This summer, I had the incredible opportunity to complete my MCH Center of Excellence (CoE)
Fellowship with Beacon House. Beacon House is a nonprofit serving youth and families of
Northeast DC, specifically the Edgewood neighborhood. By supporting the community through
after-school programs, youth athletics, nutritional support, and summer camps, Beacon House
is a safe haven for DC’s youngest citizens. Predominantly made up of Black and Latino families,
Beacon House emphasizes providing culturally competent resources to students, allowing every
child to see themselves in the world around them and beyond.
Working alongside my partner Alandrea, our work this summer consisted of updating the
Beacon House Building Resilient Youth Through Connection and Empowerment (BRYCE)
mental health resource website for youth and parents, and also, developing a pre- and
post-assessment for Beacon House’s social and emotional (SEL) learning curriculum. The
BRYCE mental health resource website initially launched in 2020 as a way to combat the
ever-present youth mental health crisis in the US. In the years following 2020, the youth mental
health crisis is still an area of concern in public health, especially in communities where access
to mental health resources is limited. As a means to provide greater access and guidance to
those needing help, BRYCE lists mental health resources for youth and parents, while
facilitating greater resilience among community members. This summer, as a way to ensure that
those in the community are capable of receiving the support they need, I updated BRYCE to
make sure that the website was user friendly, and that resource links were still accessible.
In addition to working on BRYCE, I also had the opportunity to conduct SEL lessons and
develop a pre- and post-assessment for Beacon House’s SEL curriculum and for younger
students. Developed for kindergarten through third grade, the Beacon House SEL curriculum
supports the competencies of self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision making,
relationship skills, and social awareness for students through educational and entertaining
classroom activities. A pre- and post-assessment were developed to measure the effectiveness
of the SEL curriculum for K-3 students at Beacon House.
I am more than thankful to have been able to work with great staff and mentors both at Beacon
House and GW this summer. Working with Dr. Ruiz, Beacon House staff, including Ms. Schmutz
and Ms. Page, and my fellow MCH CoE fellowship recipient Alandrea, I have learned so much
about supporting community-based organizations and the logistics of operating public health
programs. As a DMV native, being able to collectively work with and uplift my community strikes
home for me. Beacon House is special, not just for its ability to support DC’s youth, but also by
providing a safe place for young people of similar backgrounds to encourage and understand
one another. I am more than honored to have worked with Beacon House this summer, and I
look forward to continuing to support Beacon House in the future.