Building Youth Programs with Dr. Melanie Bean from Children's Hospital of Richmond at VCU

What does it really take to build youth programs that actually create a movement towards change?

In this conversation, we explore why successful youth health initiatives are rarely one-and-done. From forming unexpected partnerships to navigating barriers, we unpack how staying flexible and listening closely can lead to the most meaningful impact.

We talk about what happens when young people are given a true seat at the table, not just as participants but as co-creators, and why that changes everything. We also discuss how programs grow over time and why every challenge is an opportunity to pivot and build something stronger.

This is a reminder that real change takes time, trust, and collaboration; that youth are more than ready to lead if we’re willing to listen.

Transcript

C.J. Stermer (00:00)
Hi Melanie, thanks so much for joining me today.

Melanie Bean (00:01)
Thanks so much for joining me

for having me CJ.

When we talk a lot about we think it's sometimes just a one of right, we wanna focus on fruits and vegetables, and how do we get kids to eat better?

C.J. Stermer (00:04)
When we talk a lot about nutrition we think it's sometimes just a one and done thing And we want to focus on fruits and vegetables and how do we get kids to eat better?

But something that you all have done when it comes to healthy living and nutrition is the idea of hydration and water and the importance that actually plays when it comes to thinking about the whole child.

Melanie Bean (00:11)
But something that you all have done when it healthy living and nutrition is the idea of hydration and water and the importance that actually plays when it comes to thinking about the

C.J. Stermer (00:24)
Where did this journey to hydration work in Virginia schools come from?

Melanie Bean (00:24)
water? Where did this journey to hydration work and forgiveness will

So I'm a behavioral scientist by training. So what that means is I kind of study ⁓ how we can optimize behaviors, change behaviors to help reduce disease risk, improve our health. And I always like to focus on children. When we do early intervention, helps shape our eating and exercise behaviors young and also helps prevent the health problems that tend to develop as we get older. ⁓ So

My work has really always been in the area of obesity prevention. I do that through, treatment studies, kind of more traditionally in a clinic setting. But then I have kind of the other side of which is looking nutrition policy how can our defaults, so our policy and our environmental defaults.

set up so that it's easier to make the healthy choice versus a less health promoting choice. And I really love both of those worlds, but the nutrition policy work just has such a huge reach when you think of how many people are impacted by policies or when you change an environment, it can have just such a huge reach to reaching so many more children focusing on an individual level type intervention.

this work in hydration really is kind of just evolved over the years growing out of our strong partnerships with local schools and our local community. And it really was a need that was identified by our school and that's kind of where we came in as the academic partner with the with this district. They said there was an idea with the school district coming a little bit more about that. What was the specific people were they missing? So this district had

C.J. Stermer (01:54)
So you said there was a need with the school district. Tell me a little bit more about that. What was the specific need? What were they missing?

Melanie Bean (02:02)
already been focusing on water. They had passed a model water policy. Really their school health advisory board had identified that adequate hydration is really important for learning. It's important for cognitive development, kind of these key skills that are needed for academic success. But we also know hydration is important for good body health, good teeth health, maintaining a healthy weight.

C.J. Stermer (02:24)
Right.

Melanie Bean (02:24)
and that

⁓ sugar, sweetened beverage intake is excessive, and that the kind of existing policies at the federal level really weren't enough to translate to significant change at the local level. And so this district had passed this policy. and Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth were really champions of this policy. They really helped them develop it. And it was...

kind of aspirational is really exciting, but the timing really coincided with the first return to school after the school buildings were closed from the COVID pandemic. So implementation of the policy really just had challenges. school district did a lot of work to really invest in changing the environment. helping, they replaced their water fountains with hydration stations during this time, these water bottle refill stations, which brought great

strengths, which is children prefer these stations to fountains. They're more palatable. But what it also did is added the need for drinking vessels. So without adequate access to a drinking vessel, you really can't use these stations. And during this time, just like a lot of districts, this district did have their water fountains off because of COVID. So it was kind of this evolving, hey, we've got these strengths. These things we're trying to pass.

and really optimize water intake in kids and in our district. But there are these challenges where they were just struggling with kind of how to really implement this policy. so it's not just implemented as planned, but that it also kind of sticks and helps to create this culture of healthy hydration in the school. you want to stay hydrated, they want you to drink water. So they have these wasn't like there wasn't this actual access.

