Public Health Community Engagement Briefs
Previous recipients of Public Health Disaster Research Awards are eligible to apply for Community Engagement Continuation Awards that support working with community partners to translate research findings into public health practice. The Community Engagement Briefs describe how recipients of these awards engaged with partners to apply their findings to policy or practice.
2024
The following is a list of briefs that were produced by recipients of Continuation Award 2: Extending Public Health Disaster Research and Community Engagement in Understudied Areas in Track 2 for Community Engagement and the Application of Public Health Research.
CB5 | Participatory Budgeting: A Community-Led Intervention for Community Resilience to Disasters (2024)
Anaís Delilah Roque, Enid Quintana, Edna Torres, Fernando Tormos-Aponte, Mary Angelica Painter, and Fernando Cuevas
This project is the third phase of a multi-year effort to support community resilience to disasters in Corcovada, Puerto Rico. Using participatory budgeting—a democratic process where residents decide how to spend an available set of funds—this project involved residents in managing, designing, voting for, and implementing projects for community wellbeing. It also encouraged community interactions, broadened community participation, and proactively brought solutions for community resilience.
CB4 | Planning a Resilience Hub With a Tribal Government in Virginia: Co-Producing the Hub Planning Process and Resource Guides (2024)
Jesse Palma, Haley Baker, and Nicole S. Hutton
This team partnered with a sovereign nation in Virginia, the Mattaponi Indian Tribe and Reservation, to plan a resilience hub—a multifunctional community center that provides social and educational services and also serves as an emergency shelter. Through months of consultation with a tribal liaison and a workshop with tribal representatives, the team co-produced a hub planning process and set of resource guides that were culturally sensitive and increased the community’s awareness and engagement in the project. Learn more by reading this brief.
2023
The following is a list of briefs that were produced by recipients of Continuation Award 1: Extending Public Health Disaster Research and Community Engagement in the U.S. Territories in Track 2 for Sustained Community Engagement and the Application of Public Health Research.
CB3 | Improving Disaster Information and Communication Technology Solutions In Puerto Rico: Co-Designed Community-Based Tabletop Exercises (2023)
Jasmine Yiyuan Qin, Wei-Ching Azury Lin, Pamela Silva Díaz, Natalia Arcila, Jonathan Sury, and
Robert Soden
This project is part of a long-term, collaborative effort to develop re+connect—an information and communication technology (ICT) solution to improve mass care and sheltering during disasters in Puerto Rico. This team co-designed tabletop exercises with residents, community-based organizations, and humanitarian aid agencies to test how different user groups can use re+connect to achieve disaster management goals. Read this brief to learn more.
CB2 | Strengthening Disaster Preparedness and Response in the Northern Mariana Islands Through First Aid Training: The Basic Disaster First Aid Curriculum (2023)
Todd Miner, Tayna C. Belyeu-Camacho, Geraldine T. A. Rodgers, Patrick I. George, and Steven A. Aguon
This project aimed to strengthen community resilience in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands by developing a customized disaster first aid training program that could be taught by local instructors. Read this brief to learn more about how they developed a new curriculum—Basic Disaster First Aid—that teaches basic disaster response first aid skills to non-specialist community members from diverse backgrounds, including women and members of other vulnerable groups.
CB1 | Support for Frontline Government Workers At-Risk for Burnout in the U.S. Virgin Islands: The Coping With Burnout Webinar Series (2023)
Kula A. Francis, Kenny A. Hendrickson, and Anna M. Clarke
This continuation project tackled the realities of burnout among frontline government workers in the U.S. Virgin Islands whose jobs are becoming increasingly stressful as a result of cascading and compounding disasters. Read this brief to learn how they worked with experts in the field to develop the Coping with Burnout Webinar Series that teaches burnout coping strategies to managers and frontline workers from nine USVI government agencies.