Community Engagement

Director, Kola Okuyemi                 Co-Director, Kathleen Call

The primary objective of the Community Engagement and Outreach Core is to engage African American and African immigrant communities in the Twin Cities in efforts to improve minority health and reduce health disparities. 
 
The Community Engagement & Outreach Core has two specific aims:   

• To establish a community-academic partnership that will provide a unifying and transformative organizational framework for improving minority health in the Twin Cities of Minnesota
   
• To engage community partners from the local African American and African immigrant (Somali) communities in the dissemination of interventions to promote fruit and vegetable consumption. 

 

Cynthia Johnson of Living Soul Cuisine
gives a community healthy cooking demonstration

Core activities, guided by the principles of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR), will be a collaborative effort among the University of Minnesota, Stairstep Foundation , and WellShare International. Along with our community partners, we are developing, implementing, and evaluating innovative community engagement and outreach programs with the ultimate goal of reducing health disparities.

 
The current collaboration is actively implementing two outreach projects: 

• Stairstep Foundation’s project "Body and Soul" is aimed at promoting fruit and vegetable consumption within a large network of African American Churches in North Minneapolis
   
  Read an update on Body and Soul
   
• WellShare International is developing a structured, youth-driven program focusing on healthy youth development and academic and health-related goals. 

 More about our Partners:
 

     
Diana DuBois, MPH, MIA,
Executive Director, Wellshare International