C.J. Stermer (03:59)
Got it. So, understand want to stay hydrated. They want kids to drink water. So they had these water like there wasn't this actual access. But you

started running to this issue of, know, we have these let's call it barriers because of the pandemic is that we can't use water fountains. And then you ran into this other issue OK, well, now we can put these hydration stations in. But now the kids don't have anything to actually drink of.

Melanie Bean (04:07)
But you started running to this issue of, know, we what's called barriers and the pandemic is that we can't use water masks. And then you ran to this of like, okay, well now we can put in hydration stations, but now the kids don't have anything. You actually out of

C.J. Stermer (04:21)
Because you have to put water in something. You So

Melanie Bean (04:22)
the juicer water and yes.

C.J. Stermer (04:24)
what did you all do to get that barrier? How were you all able to get the vessels that they needed?

Melanie Bean (04:26)
through that barrier? How were you all able to get the best food that they

need? Yeah, so we have a long standing partnership with this district through other work, school salad bars, work in the school nutrition environment. And we have a partner called Fit for Kids, and they are also deeply embedded in the schools and have very strong partnerships in the school. And of course, Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth has done Rev Your Bev programming the schools.

we've all been partners kind of together for a long time. So this was kind of the time that the district through these partnerships, reached out and we and said like, you hey, I think we need to, look at this a little more systematically or can we can we figure out how can we address these barriers and understand the strengths. we initially had some missteps, which happens a lot, right, ⁓ where we said, you need water vessels, drinking vessels, let's give you some. I,

went to the Children's Hospital Foundation, who's been fantastic partners of work in the community. And they donated water bottles to the district. So I think it was something like 26,000 water bottles. And this was, again, poorly executed, And we take some, we take responsibility for this, but they had access, but we gave no guidance. So there was lots of water bottles that looked exactly the same with no names on them. ⁓

C.J. Stermer (05:25)
wow, that's a lot.

Melanie Bean (05:39)
you know, really little guidance about what are they supposed to do with these water bottles? Are they supposed to stay at school, go home? How do we wash them? Do kids have rules about them? You know, and so it was, it was a little bit of a mess, but it was a good step one, where we knew okay, so access isn't enough, you know, there needs to be some structure, there needs to be some parameters. And really, we realized we just need to be a lot more thoughtful and systematic about how we're approaching this issue.

C.J. Stermer (06:06)
Right,

right. So it brings up a good point that I think a lot of us tend to forget sometimes is sometimes we can't think of everything. We make mistakes, right? We do the best we can and the resources in which we have been given. But sometimes there are missteps along the way. But I think you said it best is that, OK, well, we have to stop, take a step back, reevaluate. How do we solve some of these newer problems we're discovering to to move forward with our goal?

Melanie Bean (06:07)
Yeah. Right. of brings up a good point that I think a lot of us tend to forget sometimes is sometimes we can't think of everything. Right. We make mistakes, right? We do the best we can in the resources which we have to give it. But sometimes there are missteps along the way. But I think you said it best is that, OK, well, we have to stop, take a step back, re-evaluate how do we solve some of these newer problems we're continue to move forward with our

How are you all able

C.J. Stermer (06:32)
How are you all able

know, realize what was happening and then make that pivot?

Melanie Bean (06:33)
you realize what was happening and then make that

So we sought funding. So we sought some small internal funding again from our local Children's Hospital Foundation. And we we really were thoughtful about what formative work we needed to do. So we established a community advisory board. That was step one. we knew this was not a academic solution. You know, this had this was going to be a solution. That was a joint solution between

you know, key partners within this district who understood the district, you know, who are living in the district. ⁓ So we established a community advisory board of parents, teachers, students, some administrators. We all and that actually we just had our ⁓ we just kicked off our fifth year last night with our with our board meeting last night, ⁓ which is pretty cool. Yeah. So we've we've had just a great consistent, you know, eight eight members of this community advisory board and they've advised us on

C.J. Stermer (07:17)
wow, congrats!

Melanie Bean (07:25)
all aspects of this work that we're going to talk about. But from the very beginning, it was, hey, should we address hydration? Is this the issue we address? related to hydration so that we can...

really start to understand the strengths that they're bringing to the table and then the gaps. next step is we conducted what we call key informant interviews. So kind of finding through really selective recruiting, like who are people who can really give a deep dive to understand the hydration landscape in this district. So recruited wellness leaders within the district.

outside of the district, but who work within the schools. So on health and related programming, and then people related to kind of policy work that was relevant within this setting. understanding the themes that were emerging from these interviews.

then the next step was kind of with our full environmental scan is we partnered with students and teachers within the school districts at all of the elementary select middle

all of the drinking water sources and did an assessment of the quality of them. Is there trash? Does it this really had a great capacity building lens as well, right, where we were really kind of teaching teachers and students research skills.

having them engaged in the process. So it wasn't with partners supporting and helping. this was really, you know, a pretty big undertaking, to get really extensive formative data, just to really understand kind of what's happening with this hydration landscape, how can we design an intervention that

builds is importantly delivered by and with our partners at the district versus kind of being a program that we're going to come in and do this and then leave. Right. So that was very important that this was kind of driven by the district to be conducted by the district and hopefully sustainable when the funding runs out. Got it. So we took a step back to say, OK, well, let's look at the entire landscape.

C.J. Stermer (09:06)
Right.

Got it. So we took a step back to say, okay, well, let's look at the entire landscape. We've run

into these barriers. We know we need to do this thing. It's very important. First, you started with unique partnerships and asked for help in different places, which I think is really cool to call out. And then took a pause. Let's evaluate what we have to work with. And then you took another step further and you brought in thought leaders.

Melanie Bean (09:21)
run into these barriers. We know we need to do this thing very important. First, you started with unique partnerships and asked for help in different places, which I think is really cool to call out. And then took a Let's evaluate what we have to work with. And then you took another step further and you brought in thought leaders.

C.J. Stermer (09:37)
You brought in community members and and teachers and students to actually have opinions and to bring seats at the table, which

Melanie Bean (09:37)
You brought in community members and teachers, students that actually have opinions and to bring seats at the table.

C.J. Stermer (09:44)
we talk a lot about here about the importance of doing that. To your point, what you just said, don't just create something because we think we need to create something. We know kids need hydration, so let's just make a hydration program and implement it and call it a day. Like that's not what we're doing here. We're doing something that's a little bit more intentional to make sure that we can create an effective campaign

Melanie Bean (09:44)
which we talk a lot about here about the importance of doing that to your point. We just say, just create something that you think we need to create something. We know kids need hydration, so let's just make hydration a remnant of women in college. That's not what we're doing here. We're doing something that's a little bit more intentional to make sure that we can create an effective

stuff now, and now we have of we want to create an intervention based on information.

C.J. Stermer (10:03)
and now we have this idea of we want to create an intervention based on the information that we have.

What did you guys do to start implementing a more efficient and more intentional program?

