Page 33 - Johns Hopkins Nursing Magazine Spring 2023 - Johns Hopkins School of Nursing

The program entered the Baltimore City Schools “[Humorist] Irma Bombeck used to say, ‘Parenting is
as a 2014-2017 study with support from six private the world’s largest on-the-job training program.’ And if
foundations, including the Fund for Educational you had truly great parents, you’re in a small minority
Excellence, a community organization. “It’s turned of people,” Gross insists. “Most of us have had parents
into this amazing partnership,” Gross says. “When who were highly fallible, who did the best that they
the study was over, the Fund continued to manage could but could have done a lot better for us. I’m one NEWS FROM JOHNS HOPKINS NURSING
the program in the city schools. All of the schools of them.”
continued to want to run the program, and the district
is now helping to pay for it. … It’s all being managed Still, “You cannot change children without parents.
by the community and the district, not us. And that’s Parents are not the cause of the problem. They’re
what you want to have happen with research in a the solution.”
community. You want it to be something that, once it’s
done, it stays with the community.” CPP offers those parents a realistic, real-world, and
even unique set of hacks.
In fact, of the Baltimore schools’ ownership of CPP,
Gross says, “I’ve been doing research for decades. It’s “There are a lot of parenting programs out there—
probably the thing I’m most proud of.” probably thousands of them,” Gross says. “I think
what makes [CPP] most attractive is a few things: It
Similar initiatives have been greeted with open arms was designed from the beginning with parents from
at the Cleveland Clinic, in Cincinnati, in Detroit, low-income communities. You don’t have to have a
Rochester, NY, and elsewhere. “So many agencies feel graduate degree in order to implement the program.
that they’re missing something important from their And it expands your workforce tremendously and
toolbox for addressing the needs of families raising expands the workforce from the community where you
young children in low-income communities.” want to have a positive impact.” ◼

Next for Gross and her colleagues is to study how the
program can be scaled for even greater impact on 31
communities. The signs are there. But as in parenting,
the job is never really done.

“You cannot change children without parents. Parents are

not the cause of the problem. They’re the solution.” MAGAZINE.NURSING.JHU.EDU