259107 Communities Working in Partnership: Adapting a policy advocacy training for Detroit residents into a training-of-trainers for Flint, Baltimore, and North Carolina

Wednesday, October 31, 2012 : 9:30 AM - 9:50 AM

Chris M. Coombe, PhD, MPH , Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan, School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI
Barbara A. Israel, DrPH , Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan, School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI
Maren Spolum , Schools of Public Health and Public Policy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Robert McGranaghan, MPH , School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Akosua Burris, BA , Detroit Edison Public School Academy, Detroit, MI
Sonya Grant, MSW , Community Action Against Asthma, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Richard Lichtenstein, PhD , Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Edith A. Parker, DrPH , Department of Community and Behavioral Health, The University of Iowa, College of Public Health, Iowa City, IA
Angela G. Reyes, MPH , Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation, Detroit, MI
Amy J. Schulz, PhD , School of Public Health, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
Sherita Smith , Imagining Creative Opportunities Now, Detroit, MI
Irene S. Bayer , CREATE for STEM Institute, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
     
Introduction: Community involvement in policy-making is essential for creating healthier communities and reducing health inequities. To this end, Communities Working in Partnership (CWP) was established to strengthen capacity and increase effectiveness of community-academic partners in Flint, Baltimore, and North Carolina involved in the Kellogg Foundation-funded Community Health Scholars Program (CHSP) to engage in policy change. CWP drew on a project to strengthen advocacy skills among Detroit residents, Neighborhoods Working in Partnership (NWP), developed by the Detroit Community-Academic Urban Research Center, a longstanding CBPR partnership.

Methods: Working collaboratively with a planning team composed of community-academic representatives from all three sites, the NWP policy advocacy curriculum was refined into a two-day training-of-trainers. The curriculum was further adapted by site-specific planning teams and conducted in the three sites. CHSP funded local CWP trainers to conduct follow-up policy trainings/activities in each community.

Results: 88 participants (2/3 community partners) were trained as CWP policy trainers. Follow-up trainings and/or advocacy activities were subsequently carried out by CWP policy trainers in all CHSP communities. We describe and analyze CWP's collaborative planning process to make trainings locally relevant; the two-day intensive training-of-trainers workshop at each site; use of a “toolkit” of educational materials and evaluation instruments for participants to adapt to their own communities; follow-up activities in each community conducted by new CWP trainers to catalyze policy change relevant to community-identified issues and build on local strengths; and lessons learned.

Conclusion: Locally-adapted policy advocacy skills-building training can strengthen the capacity of communities to engage in policy change.

Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health education
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Public health or related public policy

Learning Objectives:
Describe the rationale for CBPR partnerships to enhance capacity of community members in policy change. List components of the Communities Working in Partnership training-of-trainers curriculum. Identify ways in which CBPR principles were applied in adapting and conducting a policy advocacy training for Detroit residents into a training-of-trainers for other communities (Flint, Baltimore, North Carolina). Discuss lessons learned for enhancing capacity of CBPR partners to engage community members in locally relevant policy change.

Keywords: Community-Based Partnership, Policy/Policy Development

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Co-developing and conducting this project
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 5039.0: Developing Gold Standards for CBPR: Communities Working in Partnership (Special Session)