Melanie Bean (10:07)
What did you guys do to start implementing the more efficient and more intentional

program? where were the themes emerging? What were the ideas that were emerging? And ⁓ a good framework that was helpful for us was the social ecological model, right? Which is telling us that an individual's drinking water behavior is informed by multiple levels. So the individual, their school.

in their family, their community, their neighborhoods, and then kind of at the widest level, the policies that kind of govern all of this. So we made sure that our needs assessment was really kind of assessing all of those levels. And then we designed that intervention to address all of those levels. And we developed an intervention and where we ultimately landed, whereas there was kind of

three key components. ⁓ There was behavioral reinforcement. we know, right, they were all evidence-based strategies, right, behavioral reinforcement. So reinforcing the things you want kids to keep doing. ⁓ We applied education and outreach to both at the student level, the teacher level, and the parent level, and caregiver, and then social marketing. So one of the cool things that we did first is some of the feedback that came out was, you know, we need

some signage, you know, but we want this signage to be not just super boring saying like drink water, you know, so what we decided to do is partner with a graphic designer. He's an advertising consultant that we've worked with in the past and we convened a group of student ambassadors. We call them our student marketing ambassadors and we had

Zoom sessions actually with them, which was kind of fun for fourth and fifth graders to really brainstorm with them, get their thoughts, get their ideas should this even know, we showed them, advertising ideas for things like, how do, do sugar drinks advertise their products? Right. And we, what we really wanted to do is

C.J. Stermer (11:59)
wow.

Melanie Bean (11:59)
kind of like turn that on its head and say like, okay, how can we use some of these same strategies to market healthy stuff like water? so it was really pretty cool. You you almost to like the advertising that, hey, this is actually what your beverages do. It's like that you almost started an didn't there of itself for sure. Show them like, hey, what if we use similar tactics to then focus on water and make those

C.J. Stermer (12:09)
That is cool. you introduced them to the advertising that, hey, this is actually what sugary beverages do. You almost started an intervention program there in of itself to then show them like, hey, what if we use similar tactics to then focus on water and letting make those decisions?

actually really cool.

Melanie Bean (12:26)
really actually really

was super know, it's just really great at getting the kids to think like he gets given brainstorming prompts like, you know, how do you feel when you're when you're dehydrated and or give us the most wild story you can think of about, you know, X or Y or just really encouraging to think ⁓ really out of the box to get kids thinking and creative.

and helping them say why is water important to them and really probing for them to think about like, what's it feel like when you're so, so thirsty and you take that first big sip of ice cold water, like what happens? that gave him a lot of ideas. And he kind of came back then with like,

pitching them some thoughts. Okay, we got three possible themes for this campaign. they voted, and then they further developed the one they liked. And it was just this iterative process until we came to, ⁓ okay, here are the benefits of water that we want to promote, which were focus, mood, and energy. Those were the ones most important to them. Here's the theme, which was superheroes, you know, like all kids love superheroes. So the superhero.

C.J. Stermer (13:29)
Yeah.

Melanie Bean (13:30)
The water bottles turned into these three different superheroes. the tagline, so make water your just incredible designs and fun posters and floor decals. So that was kind of in itself like a pretty cool undertaking just to develop the marketing campaign that was going to be used within this intervention.

C.J. Stermer (13:51)
Wow. So not only did you create a seat at the table and you made it

us by us situation. So they were more apt to use it, but you gave them purpose. You taught them sort of almost this new skill set stretch their creativity. And like, this is ours. We get to implement our own thing. And I would imagine they continue to evolve.

Melanie Bean (13:55)
for us by of situation. they were more apt to use it. But you gave them purpose. You all have new confidence or all of your Yeah. Stretch their creativity. This is ours. Yeah. We get to implement our own thing. And I would imagine they continue to

C.J. Stermer (14:10)
they continue to just get excited about it. Did the program continue to expand? Did it grow? What was that feedback like?

Melanie Bean (14:12)
Yeah.

we conducted a pilot of it first. at two schools. ⁓ A key a key part of the program is that we have teacher and student ambassadors at each school and they play key roles in the intervention. The teacher ambassador

she's really like the liaison between the study team and the school, but You know, she's in charge of overseeing the student ambassadors and their work making wellness announcements and other things in that role. to keep that ownership of at the school level. The students that this teacher would nominate, they are student ambassadors.

And they have key roles also ⁓ of tracking their school's water usage on this like giant water meter we put in the school. ⁓ They would help kind of the teacher with these tasks like rotating the trivia out, making morning announcements. And when we interviewed the students at the end of our pilot year to say, you know, what did they like? What could we have done differently? What should we expand on? They were just like more superheroes, more superheroes.

after that pilot, this is at 12 schools. what we're working on right now is we are ⁓ expanding on the stories of these superheroes. So ⁓ we have a new group of student ambassadors. some were our previous group, but some new ones that came from our, that were student ambassadors at the schools.

And we're further developing these storylines. So identifying what their superpower is, who the villain is in the story, and how can we make these, and we're making graphic novels to really depict kind of a fun story that's again, reinforcing the educational content of the intervention, doing so in a way that's a lot more palatable and easier to digest sometimes than like just telling kids what to do.

C.J. Stermer (15:51)
Right.

Melanie Bean (15:54)
We just had our last meeting with the kids yesterday to show them okay, here's the developed storyline and got some great input. And one of the biggest pieces of input was they want more villains. So, right, so like, yeah. So like Tooth Decay, you know, the villain or the dehydration monster or Heatwave, yeah.

C.J. Stermer (16:14)
That's great. Those are really

cool villains, very creative and right. What's a superhero without a supervillain? what are you fighting? Right. I love it. So it's not just this handing out pamphlets and putting up flyers. You're making this more intentional. It's you have this graphic novel. You have this really engaging way of getting kids to actually absorb the content to to to see themselves in the content. Right. And it's it's becoming more a very effective intervention campaign.

Melanie Bean (16:17)
Right, yeah, I love it. So it's not just this handing out pamphlets and putting up flyers. Correct. it more intentional. It's got this graphic novel. You have this really engaging way of getting kids to actually absorb the content, to see themselves in the content, right? Correct. It's becoming more very effective intervention campaigns.

C.J. Stermer (16:41)
because it's something that they created. I think that's super important.

Melanie Bean (16:42)
because it's something that they created. think that's

It really starts with a kickoff. At the kickoff, it's like an assembly. The kids come through. They all get a water bottle that they pick their own decal. So one of the superhero decals to get placed on the water bottle and a label with their name. And they also pick the color of the lid. So there's three different colors. And this was, again, overcoming those issues that we faced at the beginning.

The second station, go and they learn how to clean the water bottle, that ownership and autonomy, because these water bottles will stay at school. They learn to kind of how much soap to use, how to clean them with the bottle brush. And then in the third station, they get to have some experiential activities and get to taste some fruit infused water. ⁓ So this was kind of a fun kickoff. The kids loved it. And then, like I said, the kids keep these water bottles at school. So the teachers received cleaning supplies. So a dish rack.

bottle brush, soap for their classroom. They also receive a laminated sign with like the water bottle procedures and how the kids, what are the rules around the water bottles? When should you refill them? How should you clean them? When should you clean them? ⁓ Where should you store them? So we provided that sign with the dry erase marker for the, some rules are set like only use water in your water bottle, but then others ⁓ for teachers have autonomy over.

deciding kind of the cleaning storage and refilling. And then on random days, we would come through the cafeteria. And if we saw children with a water bottle they would get a cool hydrate wristband or another decal for their water bottle. Sometimes it was the superheroes, sometimes it was an emoji or just a cat or something fun.

The teachers also have these reinforcers so they can reinforce what we call smart sippers when they see them. There's some tip sheets that go home to the that education is around, but it's not like kind of in your face. ⁓ Yeah. And then some really cool wellness integration lessons, which are designed by our partner Fit for Kids, which align with the standards of learning.

C.J. Stermer (18:30)
in your face yeah.

Melanie Bean (18:39)
content, so they're teaching kind of the academic content of let's say it's a math word problem, but doing it in a way that involves movement and also is reinforcing these key components of the hydration intervention. So really creative way to continue to reinforce the, strong body, strong mind, strong teeth,

C.J. Stermer (18:51)
tomorrow.

