation, reduce health disparities, foster health equity and increase the capacity of the MCH workforce to meet the needs of a diverse MCH United States population.

The components of the GW-LEAP into MCH training program include classroom, experiential, and mentoring experiences that will develop interest, knowledge, skills and opportunities in public health and MCH leadership. Program activities include formal academic coursework, mentoring (peer, faculty, professional), practical experiences, and summer programs.

The foundation of a healthy community is a highly qualified, diverse workforce that has the knowledge and skills to work across different systems and at the individual, community, and policy levels. To ensure health equity for all MCH populations, it is vital that the MCH workforce is not only diverse but also inclusive. A diverse workforce that reflects the communities being served will be better able to effectively communicate and collaborate in a way that honors and values diversity, promotes inclusion and equity, and advances the goal of improving MCH outcomes.

The GW-LEAP into MCH will foster a program based on the principles of inclusivity and intersectionality. In our recruitment efforts we will therefore not limit participation in our overall programmatic offerings, however, the emphasis will be placed upon the recruitment of high-quality diverse applicants representing underrepresented racial/ethnic backgrounds who demonstrate an interest in pursuing MCH related academic and practice-based community service.