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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Andrea Arrington, MPH¹, Robbie Ali, MD, MPH, MPPM¹, Linda Kaib, MSEd, BSN², Megan Cieslak, MPH¹, Andrea Grana, MPH/JD candidate¹, and Ashley Petten, MPH candidate¹. (1) Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health, 130 Desoto Street, 218 Parran Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, 412-350-6385., andrea.arrington@gmail.com, (2) Health Career Academy, Peabody High School, 515 N. Highland Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15206

The Center for Healthy Environments and Communities (CHEC) at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public Health has established a partnership with Peabody High School, an inner-city school with a 93% African American student population, poor standardized testing performance, and low graduation rates. The partnership began in early 2004 when CHEC staff worked with Peabody Health Career Academy students on projects related to community and environmental health. Since that time, additional CHEC activities at Peabody include establishing a Coordinated School Health Team and a mentoring program that has involved more than 100 university students. The goals of this continuing collaboration are (1) to improve academic achievement and post-secondary planning among high school students, (2) to build capacity related to health promotion at the high school, and (3) to develop opportunities for mentoring between university students and high school students. The presentation identifies key strategies used to establish and expand the partnership programs. Emphasis is placed on participatory program planning and adaptive management, recruiting students, funding options, and roles for local health agencies and hospitals. Findings focus on identifying ways to build partnerships between universities and schools, sustainability challenges, and successes of institutionalizing program components within the school district.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant (learner) in this session will be able to

• Describe the organizational development of a university-community partnership
• Identify the benefits of a partnership for stakeholders
• Describe best practices for funding and recruitment
• Review effective strategies to increase implementation of partnership goals

Keywords: Adolescent Health, College Students

Related Web page: www.chec.pitt.edu

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No