As one of only two new comprehensive centers funded in the 2009-2014 cycle, the CWRU Prevention Research Center for Healthy Neighborhoods has established itself as a highly responsive and collaborative community-based research center with strong capacity for conducting rigorous and innovative research that is closely aligned with community and CDC priorities. Our multidisciplinary academic-community team includes community-based researchers, local and state departments of health and other health and community organizations, neighborhood leaders, and community residents. Together, we will accomplish the following goals during our next five years: (1) work closely with our Network of Community Advisors (NOCA) to set research and programmatic priorities and ensure the community's voice informs our work; (2) with NOCA and Affiliated Faculty, carry out a comprehensive 5-year research agenda that builds upon our most promising work, maintains our commitment to improving nutritious food access (NFA) among low income residents through our new core project, and seeks new opportunities to identify and disseminate evidence-based approaches to improve the health of disadvantaged residents; (3) foster and build capacity for rigorous community-engaged research among our faculty, students, and community partners through formal training programs, seminars, and mentoring; (4) build community capacity for improving public health practice by providing technical assistance, evaluation services and focused-content expertise to community partners, especially local and state departments of health; (5) carry out a center-wide communication and dissemination (C&D) plan that integrates C&D activities into research, training, evaluation, and community activities and establishes the PRCHN as a central resource for local data and evidence-based approaches to preventing and reducing chronic disease; and, (6) conduct an ongoing, comprehensive evaluation of the PRCHN, to ensure that the Center's goals are achieved on time and on budget and to contribute to the national evaluation of PRCs. The goal of our applied public health dissemination and implementation core research project is to work with community partners to create and use a rapid-response system for evaluating and improving the reach, adoption, and impact of farmers' markets, Produce Perks, and the EFNEP among low-income neighborhoods in Cleveland. A community popular opinion leader dissemination strategy will be adapted and tested. This research will be conducted in partnership with our NOCA, Cuyahoga Office of Job and Family Services, Ohio State University-Extension, Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Food Policy Coalition, and Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority.
Project Relevance For many residents of underserved and low resource urban neighborhoods, access to healthy foods and safe and supportive environments for healthy living is extremely limited. THE CWRU Prevention Research Center for Healthy Neighborhoods addresses significant environmental and lifestyle issues that are not only strongly linked to chronic disease but are influenced by the conditions, disparities and resources of the neighborhood itself.
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