For more than 20 years the Center has developed a rich and robust infrastructure to support its core research project, strong partnerships with community organizations representing both urban and rural Alabama, and a portfolio of more than $19 million in support for community-based participatory research initiatives involving more than 100 faculty representing 6 UAB schools. The Center will focus on five primary goals: (1) promote and conduct community-based participatory research, (2) promote and facilitate equitable collaborations with partner communities, (3) provide community-oriented research facilities for UAB investigators through seven units, (4) serve as resource for local, state, and regional leadership, and (5) develop and maintain collaborative relationships. The Center's history of developing equitable community partnerships is evidenced by the smooth transition of the Community Participation Board to the recently incorporated West Central Alabama Community Improvement League, Inc. (WCACHIL). WCACHIL has been the Center's community partner for more than 15 years and the Center will continue to support activities in the Black Belt as the core research project focuses on urban Birmingham. Congregations for Public Health, Inc., an alliance of six African American churches in urban Birmingham, was developed with the support of the Center and will serve as the partner community for this application's core research project, CITY Health. In addition to continuing to support its existing infrastructure and working to achieve its goals, the Center will lead the implementation of One Great Community, the community engagement component of UAB's successful CTSA application for its Center for Clinical and Translational Science. Seven well developed research and training units (Survey Research, Health Communications, Training, Evaluation, Community Data, Community Health Resource Development, and Research) support investigators across campus associated with the Center. Finally, as one of 19 University Wide Interdisciplinary Research Centers, the Center receives additional intramural funding to support new CBPR initiatives and participates in strategic planning and programming for UAB's critically important centers program. Through this support the Birmingham Atlas of Health Outcomes, mapping tool for a broad range of health data, was developed to serve as critical infrastructure for CITY Health and CBPR at UAB.
The UAB Center for the Study for Community Health serves to build equitable and just partnerships with community organizations in order to improve health and well being. These partnerships assure that UAB investigators develop and interact with community partners when appropriate to translate biomedical research findings to community benefit in a timely fashion.
