Public health research and action in public housing: An academic, community and government partnership

The Partners in Health and Housing Prevention Research Center (PHH-PRC) funded by CDC is an equitable partnership among Boston University School of Public Health, Boston Housing Authority, Boston Public Health Commission, and the Community Committee for Health Promotion (comprised of public housing residents and community advocates). The mission of the PHH-PRC is to engage public housing residents in community-centered research programs and activities that improve their health and well-being as well as address the Healthy People 2010 goals of improving health status and reducing health disparities. Although members may join the PHH-PRC because they support the Center's mission and goals, Partner representatives acknowledge a core challenge to build a collaborative partnership that draws on the strengths of each Partner while recognizing that Partners have varying available resources, are driven by their own missions, and may have differential investments in the range of outcomes for PRC initiatives. Despite these challenges, the Partnership has developed capacity to effectively influence public housing decision-making about health-related issues resulting in increased health and wellness initiatives, programming and partnerships. We will demonstrate how CBPR focused Partnership initiatives have strongly influenced the housing authority's ability to address issues related to the connection between housing and health.