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

Abstract #114459

Brenda Oiyemhonlan, MPH/MHSA Candida, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education and Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan, School of Public Health, 109 South Observatory, Ann Arbor, MI 48103, 734-998-0831, boiyemho@umich.edu, Ella Greene-Moton, Health Awareness Center/Flint Odyssey House, Inc., 1225 Martin Luther King Avenue, Flint, MI 48503, and Lee Bell, Coordinator, Youth Violence Prevention Center, 601 N. Saginaw, Ste. 1C, Flint, MI 48502.

The Ruth Mott Community Health Explorers/Scholars Program, initiated in 2002 in Flint, Michigan, is a Community-Based Public Health (CBPH) training program with the dual objectives of training graduate students in public health in CBPH practice and research and introducing inner city high school youth to the field of public health. In the summer of 2004, a policy/advocacy curriculum, called African American Adolescents Promoting Policy and Advocacy, was developed to assist adolescents in identifying issues of concern and using various policy-oriented strategies to effectively draw attention to and reduce the negative impact of the issue on their community. Using their newly developed skill set, the youth were able to analyze a health topic, such as youth violence, HIV/AIDS, and obesity, through a sociopolitical framework and provide recommendations to alleviate the negative impact of the health issue on their community. More research is needed to understand how to practically apply the concepts of community-based public health practice to the design of policy-oriented health interventions and also how to involve youth in policy and advocacy.

Learning Objectives:

• 1.Describe a training program for high school and graduate students that is directed and carried out through a community-academic partnership.
• 2.Recognize three effective policy-oriented activities and venues to encourage youth participation in policy and advocacy,
• 3.Describe four strategies to develop a CBPH policy curriculum for youth.

Keywords: Community-Based Public Health, Policy/Policy Development

Related Web page: www.sph.umich.edu/cbph/

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