Health disparities among racial and ethnic groups persist despite our Nation's efforts to address them. Healthy People 2010 reflects the culmination of our Nation's commitment toward eliminating health disparities. The last decade has seen a significant increase in attention from academicians, policy makers, planners, service providers and community advocates to health disparities among racial and ethnic groups. This increased awareness has led to a wealth of community-campus research endeavors and the development of targeted interventions. What role, if any, should community-campus partnerships play in the elimination of health disparities? What strengths, if any, do community-campus partnerships provide in addressing health disparities? How can community-campus partnerships alleviate some of the underlying issues such as lack of health access and heath insurance related to racial and ethnic health disparities? This session will consider these questions and the broader issues they raise including the lack of trust between community and academia. It will discuss efforts to employ community-campus partnerships aimed at eliminating health disparities as well as how to develop an agenda for forging effective community-campus partnerships. In particular, the session will underscore the successful community-campus partnerships undertaken by the Center for Community Health Education, Research, and Service (CCHERS), a partnership of twelve community health centers, two academic institutions and several community based organizations. More specifically, the session will highlight several community- based initiatives and interventions involving community-campus partnerships, aimed at eliminating or reducing health disparities, which CCHERS has played a role in developing, negotiating, implementing and maintaining.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Community-Based Partnership, Community-Based Health Promotion
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Center for Community Health Education, Research, and Service (CCHERS)
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: full-time employee