Melanie Bean (18:55)
all of those kind of were launched throughout this 12 week intervention.

things to kind of make water fun and cool and get them excited about it. And with the intent and hope that...

then is designed in such a way that it really can be sustained with minimal costs recurring in future years. Got it. think it's so simple as a small. Small, yep.

C.J. Stermer (19:12)
Right.

Got it. is so simple as a decal small, but unique and something that they want. That's great. And

doing the behavior to get rewarded and you're solving a barrier that you had before. Let's create some uniqueness. but I like that you're thinking about the if scenario that sometimes we don't think about it's like, okay, hydration, here's this

Melanie Bean (19:20)
doing the behavior to get rewarded. You're solving a barrier that you had before. Let's create some school. But I like that you're thinking about the what if scenario. Sometimes we don't think about like, okay, hydration. Here's

C.J. Stermer (19:35)
place to fill your water and here's a vessel to put it in. But okay, well, you also have to store these bottles. You also have to clean these bottles. we also have to make sure they understand the information when they leave the school and how to continue the behavior. And

Melanie Bean (19:35)
a place to your water in here, but that's what it's all about. But okay, we also have the story, we also have the that. also make sure they understand the information when they leave with that, how to continue the

C.J. Stermer (19:44)
so you all have thought about all these steps as you've continued to evolve, which I think is really important because sometimes we just think about we want to be intentional, but here's the program. Well, sometimes it can get bigger than that. And we learn as we go.

Melanie Bean (19:45)
So you all have thought about all these steps as you continue to evolve, which I think is really important. Sometimes we just think about, we want to be intentional, but here's the program. sometimes it can get bigger than that. We learn as

And now we're there's all these supplies that came with that. would imagine sometimes these there's funding that comes with this. How are you all able to think about how do these people How are you all able to

C.J. Stermer (19:57)
And now we're learning that, there's all these supplies that came with that. And I would imagine sometimes these things, there's funding that comes with this. How are you all able to think about how how do these people pay for all this? How are you all able to think about

the funding to continue to make sure these programs continue every year?

Melanie Bean (20:09)
funding to continue to continue

Great question. this initial research study to really test and understand this intervention is funded by the National Institutes of new things that have come up that maybe we didn't anticipate because we're continually getting feedback from our cab, from our students, from our teachers about things they like or things to enhance leads to things we didn't budget for.

Also, we knew that the water bottles were going to be a recurring cost. And we'd from the beginning been working the district leaders about budgets and how can they build this into their budget or how support them and work with them to partner funding agencies have these recurring costs knowing we're going to have to replace these every year. But in addition to that, ⁓

we made sure we really designed the intervention to be very low cost. once it was in and recurring costs should be minimal, but they weren't nothing.

we are continuing to just seek additional sources of funding. So a great grant from NASCAR, the NASCAR Foundation, which funded of our superhero We submitted a grant to CarMax which would support

bottles kind of continued water bottles as well as some of these costs during the sustainability year that we Weren't anticipating we would provide but so for example will provide ⁓ Water bottle storage like these caddies that they kids put them water bottles in when they're not using them bottle brush or the soap right or the clue the dish rack The idea was these stay in the school and then the school buys, you know new new soap and new brushes as they run out

we wanted to make sure we could support kind of the key things that are really needed to sustain this intervention.

The water bottles is the biggest cost by far. enhanced the water bottle based on feedback. The initial a lot. had a better, much much better quality one. The kids and the teachers were really excited about it, but it doubled the cost. And so we just keep writing grants to local foundations. Our Children's Hospital Foundation are fantastic partners that really help us do this and help us support these initiatives. So we just kind of keep.

keep writing grants and asking for some funding to support this initiative. I think that's a really important thing to call out saw unique unlikeliest of places. Like if you were to tell me at any given day that I was going to go to NASCAR or CarMax to ask for money for hydration, pay me a million dollars to get that one right.

