The Health Disparities Service Learning Collaborative

Overview
Grantees
For More Information
Grantee Secured Webpage

Overview

Despite major advances in health care and health status in the 21st century, disparities persist between whites and people of color - creating one of the most pressing social justice issues facing America today. Not only are most racial and ethnic groups less healthy, but they also tend to have shorter life expectancies, higher rates of infant mortality and chronic diseases, worse outcomes once diagnosed with illnesses, and less access to health care than their white counterparts. Racial and ethnic health disparities persist even when socio-economic status and insurance coverage are taken into account, due to a complex combination of factors. Eliminating these disparities will require collaborative solutions that bring communities and institutions together as partners and build upon the assets, strengths, and capacities of each. Schools and graduate programs of public health - with their roles in educating public health professionals, conducting public health research and applying knowledge to solve public health problems - have a unique and important role to play.

Funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the Health Disparities Service Learning Collaborative's mission is to reduce racial and ethnic health disparities by engaging schools and graduate programs of public health in authentic service-learning partnerships with communities.

The goals of the Collaborative are to:

• Engage public health students in sustained, longitudinal service-learning experiences that make a substantial contribution to reducing health disparities and equip them with core public health competencies.
• Engage public health faculty members in sustained, longitudinal service-learning and participatory research partnerships with community partners that make a substantial contribution to reducing health disparities and allow them to meet the promotion and tenure expectations of their universities.
• Build the capacity of schools and graduate programs of public health and community partners to develop authentic partnerships and collaboratively implement effective service-learning programs that aim to reduce health disparities.

The Collaborative emphasizes institutional change to support service-learning within schools and graduate programs of public health and community problem-solving and capacity-building through the following components:

• Grants awarded to 7 schools and graduate programs of public health.
• Learning communities that address challenges and issues that cut across subgrantees.
• Teleconferences that provide professional development opportunities for subgrantees.
• Subgrantee meetings.
• Assessments of processes and outcomes.
• Dissemination of results and lessons learned.

Grantee Schools and Graduate Programs of Public Health

Grantees are listed below in alphabetical order by state. Click here for abstracts of their programs.

Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR

Master of Public Health Program in Community Health Education, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA

Master of Public Health Program, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI

Morgan State University School of Public Health and Policy, Baltimore, MD

Master of Public Health Program, University of Nebraska Medical Center and University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha, NE

Master of Public Health Program and Center on Health Disparities, School of Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA

For More Information

For more information on this project, please contact CCPH.

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Grantee Secured Webpage

Click here to access the grantee secured webpage. If you have misplaced the password, please contact CCPH.