O u r S t o r y
We are a team of students, educators, clinicians, and social workers dedicated to transforming community education.
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F o u n d e r s S t o r yETCH was founded by undergraduate and medical students as they navigated their experience at the University of Washington. The co-founders concluded that there was a need for high-quality health education content, laid out in an easily understandable format, within homeless populations. They began to build a comprehensive resource database that catered to all types of learners. After many years of hard work and pilot-testing with focus groups and experts, they began distributing educational content through what is now called ETCH.
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O u r M i s s i o nETCH is an interdisciplinary student organization that collaborates with the University of Washington School of Medicine’s SHIFA chapter to offer weekly health education sessions to homeless adults in downtown Seattle. Through our community partnerships we strive to create health education curriculum that bridges evidence-based practice and the voices of the many homeless communities in Seattle with the goal of providing knowledge, skills, and tools to improve the quality of life of our participants.
We harness the most up-to-date CDC-verified information, and develop illustrations, photographs, interactive PowerPoint modules, brochures, and pamphlets. Our educational content is vetted by clinicians and medical students to ensure our information is accurate and up to date. |
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O u r C o m m u n i t y
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Through community partnerships, we create health education curriculum that bridges evidence-based practice and the voices of the many homeless communities in Seattle. These partnerships aim to be a resource that provides knowledge, skills, and tools to improve the quality of each participant’s life and community. We commit to practice and promote mutual respect that actively challenges racism, classism, sexism, and heterosexism. We will educate our student volunteers on issues facing the urban underserved and inspire a lifelong commitment to social change.
Ongoing Projects: Community Health Navigators Mental illness in the homeless community carries an enormous stigma. We hope to reduce the stigma that surrounds the seeking of mental health support by training individuals as CHNs. Employment & Education Partnership We hope to work with shelter residents on their resumes/CVs, organize unemployment benefits applications, apply to Adult Basic Education & GED courses, utilize LinkedIn/Indeed/Glassdoor, attend financial aid appointments at hospitals, and provide technical skill tutorials in Microsoft Office. |
