The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #48463

Christopher Scott Holliday, MPH and Bethann Witcher, PhD. Center for Community Health Transformation, DeKalb County Board of Health, 445 Winn Way, P.O. Box 987, Decatur, GA 30031

Clarkston is the most diverse community in the greater Atlanta area, with a sizeable and growing immigrant and refugee population. Clarkston High School's student body represents greater than 50 nationalities and 22 spoken languages. For the past eight years the Dekalb County Board of Health (DCBOH) has been working with Clarkston residents to facilitate community building. The Clarkston Health Collaborative, facilitated by the DCBOH has addressed community issues such as housing conditions, public safety and health care. The community has come together to convert an abandoned high school into a community center. This community building effort is based on Paulo Freire's liberating education, a problem-posing, self-discovery, action solution process rooted in listening to the knowledge and experience of community members. As a result of the Clarkston successes, the DCBOH has created the Center for Community Health Transformation to prepare public health practitioners to adapt this model. The adaptation of Friere's process for public health promotion will be presented. Presenters will discuss an overview of the process as well as its application and results within the Clarkston community. Documented community accomplishments leading to community solidarity and improved community well-being will be reported. It will be demonstrated how the steps taken throughout the eight years can be replicated by local public health departments and agencies throughout the Untied States.

Learning Objectives:

• Clarkston is the most diverse community in the greater Atlanta area, with a sizeable and growing immigrant and refugee population. Clarkston High
• School's student body represents greater than 50 nationalities and 22 spoken languages. For the
• past eight years the Dekalb County Board of Health (DCBOH) has been working with Clarkston residents to facilitate community building.
• The Clarkston Health Collaborative, facilitated by the DCBOH has addressed community issues such as housing conditions, public safety and health care. The community has come together to convert an abandoned high school into a community
• center. This community building effort is based on Paulo Freire's liberating education, a problem-posing, self-discovery, action solution process rooted in listening to the knowledge and experience of community members. As a result of the Clarkston success, the DCBOH has created the Center for Community Health Transformation to prepare public health practitioners to adapt this model.
• The adaptation of Friere's process for public health promotion will be discussed. Presenters will present an overview of the process as well as its application and results within the Clarkston community. Documented community accomplishments leading to community solidarity and improved community well-being will be reported. It will be demonstrated how the steps taken throughout the eight years can be replicated by local public health departments and agencies throughout the Untied States.

Keywords: Community-Based Public Health, Community Building

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.