C.J. Stermer (22:20)
Wow, I think that's a really important thing to call out sought unique in the unlikeliest of places. Like if you were to tell me at any given day that I was gonna go to NASCAR or CarMax to ask for money for hydration in schools, you couldn't pay me a million dollars to guess that one right off the top of my

I think that that's such a to seek

Melanie Bean (22:39)
Like I think that's such a place

C.J. Stermer (22:42)
is often a barrier for anyone in any program. And you knew these costs were coming. interventions are not free to do most of the time. And so I think really important for everyone to hear go out and see where funding is you've got to double click and to utilize the partnerships you have to continue to ask and go to CarMax

Melanie Bean (22:43)
Which is often a barrier for anyone in any program. And you knew these costs Interventions are not free to do most of the time. And so I what's really for everyone go out and see where funding just, sometimes you've to double click in to utilize the partnerships you have to continue to add in.

Yeah,

C.J. Stermer (23:03)
and NASCAR.

Melanie Bean (23:04)
right.

C.J. Stermer (23:04)
to

ask for funding, especially when we're talking about young people. I can't think of many organizations that would be like, no, I don't want to help young people. Like that's not a thing.

Melanie Bean (23:07)
I can't think of any organizations that would be like, no, I don't want to help people. That's not the

have an associated foundation that has a mission. And you can kind of do these lookups about what is their mission. And Walmart and Children's Miracle Network, really, it's at those foundation funds can really help fill needs.

I think especially sometimes when it's really not, you're not asking for like research funds, right? What we really just needed was like the bottles, you know? we weren't studying the bottles in this particular case. We just needed to be able to replace them and make sure kids had access to drinking vessels as that's really fundamental, so the story and what's the purpose of this?

C.J. Stermer (23:35)
Right.

Right, simple bottles.

Melanie Bean (23:50)
making sure we're finding kind of the right funder who's interested in this type of a gift. I think that's so important is that you didn't just also show up and pay any money. It was very intentional about the partnership that you saw, not just with who they were, but you have the information you needed, right? You would solve information from the people that were contributing to the intervention.

C.J. Stermer (23:57)
I think that's so important is that you didn't just also show up and say, I need money. It was very intentional about the partnership that you saw it, not just with who they were, but you had the information you needed, right? You had sought information from the people that were contributing to the intervention.

You knew you were gonna need the water bottles and the things that came with that, you know, the stations and the storage and the cleaning. This was all stuff you knew because you were able to have people have the seat at the table to provide input.

Melanie Bean (24:13)
You knew you were going to need the water bottles and the things that came with that. The stations and the storage and the cleaning. This was all stuff you knew because you were able to have people have the seat at the table to put

C.J. Stermer (24:25)
that was using intervention. I think that that's so important there's this huge big picture of everything that we need to think about. it's not just sit down, create something in a couple of weeks and get it done. It really does take a village and it takes asking for help and it takes unique

Melanie Bean (24:25)
that in I think that's so There's this huge big picture and everything that we need to It's not just to decorate something in a couple of weeks and get it done. It really does take a village and it takes asking for help and it takes...

C.J. Stermer (24:39)
partnerships in the craziest places and really learning as you go. You have to evolve. You can't just think you're going to do a one and done. I think that that's important. How do we empower people to think like that? Right. And in your perspective,

Melanie Bean (24:39)
you need partnerships in the craziest places. You're really learning as you go. You can't just think you're going to do a one and done. I think that's important. How do we empower people to think like that? In your perspective,

C.J. Stermer (24:53)
We talk to educators and we talk to people in public health like yourself, and we talk to practitioners and medical practitioners, just all kinds of people that work with improving the health of our young people around this country. How do we empower them to think like this? What can we tell them to do so

Melanie Bean (24:53)
we talk to educators and we talk to people in public health like yourself, we talk to practitioners and medical practitioners, all kinds of people that work with improving the health of our young people around the country. How do we empower them to think? What can we tell them to do?

C.J. Stermer (25:08)
that they can see success like you?

