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

Abstract #115936

Linda S. Sprague Martinez, MA, Community Health Program, Tufts University, 112 Packard Ave, Medford, MA 02155, 617-627-5445, linda.martinez@tufts.edu, Bill Walker, Minority Health Office, State of New Hampshire, 129 Pleasant Street, Concord, NH 03301, Claudia Nixon, Deaf Services/Communication Access, Granite State Independent Living, P.O. Box 7268, Concord, NH 03302, and Janet Scott-Harris, Office of Minority Health, US Department of Health and Human Services, JFK Federal Building, RM 2126, Boston, MA 02203.

In June of 2003 the State of New Hampshire Diversity Task Force convened to revise the state plan to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities. The committee, consisting of government officials, health care and social service employees, community leaders and educators from across the state, identified an absence of leadership development, as a key factor contributing to racial and ethnic disparities in the state, while they recognized low participation rates in health care, government, business and higher education as issues sustaining said disparities. As a result the Minority Health Office with its commitment to engaging diverse populations, developed a proposal to increase the participation minorities in local and state leadership, hypothesizing that the cultivation of leadership would increase overall community participation. With this in mind, the Minority Health Office in collaboration with its community partners has developed a statewide leadership development program. The program goals are as follows: to empower communities of color through leadership development, to provide people of color with the skills necessary to participate in leadership roles throughout the state, to provide people of color with the skills needed to engage and advance their communities and to engage community leaders in the process of cultivating future leaders. This paper will describe the process of community mobilization involved in the development of the program. In addition the paper will illustrate how building social capital within the community has impacted policy development, and civic participation in New Hampshire.

Learning Objectives: At the end of this session participants will be able to

• Describe the steps involved in developing leadership programming.
• Discuss how building social capital can increase community wellbeing.
• Assess the impact of leadership programming on disparities.

Keywords: Infrastructure, Community Development

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.