The Community Scholars Program (CSP) is a community engaged research training program for community residents. The CSP promotes the role of underserved populations in research by enhancing the capacity for community based participatory research. The CSP works to utilize research, training and, community mobilization as a method to create community driven solutions.
The CSP focuses on interactive engagement, training and community identified research project. There are several modalities of the CSP ranging from semester sessions, quarterly sessions, and summer camps. The CSP consists of three domains: 1) community assessment (using the photo voice methodology), 2) learning academy (a series of didactic interactive learning sessions), and 3) advocacy/policy training.
Community Assessment: In the community assessment domain, the previous programs and projects that will be used to build and strengthen this domain are community dialogues and photo voice projects. These assessment activities are designed to give the participants a broader perspective of community needs, community assets and community deficits. This process will allow participants the opportunity to identify solutions and create community-level implementation plans and recommendations. In addition, participants in the CSP will use these methods to assess their community condition as it relates to the Flint Water Crisis and other issues they deem important. This domain built from the years of experience of various photovoice projects and community dialogues conducted in Flint.
Learning Academy: In the learning academy domain, participants will participate in interactive didactic learning sessions covering a broad range of subjects that include: Introduction to Public Health; Social Determinants of Health, Community Health, Health Policy, Health Equity, Careers in Medicine and Dentistry, Introduction to Research, Quantitative and Qualitative Methods, Environmental Health and Epigenetics to name a few. In addition, local public health and medical professionals will facilitate the sessions to create relationships and mentorship opportunities.
In the Policy and Advocacy domain, participants will learn the fundamentals of advocacy, activism and policy reform. Concepts and competencies will be lifted from the past Community Policy training programs. Participants will be trained in, and examine, Genesee County’s Health Equity in All Policies. They will create dissemination and training programs for other youth around this policy. In addition, participants will learn how the community was instrumental in the passing of Tobacco 21 that was passed by the Genesee County Commissioners in July of 2017.
The overall arching goal of the CSP, is to produce a pool of “Community Experts”, trained in the research process, that engage in and partner with researchers and institutions. This pool will serve as “Community Mentors” for new researchers in the Flint Community.