The Center for Urban Population Health exists to advance population health research and education to improve the health of urban communities. We seek to create an environment for innovation and do so by bridging academic interests and community need through our many community-academic partnerships.
Community and academic engagement has been embedded in the organizational culture of the Center since its inception and continues to be at the heart of our Mission. The Center establishes strategic and project specific collaborations with partners such as
Engaging Community and Academia in Partnerships to Identify Solutions
The Center has developed an expertise in creating environments where community and academic partners can digest evidence and collectively adapt what works into local solutions. We support and provide a menu of approaches to engage with community or academia depending on the stage of research or program development. The Center can support a continuum of approaches, from engaging partnerships in creating new health promotion programming to creating advisory boards to inform and research council development or implementation.
Why Engage the Community?
It is increasingly necessary for population health researchers to engage the communities they work with, in order to effectively identify and address the health disparities that exist. Not only it is the right thing to do, the National Institutes of Health have begun to change their funding criteria and have created mechanisms that specifically address the prior lack of involvement of community in health-related research. Many other funding sources have followed NIH's new road map and are requiring community engagement as part of their funding criteria.
There are various approaches to "engaging" community in research. Common approaches include lay community focus groups and community advisory boards. Establishing a partnership with the community or an organization that directly serves the community is intrinsic to this process.
Why Engage the University?
Increasingly, policy makers and funding organizations are requiring that decisions and programs be informed by "evidence" or use "evidence-based" programming. "Traditional" research methods are used typically to create this evidence and are often limited when confronted with the need to discover what works or what is workable in complex "real life" contexts. This can create frustration as a community-based organization, coalition or other association is required to use evidence that doesn't always match community reality. Approaching the university or seeking a community-academic relationship can help create an environment that can bridge the gap between laboratory or clinical evidence and community-based need. Creating or participating in community-academic advisory boards and co-creating evidence can help minimize some of the barriers and challenges from the outset.
Community and academic engagement has been embedded in the organizational culture of the Center since its inception and continues to be at the heart of our Mission. The Center establishes strategic and project specific collaborations with partners such as
- Health Departments,
- Schools,
- Social Service Agencies, and
- Community Advocacy Groups.
Engaging Community and Academia in Partnerships to Identify Solutions
The Center has developed an expertise in creating environments where community and academic partners can digest evidence and collectively adapt what works into local solutions. We support and provide a menu of approaches to engage with community or academia depending on the stage of research or program development. The Center can support a continuum of approaches, from engaging partnerships in creating new health promotion programming to creating advisory boards to inform and research council development or implementation.
Why Engage the Community?
It is increasingly necessary for population health researchers to engage the communities they work with, in order to effectively identify and address the health disparities that exist. Not only it is the right thing to do, the National Institutes of Health have begun to change their funding criteria and have created mechanisms that specifically address the prior lack of involvement of community in health-related research. Many other funding sources have followed NIH's new road map and are requiring community engagement as part of their funding criteria.
There are various approaches to "engaging" community in research. Common approaches include lay community focus groups and community advisory boards. Establishing a partnership with the community or an organization that directly serves the community is intrinsic to this process.
Why Engage the University?
Increasingly, policy makers and funding organizations are requiring that decisions and programs be informed by "evidence" or use "evidence-based" programming. "Traditional" research methods are used typically to create this evidence and are often limited when confronted with the need to discover what works or what is workable in complex "real life" contexts. This can create frustration as a community-based organization, coalition or other association is required to use evidence that doesn't always match community reality. Approaching the university or seeking a community-academic relationship can help create an environment that can bridge the gap between laboratory or clinical evidence and community-based need. Creating or participating in community-academic advisory boards and co-creating evidence can help minimize some of the barriers and challenges from the outset.
