The Wayne State University Center for Health and Community Impact will continue its College and Career Readiness Experience programming with a second event on Nov. 18 for 60 Detroit high school students. The day’s activities will build on the Oct. 14 event, which saw students and parents gaining information about community health at WSU, the college application process, financial aid and on-campus student success center services. Students also learned how to conduct a community needs assessment using Photovoice, a research method that encourages community members to document their experiences through photography.
The Nov. 18 event will focus on debriefing the Photovoice activity that students implemented with their teams to identify a food-related health need in their communities. Students will learn about three levels of interventions — policy, education and healthcare/clinical — that they can then use to address the issue they have identified. Two additional sessions, held in January and February 2018, will be used for teams to fully develop their solutions with the help of WSU Community Health faculty, staff and students. At the final session, students will pitch their ideas to a panel of local experts on the Detroit food system, education, health, policy and community work. The winning team will earn a WSU scholarship.
A new initiative, the Community Health Pipeline is developed and directed by Noel Kulik, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the College of Education and a research fellow in the Center for Health and Community Impact. The Community Health Pipeline works to educate, encourage and empower youth to be agents of change in the areas of food systems, health equity and food access. The program seeks to formalize relationships among organizations in Detroit, leverage ongoing and existing resources in the city, train youth leaders to address community health problems, support youth in post-secondary opportunities, and address the lack of diversity in the community health field. The program is funded by the Michigan Health Endowment Fund and the Michigan Fitness Foundation.
The Community Health Pipeline includes five pillars — education, urban farming, apprenticeships, youth empowerment and career development — that build upon each other. The first pillar includes collaboration between the Center for Health and Community Impact, the Detroit Healthy Youth Initiative and Michigan Harvest of the Month to teach more than 40,000 high school students in seven Detroit schools about making healthy food choices. The second pillar sees more than 300 students applying their knowledge of nutrition by using vouchers to purchase local produce during field trips to local farmers markets. The program also provides paid internships in the third and fourth pillars, with more than 50 students gaining experience in food production, handling and marketing; community engagement; nutrition education; and programs supporting food security. Additionally, students learn about university resources, explore community health programs and careers, and compete for a college scholarship during the fifth pillar, which includes a four-day visit to Wayne State’s campus.
For more information about the Community Health Pipeline, contact Stephanie Krajnik, project manager, at 313-577-0390 or CHP@wayne.edu, or visit coe.wayne.edu/centerforhealthandcommunityimpact/community-health-career-pipeline.php.
About the Center for Health and Community Impact
The mission of the Center for Health and Community Impact is to improve community health and vitality through leadership and advancement of research, programs and policies for healthy living. The Center works with community partners to develop and lead culturally relevant, evidence-based and sustainable programs that transform the healthy living opportunities for families, neighborhoods and organizations to promote a holistic approach to health and social equity across the lifespan. Through its efforts, educators, clinicians, practitioners, evaluators, researchers and community leaders at Wayne State University advance health and social equity at local, regional and national levels. The center’s programs have directly impacted more than 150,000 youth and families and 500 educators and health practitioners across 350 community organizations. For more information, visit coe.wayne.edu/centerforhealthandcommunityimpact.
About the College of Education
For more than a century, the Wayne State University College of Education has prepared effective urban educators who are reflective, innovative and committed to diversity. Its Teacher Education Division boasts one of the most comprehensive, well-established programs in the country, and all four academic divisions offer a range of undergraduate and graduate degrees in nearly 30 program areas, including learning design and technology, leadership and policy, kinesiology, sport administration, education evaluation and research, health education and educational psychology, and counseling. To learn more, visit coe.wayne.edu.
About Wayne State University
Wayne State University is a premier urban research institution of higher education offering nearly 350 academic programs through 13 schools and colleges to more than 27,000 students. For more information, visit wayne.edu.
About the Michigan Health Endowment Fund
The Michigan Health Endowment Fund works to improve the health and wellness of Michigan residents and reduce the cost of healthcare, with a special focus on children and seniors. More information about the Michigan Health Endowment Fund can be found at mhealthfund.com.
About the Michigan Fitness Foundation
The Michigan Fitness Foundation strives to cultivate a culture of health to transform the status quo and improve the health of all Michiganders. Its mission is to inspire active lifestyles and healthy food choices in the places we live, work and play. The Michigan Fitness Foundation focuses on increasing access to healthy food and low-cost physical activity opportunities, expanding nutrition and physical education, and shaping places to make the healthy choice the easy choice.