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

Abstract #117003

LaDonna Redmond, Institute for Community Resource Development, 4436 W. Maypole, Chicago, IL 60624-1639, 773-261-7339, songobisi8@netscape.net and Yolanda Suarez-Balcazar, PhD, College of Applied Health Sciences, University of Illinois, Chicago, 1919 WEST TAYLOR, Rm 351 (M/C 811), PO Box 1919, Chicago, IL 60612.

Community-university partnerships within the context of participatory research provide unique opportunities that foster innovation to address pressing social problems. This paper will discuss diversity issues that can lead to culturally competent responses to health and foods systems concerns of importance to minority communities. Specifically, we will address issues of class, race, and ethnicity intrinsic in participatory partnership work. We will address these issues in the context of identifying the dimensions of food access, including the voice of the community, communicating with the community of interest, developing culturally competent strategies and evaluating strategies. Discussants will draw from their experiences as members of the Chicago Foods Systems Collaborative (CFSC) funded by the Kellogg Foundation. The CFSC involves a consortium of community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, technical assistance providers and academic institutions. The purpose of the CFSC was to design and implement a comprehensive response to food security and help increase access to healthy foods in a minority community. Part of the response included nutrition education and community development activities to address the problems of access to nutritious foods and negative health outcomes in an African American community. Presenters will discuss the role of the community in the project, diversity issues, lessons learned and challenges in implementing participatory strategies as relevant to the issue of childhood overweight/obesity.

Learning Objectives: