Outreach Initiatives
Mental health survey with rural Latino women and families
Partners:
Centro Campesino, Owatonna Minnesota
School of Nursing and urban Latino organizations
Funding sources:
AHC Faculty Seed Grant (P.I. Nancy C. Raymond, MD)
Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation of MN (Centro Campesino)
The Powell Center was invited by Centro Campesino, a grassroots organization led by Latino agricultural workers in South Central Minnesota, to partner on a community-based mental health research project. In 2005, the Powell Center collaborated with Centro Campesino to offer a Mother’s Day Event with women’s health screenings and education. Based on this existing relationship, Centro Campesino requested the Powell Center collaborate on a mental health assessment to document the urgent and unmet health mental health needs in their community. Since 2006, Powell Center faculty and staff have worked with Centro Campesino to design and conduct a mental health survey of attitudes, behaviors and beliefs around mental health for Latino adults and adolescents. We are completing data collection and will soon begin analysis and presentation of the results back to the community. This project is a partnership with faculty in the School of Nursing who are using the same survey instrument with urban Latinos, which will allow for urban-rural data comparison. A public health graduate student has served on the project staff during 2006-07.
WISE Kids Eat Well pilot project in North Minneapolis
Partners:
WISE Charter School, Minneapolis
NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center, Minneapolis
Funding sources:
Office for Clinical Research Health Disparities Research Grant (P.I. Nancy Raymond, MD)
George Family Foundation (NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center)
In 2005, partners at NorthPoint identified childhood obesity prevention as an area of potential collaboration with the Powell Center. As a result, we are now pursuing a school-based pilot project to promote healthy nutrition for African-American elementary students in North Minneapolis. The goal of this project is assess the current school food environment at WISE charter school and implement a School Nutrition Advisory Council to make necessary changes in school food and policies. The Powell Center provides expertise on evidence-based program planning, data analysis (including gender comparisons) and program evaluation. NorthPoint provides a Community Health Worker and culturally-specific nutrition classes for parents. A U of M student will be hired to assist on this project.
Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Doula Project
Partners:
Mille Lacs Public Health Department, Mille Lacs
American Indian Family Center, St. Paul
Funding source:
Minnesota Medical Foundation (private donors)
Based on 2004-05 focus group research with women in Mille Lacs by Dr. Melissa Avery (School of Nursing, former Director of Outreach), the Powell Center is working with Dr. Avery to train American Indian women in Mille Lacs to become certified doulas (birth assistants). Doulas have been shown to improve birth outcomes, especially among high-risk women. The culturally specific doula training will take place in September 2007, provided by the American Indian Family Center. The Powell Center is providing logistical, evaluation and implementation support based on best practices.
Capacity building for community organizations serving women and youth
In 2005-06, the Powell Center for Women’s Health convened the Women’s Health Community Advisory Alliance, a group of leaders from diverse communities who share a dedication to women’s health (please see attached list of organizations). Based on the advice of the Alliance, the Powell Center has begun to offer annual capacity building workshops on topics requested by our community partners. The first workshop was held in October 2006 in collaboration with the School of Public Health Center for Leadership Education in Maternal Child Health. The workshop topic was program evaluation and drew over 100 community health practitioners who work with women and girls. The workshop was presented by community and University experts and covered strategies for developing evaluation questions, gathering data and communicating outcomes to funders. The workshop was well received, and we are planning the 2007 workshop. Also based on guidance from the Alliance, we now assist community organizations and U of M students to find women’s health internship opportunities through our website at http://www.womenshealth.umn.edu/wmhlth/intern/community.html
Anti-Human Trafficking Efforts
Partners:
Civil Society, St. Paul Minnesota
Funding source:
U.S. Office of Justice Programs
The Powell Center for Women’s Health has been a leader in recent efforts to combat human trafficking in Minnesota. In April 2005, we sponsored a workshop for more than 250 health care, social service, law enforcement and legal providers on “Identifying and Serving Victims of Human Trafficking.” Since then, we have collaborated with local organizations such as Civil Society and Breaking Free to raise awareness of human trafficking among health care providers with workshops and education across Minnesota. The Powell Center for Women’s Health has also been appointed to the legislatively mandated Human Trafficking Task Force through the Department of Public Safety.
Examples of partner organizations and participants in the 2005-06 Women’s Health Community Advisory Alliance:
- American Indian Family Center, St. Paul
- Centro Campesino, Owatonna
- Civil Society, St. Paul
- Community University Health Care Center, Mpls
- Indian Health Services, Mpls
- Minnesota African Women’s Association, St. Paul
- Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, Mille Lacs
- MinnesotaInternational Health Volunteers, Mpls
- NorthPoint Health & Wellness Center, Mpls
- Open Cities Health Center, St. Paul
- Sheila Wellstone Institute, St. Paul
- Southside Community Health Services, Mpls
- Smiley’s Clinic, Mpls
- WISE Charter School, Mpls
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