about community track
Program Impact
The Kellogg Health Scholars Program - Community Track (KHSP-CT) continues the legacy of the Community Health Scholars Program (CHSP) initiated in 1998. Evidence of the CHSP program impact is described in two reports:
KHSP-Community Track is now in its third year of operation. Six new Scholars began their KHSP-CT postdoctoral experience in the fall of 2006, following a kick-off National Networking Meeting in Washington, DC in June 2006. While this new version of the Program is only in its infancy, it is evident that the vision expressed in its planning is going to be realized.
The innovative training method underlying the current Kellogg Health Scholars Program (KHSP) embodies a three-way synergistic relationship between academic research on health disparities, application of that research through policy development and advocacy, and the strengthening of community capacity to participate in research and effective policy advocacy. After one year of operation the new Program already shows evidence that this three-way connection is taking hold in the work of our Scholars. Following is an example of this evidence from one KHSP-CT scholar.
As part of the agenda of the recently held Networking Meeting in Washington, DC, (June 2007) KHSP Scholars and their Academic and Community Mentors visited with Members of Congress, staffers and advocacy organizations to share their work and establish relationships with these policy makers and advocates. At each of these visits, Scholars and their accompanying mentors shared one-page summaries of their work and its application to policy. Scholars and Mentors also met with the Congressional liaison office directors of the three Community Track training site universities, learning how these directors and their offices can provide a valuable role facilitating meetings and communications involving Members of Congress, staffers, and federal agency officials.
Dionne M. Smith, Ph.D., M.A.Ed., KHSP-Community Track, Training Site at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Gillings School of Global Public Health
Dr. Smith is working with Project GRACE (Growing, Reaching, Advocating for Change & Empowerment), an academic-community partnership aimed at eliminating health disparities in African American communities. Her current research is focused on understanding multiple determinants of health as they relate to HIV/AIDS prevention in two rural African American communities. Preliminary findings from this community-based participatory research point to the need for comprehensive sex-education curriculum in schools, and identify linkage between the lack of recreational opportunities and high-risk sexual behavior. In reporting on the team’s experience on the Hill during the June Networking Meeting in Washington, Dr. Smith states:
“During our meeting with Congressman Butterfield we shared the work that we are doing with Project GRACE…As a result, he expressed an interest in helping with our efforts to get the lay community and faith community involved in our work. In addition, he offered to collaborate with us in hosting an “AIDS Awareness Summit” AND he offered to fund the entire event. The summit was solely his idea. He gave us the name and contact info for his staffer in the Williamston, NC office who will assist with the coordination. My community mentor will share the news with the research steering committee in an effort to collaboratively work with the Congressman on planning the AIDS Awareness Summit. I must share that this experience underscores the critical connection between academe, community, and policy as well as the power of the connection to effect the change that we are all working towards in our communities.”
Dr. Smith’s academic mentor, Prof. Janice Dodds, writes:
“I was blown away by our visit with Rep. Butterfield…I think UNC was attractive to him, active community leaders being there, taking the time, to present with the scholar. I am now committed to the connection with our elected representatives. Believe me, without KHSP, [our former postdoc program] wouldn’t have pushed itself into policy. I think the KHSP has helped both tracks learn from each other and it has moved this battle weary policy advocate into a new dimension…I am truly moved by this last meeting and the promise I have always seen in our community-based strategy.”
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