Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center (COTRAIC) Early Head Start Inc.
Title: Family Health Education Toolkit
Student Interns:
Aya Moaz
University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health
Natalie Pruitt
University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health
Academic Preceptor:
Sharon Connor, PharmD
University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy
Community Preceptor:
Debbie Gallagher, MEd
Early Head Start Director, COTRAIC
Holly Santry
Administrative Coordinator, COTRAIC
Community Site:
The mission of Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center Inc. (COTRAIC) is to promote the socio-economic development of the Native American community and others facing similar economic difficulties in the Greater Pittsburgh metropolitan area. COTRAIC is the largest awardee of Early Head Start services across Pennsylvania, serving 536 children in Allegheny, Westmoreland, Washington, and Philadelphia counties. By operating its own Early Head Start classrooms, partnering with childcare centers, and providing home visits and family support, COTRAIC supports child development, parent/child bonding, and access to healthcare for low-income pregnant women and families with children up to 3 years of age across Pennsylvania.
Team’s Experience:
The Bridging the Gaps interns partnered with COTRAIC Early Head Start to develop practical family health education resources based on needs identified through conversations with staff and home visitors, observations during home visits, and parent survey responses. Their work focused on health safety and child development topics requested by families, including infant CPR, oral health, screen time, immunizations, and guidance on when to contact a healthcare provider. The team created a comprehensive Family Health Education Toolkit for Early Head Start containing more than 30 clear, accessible topics for use during enrollment, home visits, family engagement activities, and community outreach. The interns also supported children and families while learning how COTRAIC responds to community needs across multiple settings. The final toolkit offers COTRAIC staff and caregivers a practical resource that can continue supporting family education after the internship.
Reflections
COTRAIC showed me that community work is not only about providing information, but also about building relationships, listening carefully, and understanding the experiences behind each family’s needs. This experience pushed me outside my comfort zone, especially when speaking in front of groups and interacting with families and staff, and helped me become more confident in applying public health knowledge within a community setting. It also reminded me that the most meaningful resources are created with the community, not simply for it. I will carry forward the importance of listening first, leading with empathy, and creating with purpose in my future public health work.
Aya Moaz
My practicum at the Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center gave me hands-on experience with Early Head Start operations, from shadowing home visitors and childcare liaisons to working directly with the health coordinator on family-facing resources covering topics like MMR vaccination, health insurance enrollment, and developmental milestones. This immersion deepened my understanding of maternal and child health policy in practice, showing me how federal programs like EHS intersect with WIC, SNAP, TANF, and CYF/foster care systems to support families holistically. Coursework in health policy analysis and program management gave me the foundation to move confidently into tasks like creating workplans, analyzing stakeholder needs, and designing community-informed interventions during my time at COTRAIC. Ultimately, this practicum reinforced my professional interest in pairing policy implementation with maternal and child health work, and it pushed me to engage more deeply with an Allegheny County community I might not have otherwise encountered through my studies at Pitt. At COTRAIC, I learned to approach parenting/childcare as a team sport; everyone works together to support the families they serve across so many areas of their lives.
Natalie Pruitt