Melanie Bean (25:09)
so that they can be successful

like Yeah, I think community-based participatory research is growing, thank goodness. I will say this is not the lens that I initially applied to my work when I first started, but now that I'm kind of in it, I'm like, oh, this is it. How did I ever do a study without a community advisory board to guide I think it's just really saying helpers want to help, right?

C.J. Stermer (25:36)
Right.

Melanie Bean (25:36)
⁓

I think even often good intentions from helpers come from like, hey, here's what I think might be best or the science says might be best, but you need to really understand the lived experience of you're really focusing on. like, you need to hear what do they think is best, right? It's gonna be more feasible, more sustainable. Again, it's that, and I think approaching it, knowing it...

C.J. Stermer (25:54)
Yeah.

Melanie Bean (26:01)
These types of things aren't fast, right? but we did, I think three years of formative work, you know, before we had an intervention. know, that in itself is a gift that we were able to kind of find the right funder who funded that type of pilot work, you know, which we know is so important.

C.J. Stermer (26:09)
Wow.

Melanie Bean (26:18)
to really then have a application to try to fund the big intervention. But yeah, I think it's just really knowing like your community knows itself best. Your community knows its strengths, your community knows its gaps and them not just be kind of partners in a, true partners, like having them be true partners that are invested from the are not just informing the work, but they are engaged in the work.

C.J. Stermer (26:39)
All right.

Melanie Bean (26:44)
So it's it's just a true partnership and it takes time and it can't be a one and done and it's not an in and out. You know, it's just nurturing it and developing the relationship. And it feels so good. You know, it just feels so good when you when you do it right. Yeah.

C.J. Stermer (26:55)
Yeah.

Yeah, it's not a one and done. The unique partnerships are important, but they don't happen overnight. And have a seat at the table, but the implementation is also part of that seat at the table. We talked about people want to have a seat at the table, but then make sure that they're coming along the journey, not just giving input.

Right? Because to your point, these young people, not only they design it and had input, but then they were actually part of the implementation and you created this whole, you know, movement within these schools because all their friends were a part of this thing that their friends created and they want to be a part of the creation. And it was just this domino effect where the community members saw value. Right? Because sometimes people say, well, I try to get them involved, but they don't want to stay involved. And it's like, OK, well, are you making them a part of the journey the whole way? Because when you do, you are seeing the benefit of that.

Melanie Bean (27:22)
But then they were actually part of the implementation and you created this whole, you know, movement within these schools because all their friends were a part of this thing that their friends created and they want to be a part of the creation. it was just a domino effect for the community members to solve value, right? Because sometimes people say, well, I try to get them involved, but they don't want to stay involved. It's like, okay, why are you making them a part of the journey the whole time? Because what you do, you are seeing the benefits of

that. It's for us, by

C.J. Stermer (27:47)
It's for us by us.

And then, like you said earlier, I we have to evolve. Things are going to come up. So how do we stop, evaluate, and, And I think that that's important. That's such really great feedback. ⁓ It's such a great program. Congrats on the success on the Hydrate program where we're getting kids to water. So hopefully we can water more young people.

Melanie Bean (27:49)
a journey. then like we have to evolve. Things are gonna come up. So how do we stop evaluating, know, I think that's important. That's such really great feedback. I mean, it's such a great program. Thank you. On the Hydrate program where we're getting kids the water so hopefully we can water more young

people. We'll let them grow.

C.J. Stermer (28:09)
throughout the country and

yeah, watch them grow. So we'll be listening. keep us updated on how we can maybe replicate some of these programs as this continue to develop and you get some new information back. So Melanie, thank you so much for your time today. This is a really great conversation.

Melanie Bean (28:13)
and keep us updated on how we can be reworking some of these programs that we think we've developed and to give some of the information back. Absolutely, yeah. So, Melanie, thank you so much for your time today. This was a really great conversation.

Thank you. I always love talking about our programs and these partnerships, so thanks for having me. Absolutely.

C.J. Stermer (28:29)
Absolutely.