Partnership in Newark advocating community leaders' empowerment (PINACLE) – a novel public health education collaboration with the underserved

Introduction: The Central Ward of Newark is home to over 100 places of worship, which play a pivotal role in the community. Despite student led efforts to promote health education in the community, programs failed to attract audiences. Also, the yearly turnover of student leadership prevented program continuity. We developed a primary prevention program that partnered students with community leaders.

Methods: PINACLE empowers community leaders from places of worship to become community health advocates(CHAs). CHAs attend health education institutes conducted by senior students. Then go to their constituencies and teach back the material. During this session, students answer any questions and conduct preventive screenings. Health topics presented are based on diseases that community members' have deemed important.

Results: Currently over 20 community centers work with PINACLE each of which has a regular attendance ranging from 50-200 people. PINACLE Institutes have been conducted on average every six weeks.

PINACLE has successfully: - Facilitated community access to medical services. - Streamlined efforts to avoid duplication of service by fostering collaboration between students and faculty. - Facilitated networking amongst community interest groups -Attained name recognition of the University within the community. - Gained an understanding of the needs and resources of the community. - Identified community needs that are being met and which are not.

Conclusions: PINACLE has established a collaborative primary prevention partnership. The train-the-trainer model of health education allows for joint participation and shared responsibility for the program's success and continuity. The model can be replicated in other underserved communities.