The 143 annual meeting of the American Public Health Association (APHA) was held in Chicago, Oct. 31 to Nov. 4. CHER staff members were there to present findings from recent work. This year’s theme was “Health in All Policies”, and CHER staff participated in poster and oral presentations highlighting policy-relevant work conducted in recent years.
A poster presentation, Developing Health Equity Researchers in a Teaching-Focused Academic Institution, provided details of the successful effort by the CSULB RIMI project to support and mentor CSULB student and faculty research focused on health equity and health disparities. The RIMI project was led by CHER, with support from the Center for Behavioral Research and Services, and the Center for Latino Community Health, Evaluation and Leadership Training.
Presenters highlighted the success of the RIMI Project during its initial 5-year funding period, and the important long-term enhancements it achieved to health equity education and research at CSULB. These included 25 peer reviewed publications, support for 20 faculty fellows and 21 student health scholars, and the establishment of 3-unit course examining health disparities.
An oral presentation highlighted the work of the Building Healthy Communities (BHCLB) project in Long Beach and its “Language Access Coalition”. CHER serves as the evaluator for BHCLB. Conference attendees were presented with an overview of the effective work of the coalition in expanding language access to health and social services in the multi-lingual communities of Long Beach.
With nearly half of the households in the BHCLB target communities speaking a language other than English at home, staff and volunteers have developed a community coalition to pursue greater language access to critical healthcare resources in Long Beach. The presentation reviewed the many policy successes of the coalition partners since its establishment in 2011, and lessons which will be applied as the group looks forward to future policy initiatives.