Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #110088

Susan M. Myers, MA, MPH, Vice President, Community Health Division, I-LEAD, Inc., 6401 Penn Avenue, Suite 300, Pittsburgh, PA 15206, 412-725-4619, myers@telerama.com, David Castro, JD, President, I-LEAD, Inc., 115 Petrie Avenue, Rosemont, PA 19010, Angel Figueroa, BA, VP Resource Development, I-LEAD, Inc., 138 N. Fifth Street, Reading, PA 19602, Miriam Lavandier, MA, Director, Community Health Services, I-LEAD, Inc., Community Health Division, 1536 Warren Street, Allentown, PA 18102, Norman Bristol-Colon, BA, Governor's Advisory Council for Latino Affairs, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Executive Director, 506 Finance Building, Harrisburg, PA 17120, N. Cathi Bazan Arias, PhD, PE, Governor's Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Commissioner - Allegheny County, 506 Finance Building, Harrisburg, PA 17120, Leslie A. Best, BA, Director, Bureau of Chronic Disease, Pennsylvania Department of Health, 10 th Floor Health and Welfare Building, Forster Street, Harrisburg, PA 17108, Raymond A. Howard, MBA, Center for Minority Health, University of Pittsburgh, 125 Parran Hall, 130 Desoto Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, and Stephen B. Thomas, PhD, Director, Center for Minority Health, University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health, 125 Parran Hall, 130 Desoto Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15261.

Many Pennsylvania public health system partners recognize a need to build human and system capacity for Latino community health improvement. Pennsylvania's investment of MSA funds for specific contracted work was leveraged to initiate a much broader partnership to address Latino public health infrastructure, access, deepening of faith-based partnerships, and chronic disease issues.

I-LEAD designed and implemented a Latino Health Advocacy and Leadership Program (LHALP) to address infrastructure building for Latino health. This program is designed to increase participant's personal skills in dialogue and systems thinking; promote the development of a learning community; increase participant's public health knowledge base; and, create a mechanism for linking dominant culture organizations to the Latino community through relationship-building. The LHALP is based on the WK Kellogg's Fellows program, informed by CDC's National Public Health Leadership Institute's program and grounded by I-LEAD's deep familiarity with local and state health agencies and other public health partners in Pennsylvania.

The Philadelphia LHALP contributed to: a strong “Día de la Mujer Latina” event in September 2004; the mentoring of a Latina undergraduate student and a bi-lingual MPH candidate; and, the expansion of Latino family health festivals to Pittsburgh and Allentown in October 2005. Additional sites may be added 2006.

This session will describe curriculum design and five key current Pittsburgh LHALP initiatives relating to cancer control, leadership development, increased access to care, and a community health assessment all in the context of State Health Improvement Plan processes and principles.

Learning Objectives:

• Articulate how a advocacy and leadership program can be designed to function as a mechanism for community mobilization
• Evaluate if a similar program may be beneficial for their community…
• Understand how to build mentoring of minority or minority-serving students or individuals into programs

Keywords: Latino Health, Community Capacity

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation