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PolicyLink and EcoTrust recently released a report that aims to strengthen community-driven efforts to achieve health equity by improving the online data tools that make health equity data readily available to them.

Achieving health equity—when everyone has a just and fair opportunity to be as healthy as possible regardless of race, income, or other socially defined characteristics—is essential to building resilient communities, a prosperous economy, and a just society. Without optimal health, it is impossible for people to reach their full potential. Yet today in the United States, health disparities are persistent and growing. These inequities are not natural or inevitable, but stem from structural racism and discrimination, as well as the inequitable policies, practices, and resource allocations that create the vastly unequal conditions in which people live

Community-based organizations play a crucial role in advancing health equity. These institutions help put in place new policies, plans, and programs that improve neighborhood environments and opportunities for low-income communities, communities of color, and others unjustly and unfairly burdened by poor health. And community-level data that is disaggregated by race, income, neighborhood, and other demographics is an essential tool to increase the effectiveness and impact of these organizations.

Robust local data can help community groups at every stage of the policy process, from understanding local conditions and inequities, to framing and building support for issues and policy solutions, to monitoring progress toward equity results. Neighborhood-level data that can be mapped and layered is also valuable for revealing the relationships between different issues such as financial security and displacement, community assets and potential development and market opportunities, as well as the cumulative effects of varied risks, harms, or barriers. Disaggregated data and community mapping can also illuminate the experiences of marginalized people and communities to decision makers, and shed light on issues made purposefully invisible. 

But while we live in the age of data, the right data and the tools for analyzing, displaying, and sharing it are often elusive for underresourced community groups. 

Over the past decade, community leaders and a growing array of institutions have begun building new data tools with the explicit purpose of addressing this mismatch and advancing equity. In 2007, Portland, Oregon’s Coalition for a Livable Future launched the nation’s first “regional equity atlas,” a printed volume of maps documenting the vast disparities in access to resources and opportunities across the region and supporting successful advocacy to target investments to communities of color and low-income communities. Other communities—Atlanta, Denver, and Los Angeles—followed suit and created their own atlases, mapping a multitude of indicators across the various domains that influence health, from employment to transportation to housing to community safety and more. 

At the national level, more data tools for equity have emerged. Some comprehensively depict equity conditions for multiple communities, such as the National Equity Atlas and diversitydatakids.org. Others provide disaggregated community data for specific issues and policy areas, such as Mapping Police Violence (community safety and justice) or Clocking-In (wages and workers’ rights).

See the full report from PolicyLink and Ecotrust.

October is National Medicine Abuse Awarness Month (NMAAM).  Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) and Prevent MedAbuse offers an Online Rx Abuse Prevention Toolkit on that contains facts, strategies and tools to prevent and reduce teen Rx medicine abuse in your community. This newly revised toolkit is based on CADCA’s Seven Strategies for Effective Community Change. Incorporating these strategies will help you formulate, modify and implement your prevention and intervention strategies.

How to Use the Toolkit:

• Prevention Strategies: See the Seven Strategies for Effective Community Change in action.
• Facts & Tools: Review the latest facts on this drug abuse challenge. Discover how to conduct an Rx abuse community assessment. Check out the Sample Logic Model. See how this information gets translated into Sample Intervention Maps.
• Other Resources: Learn about information and tools that can make your programs and interventions successful, including share tools that you can place on your website, Facebook or e-mail signature blocks.
• Success Stories: View Rx prevention at work. Check out the video presentations from CADCA coalitions nationwide that are experiencing Rx medication prevention success.

You can also get involved in Medicine Abuse Awareness Month by joining CADCA’s campaign:

• Register for the Dose of Prevention Challenge: Join community organizations and individuals around the country to spur discussions in your community to find solutions to this complex problem.
• Grassroots Media Kit: Amplify your medicine abuse prevention messages using CADCA’s Grassroots Media Kit. This Kit provides several tools to help you plan and promote your National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month activities.
• Share Tools: Download graphics and banners to spread the word about National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month this October.

Helpful Materials you can Download:

• Fact Sheets, Presentations, and Brochures about medicine abuse
• Preventing Teen Cough Medicine Abuse: A Parent’s Guide
• Checklist to help plan a town hall meeting
• “Stopping Cough Medicine Abuse in your Community” video to show at an event

“Prescription drug abuse is an epidemic that requires more than one strategy or tactic. It’s going to take a comprehensive approach that employs multiple strategies to create population-level reductions to this problem,” notes General Arthur Dean, the Chairman and CEO of CADCA. 

View the Toolkit at PreventMedAbuse.org or see more about CADCA’s NMAAM campaign.

The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), part of the National Institutes of Health, will fund seven new awards to support the Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Specialized Centers program. RCMI is designed to support institutional research capacity and foster the career development of new and early career investigators conducting minority health and health disparities research. The centers will share approximately $122 million over five years, pending available funds.

The primary goals of the RCMI specialized centers are: to enhance institutional research capacity within the areas of basic biomedical, behavioral, and/or clinical research; enable investigators of all levels to become more successful in obtaining competitive extramural support, especially from NIH, particularly on diseases that disproportionately affect minority and other health disparity populations; foster environments conducive to career enhancement, with a special emphasis on development of new and early career investigators; enhance the quality of all scientific inquiry and promote research on minority health and health disparities; and establish sustainable relationships with community-based organizations that will partner with the RCMI institution.

“Institutions with historical commitment to diversity are essential to supporting scientific research and providing health care to underserved communities,” said NIMHD Director Dr. Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable. “These institutions are uniquely positioned to engage minority populations in research, and in the translation of research advances into culturally competent, measurable and sustained improvements in health outcomes.”

The seven RCMI grantees are:

1. Center for Reducing Health Disparities in Substance Abuse and HIV in South Florida

Eric F. Wagner, Ph.D.  |  Florida International University, Miami

The center will partner with communities in the Miami Dade region, which has a high prevalence of substance use and some of the highest HIV incidences in the country, particularly among underrepresented minorities, to develop a sustainable national clinical and behavioral research training program that addresses health inequities and disparities associated with these health problems.

2. RCMI Program in Health Disparities Research

Maria F. Lima, Ph.D. and James E. K. Hildreth, M.D., Ph.D.  |  Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tennessee

The program will support four research projects addressing HIV/AIDS, prostate cancer, racial and ethnic differences in periodontal disease microbiomes, and adversity-driven chronic pain to advance fundamental understanding of these health disparities.

3. RCMI Center for Health Disparities Research

Deepak Kumar, Ph.D.  |  North Carolina Central University, Durham

The center will conduct three innovative basic biomedical and behavioral research projects, along with health disparities research pilot projects with robust mentoring, leveraging resources and partnerships at community-based organizations and neighboring institutions in the Research Triangle area. The center will also promote a collaborative research environment conducive to career enhancement for postdoctoral trainees and NCCU faculty at all levels.

4. Southwest Health Equity Research Collaborative (SHERC)

Julie A. Baldwin, Ph.D.  |  Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff

The center will increase research capacity in environmental and community health to address health disparities among diverse populations of the southwestern United States. Research projects will explore environmental factors and conditions that might lead to increased risk for health issues and disease transmission, as well as biological variables that may affect disease mortality in the underserved. Through community collaborations, SHERC will identify relevant strategies to enhance community assets and resilience to minimize the impacts of health disparities in the region.

5. Center for Biomedical Research/Research Centers at Minority Institutions

Clayton Yates, Ph.D.  |  Tuskegee University, Alabama

The center will enhance its research infrastructure and increase the numbers and proficiency of minority scientists engaged in advanced biomedical research focused on health disparities, including those for HIV, obesity, and prostate cancer, all of which disproportionately affect underrepresented minorities, especially African Americans residing in the “Black Belt” counties of Alabama. The center will also engage local communities to better understand and address health issues that affect them.

6. Ola HAWAII

Jerris R. Hedges, M.D.  |  University of Hawaii at Manoa

The project is designed to advance “ola” (health in Hawaiian) for communities experiencing genetic, environmental, and socioeconomic disparities in health. The center will foster high-impact, team-science research addressing health disparities; strengthen and diversify the basic biomedical, behavioral and clinical research workforce and thinkforce focusing on health disparities; and enhance, consolidate and sustain core facilities and resources for health disparities research.

7. Center for Collaborative Research in Minority Health and Health Disparities

Emma Fernández-Repollet, Ph.D.  |  University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus, San Juan

The center will support translational research projects in basic biomedical, behavioral, and clinical research that will provide different and innovative approaches to promoting minority health and health disparities research among early career investigators and students, enhancing participation of Hispanic patients in genomics studies, and providing novel interventions to reduce childhood obesity within and outside Puerto Rico.

Learn more at NIH.gov.

In 2017, MIAW takes place Oct. 1-7. NAMI will promote the theme of “Into Mental Health: Inspired, Informed, Involved” during #MIAW. The campaign will focus on the power of starting inspiring conversations, getting informed to know the right thing to say and encouraging people to proudly proclaim that they are #IntoMentalHealth!

You can play a significant role in growing the movement. Here are some resources to help make MIAW successful.

Let the community know what you’re doing by putting out a press release. A press release can let other people know about the events you’re holding and get people interested in attending. It might even result in a local media outlet covering what you have going on. Download a sample press release.

Browse through logos, print graphics, social media images and more to help raise awareness. Get #IntoMentalHealth graphics.

Encourage public officials and community partners to support the cause by proclaiming the first full week of October as Mental Illness Awareness Week in their communities, or submit an item about MIAW to your local media.

• Download the sample proclamation.
• Download the sample article.
• Download the sample letter to the editor.

Learn more at NAMI.org

The 31st Annual Research & Policy Conference on Child, Adolescent, and Young Adult Behavioral Health will be held March 4-7, 2018 at the Hilton Tampa Downtown Hotel.

Since 1988, this annual conference has been a leader in promoting the development of the research base essential to improved service systems for children and youth with mental health challenges and their families. Sponsored by the Department of Child & Family Studies, this gathering brings together more than 500 researchers, evaluators, policy-makers, administrators, parents, and advocates.

Here is your chance to be a part of this important conference!  The Conference Planning Committee invites you to submit proposals for research benefiting children, youth and their families.  The deadline to submit a proposal is 11:59 pm Pacific Time on October 27, 2017.

Special interest topics this year include:

• Youth and Young Adults – Research, policy, and services to support the behavioral health needs of older youth and young adults.
• Evidence-based Practice (EBP) in Systems of Care – Examples of current research and technical assistance integrating and supporting EBP in systems of care, both in the US and Canada.
• Innovations in Wraparound – Leaders in Wraparound management, supervision, evaluation, QA, and research will present an array of cutting-edge developments in care coordination for youth with complex needs.
• Behavioral Health Equity – Showcasing the latest evidence-based research and discoveries, innovative programs, and effective policies advancing behavioral health equity among vulnerable populations both domestically and globally.
• Institute for Translational Research in Adolescent Behavioral Health (Institute members only) – Includes presentations of results from translational research projects along with discussions by leaders in the field regarding current trends in implementation science.
• Child Welfare – Co-sponsored by Casey Family Programs and the Florida Institute for Child Welfare, this track showcases new developments in community-based and other interventions to prevent or mitigate the impact of child maltreatment.

General topic areas this year include:

• Community-based policies, services, and strategies addressing disparities.
• Systems research on processes that impact effectiveness.
• Research on family, youth, and young adult roles in behavioral health services.
• Implementation of Evidence-based practice research and policy.
• Innovative approaches to research and evaluation in complex behavioral health settings.
• Community-based policy approaches addressing Substance Abuse/Dual Diagnosis services.
• Early childhood behavioral health.
• Building capacity to provide coordinated behavioral health community responses to American Indian/Alaska Native families.
• Research on Wraparound and care coordination for youth and families with the most complex and costly needs.

Learn more about the conference on the Child & Family Studies website, view the Call for Proposals flyer, or submit a proposal.

Sheila Procella joined the Air Force in 1974 to “see the Earth,” she said. She enlisted at the tail end of the Vietnam War, shortly after graduating from high school. Although she never left her home state of Texas during eight years of service, her office job proved to be its own battlefield.

“Some of us actually went to war, some of us had war right here in the states, going to work every day knowing we are going to be harassed,” said Procella, now 62 and living in Plano.

At the time, fewer than 3 percent of service members were women. Procella recalls the daily barrage of sexual comments, gestures and men grabbing her inappropriately. And one of her superiors made it clear that her hopes of moving up the career ladder depended on having sex with him.

“He was kind of discreet about the way he put it, but his one advance and my one acceptance of his advance led to my promotion,” Procella said.

At the time, Procella, who served in the Air Force until 1979 and then went on to the Texas Air National Guard until 1982, accepted the common belief that reporting the incidents would be bad for her career. “It definitely wasn’t talked about, you definitely did not report your superiors for any kind of harassment,” she explained. “At the time that it happens you sweep it away like you’re going to be OK.”

But it wasn’t OK, and after her military career, Procella found herself dependent on alcohol and drugs to cope.

Eventually, she came to associate her deep depression, anxiety and panic attacks with the harassment and assaults during her military service. Procella, who had also experienced childhood sexual abuse, was diagnosed with military sexual trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder in 2014, nearly three decades after her service. Today she has a 70 percent disability rating from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

There are many others like Procella, who served decades ago but are just coming to terms with their experience.

A 2015 study published by the American Psychological Association asked 327 female veterans in Southern California about their experiences with sexual trauma. They divided the respondents into two groups — those who served before the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001, and those in uniform afterward. Nearly half of those in the earlier group reported sexual contact against their will during their military service. In the later group, reports of unwanted sexual contact dropped to 30 percent.

A majority of those who reported sexual abuse met the criteria for a PTSD diagnosis, the researchers said.

And a study published last year in the journal Women’s Health Issues found that women ages 45 to 54 reported more sexual harassment and assault while in the military than other age groups.

Read more on DallasNews.com