142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

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Engaging the Community in a Learning Framework: Highlights from a Place-Based Building Healthy Communities Initiative

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014

Laura Hoyt D'Anna, DrPH , Center for Health Equity Research, California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
Suzanne Padilla, MA , Center for Health Equity Research, California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
Jennifer Chheang, MA , The California Endowment, Los Angeles, CA
Rene M. Castro, MSW , Building Healthy Communities: Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
Mona Jhawar, MPH , The California Endowment, Los Angeles, CA
C. Kevin Malotte, DrPH , Center for Health Equity Research, California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach, CA
Background:  Long Beach (LB) is one of 14 California sites participating in The California Endowment’s (TCE) 10-year, Building Healthy Communities (BHC) place-based, policy and systems change initiative. BHC uses a core learning framework that, “…prioritizes the practices of inquiry, reflection and adaptation.”  BHCLB developed learning communities to promote a dedicated space for dialogue, learning, and feedback loops among community members.  

Methods:  Approaches to facilitating learning communities include: 1) Community residents, BHCLB steering committee members, and organizational partners engaging in a process to define resident power, establish measurement indicators, and develop a survey. 2) Results from evaluation data collection are shared with involved BHCLB members using informal debriefing dialogue, and next steps are formulated from within respective workgroups. 3) TCE grantees participated in small group discussions about desired approaches to creating evaluation feedback loops that maximize learning among agencies and residents. 4) Piloting a workshop to assist residents and community stakeholders in advancing their skills in planning meaningful objectives for community campaigns and evaluating progress.  5) Regular “breakfast clubs” are held where community partners gather for informal roundtable discussions to reflect on thought-provoking literature, current events or policies, and BHC-related evaluation findings.

Results: Progress has been made in bringing community members together, and participants have provided positive feedback. BHCLB is exploring new methods for expanding its learning communities.

Conclusion:  Learning communities provide a unique forum to reflect on BHC strategies, maximize learning, adapt and refine approaches.  Additionally, innovative ideas and enthusiasm are coalesced to create a shared vision among community partners.

Learning Areas:

Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
Formulate an understanding of differences between traditional evaluation approaches and approaches that value learning as the primary objective for evaluating activities and growth. Demonstrate how meaningful learning communities can be constructed with residents and other community stakeholders to inform community-based research and evaluation.

Keyword(s): Community-Based Partnership & Collaboration, Evaluation

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have 20 years of experience in public and community health research and evaluation, with particular interest in racial and ethnic health disparities, health impacts of discrimination, and other social determinants of health. I received specific training on community-based evaluation and qualitative data collection and analysis during my doctoral program. I have served on the Learning and Evaluation Team for Building Healthy Communities: Long Beach for the last three years.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.