MCH Leadership, Education, and Advancement in Undergraduate Pathways Program - Purpose and Need. Nebraska faces a documented and worsening interdisciplinary maternal and child health (MCH) workforce shortage. Eighty-eight of the state’s 93 counties are designated mental health professional shortage areas, 24 counties have no behavioral health provider of any kind, and 14 counties have no primary care physician. Nearly half of Nebraska’s children, women of childbearing age, and youth live in rural areas where the full interdisciplinary MCH team—behavioral health, nursing, speech-language pathology, occupational and physical therapy, nutrition, developmental medicine, and social work—is often simply absent. The providers most likely to practice in rural Nebraska are those who come from it, yet no structured pathway introduces rural-origin undergraduates to MCH careers early enough to shape the graduate decisions that lead to rural practice. MMI-LEAP resolves this gap. Proposed Project and Services. MMI-LEAP is a three-tier undergraduate MCH training pipeline proposed by MMI with the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska (BHECN) and Nebraska Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND). It will recruit, train, mentor, and support at least 30 interdisciplinary undergraduate students per year, with priority recruitment from rural Nebraska counties. MMI— where behavioral health, developmental medicine, nursing, speech-language pathology, occupational and physical therapy, nutrition and intensive feeding, recreation therapy, and social work practice side by side—is the program’s central training asset. A four-week Tier 1 summer intensive immerses advanced medium-term trainees across this full interdisciplinary team; Tier 2 academic-year virtual seminars and site visits extend the pipeline statewide without relocation; and Tier 3 campus career events at rural partner colleges provide a broad, low-barrier entry point. The program delivers a comprehensive MCH curriculum, a multidisciplinary mentorship model with individual development plans, MCH internships and experiential learning, and a one-time stipend that removes the principal financial barrier to rural participation. MMI-LEAP builds directly on the established Undergraduate Behavioral Health Experience Practicum (UB-HEP), an operating model with documented positive trainee outcomes. Populations Served. MMI-LEAP serves interdisciplinary undergraduate students preparing for MCH healthcare and public health careers, with priority for students from rural and other medically underserved Nebraska communities, first-generation students, and those with financial need. Through these trainees, the program ultimately serves Nebraska’s MCH populations—mothers, infants, children, adolescents, and children and youth with special health care needs—in rural and frontier communities. Project Objectives. Over the period of performance, MMI-LEAP will (1) expose interdisciplinary undergraduates to MCH-related training, graduate programs, and healthcare and public health careers—at least 150 students over five years, including at least 75 from rural Nebraska counties; (2) provide targeted multidisciplinary mentoring to improve academic achievement, support leadership development, and guide post-graduate MCH career plans; (3) offer MCH internships and experiential learning across varied disciplines, formats, and locations, including rural and underserved sites; and (4) establish and strengthen academic-practice partnerships with MCH-related organizations, including the Nebraska Title V program and other HRSA/MCHB-funded programs, to expand the rural MCH workforce. Expected Outcomes. These activities will move more rural-origin, interdisciplinary undergraduates into MCH-related graduate programs and careers, strengthening the workforce serving rural and underserved Nebraska communities; BHECN and MMI are committed to sustaining the pipeline beyond federal support.
