Roddey Jones, Assistant Director of Policy and Partnerships and Senior Project Manager and Training Specialist at the National SafeCare Training and Research Center, says that ensuring young children have a nurturing, safe and healthy home environment is work that he believes in, and that he gets to see the impact every day.
When did you join the School of Public Health, and what do you enjoy about working here?
I started in 2012 as a Graduate Research Assistant with Prevent Child Abuse Georgia (now Positive Childhood Alliance Georgia). In April of 2014, I joined SafeCare full time and have been here ever since. I love working at SPH and NSTRC in particular because of my amazing colleagues and the impact SafeCare has in supporting families with young children. We've got a tight-knit, fun team including supportive leadership.
What’s a typical workday for you like?
My time is split between collaborating with external partners (coalitions, state committees and workgroups, and other home visiting models), working with new and existing implementations, supporting agency supervisors and trainers, conference exhibits and presentations, and helping out with research projects as needed. We work with sites across the country and internationally, so sometimes the hours are all over the place.
What about your work are you most proud of?
All the family success stories that SafeCare-implementing agencies share with us (see our LinkedIn for examples). SafeCare is implemented in 24 states and eight different countries, so we continue to expand our reach. Over the last several years, I've also loved collaborating with other evidence-based home visiting models to promote home visiting as an effective strategy for family support. This is work I really believe in, and I get to see the impact every single day.
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not at work?
Outside of work, I play tennis whenever I can and spend a ton of time playing with our two daughters (ages 4 and 1.5).