Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH) has selected12 student interns for its HBCU Internship Pilot Program. This program, supported and funded by The Center for Black Health & Equity and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is designed to support the work of the State Tobacco Control Coalitions. Students were recruited from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) across several Tobacco Nation states to enhance the work of state coalitions to reduce tobacco use.Tobacco Nation is defined as a collection of U.S. states in the South and Midwest with smoking rates that exceed not only the national average but that of many countries with the highest smoking rates in the world.
“The pilot internship program is representative of the intentionality of CCPH to grow its work with HBCUs and MSIs which contain unique capacities to help improve community health,” said Al Richmond, Executive Director, CCPH.“These schools are distinctively equipped in many ways to address health disparities, including the location of their campuses in direct proximity to communities that bear some of the largest burdens of health disparities. And this project will provide undergraduate and graduate student interns opportunities to gain valuable experience to address widespread health disparities from the burden of tobacco use,”said Richmond.
The pilot program is designed to provide opportunities for students to apply principles taught in the classroom with problem-based learning in the field. Students will participate in activities that help build the capacity of the coalition to carry out its mission in reducing tobacco use and the diseases attributed to tobacco use.“The overall objective is to contribute to a community of practice for training students of color in the fundamentals of community engagement and coalition building.The skills, experience and network gained from the internships will make students more marketable as they transition into the workplace,” said Michael Muhammad, Director of Research & Evaluation, CCPH.
CCPH interns for the 2021 Pilot are: Daneva Arana; Jackson State University, Savannah Dorsey; Dillard University, Jayla Fogg; Alcorn State University, Jermany Gray; Dillard University, Dericka Jones; Jackson State University, Stori Jones; Jackson State University, Latajah Lassus; Clark Atlanta University, Essence Perkins; Claflin University, Jordan Sanders; Morehouse School of Medicine, Amari Turner; Xavier University of Louisiana, Alia Wells; Xavier University of Louisiana, Ronitra Wilson; Claflin University. Each student intern will be eligible to receive a stipend for successfully participating in the three month program.
Contact: Virginia Whitmire Hunter
Phone: (919) 764-8614
Email: info@ccphealth.org
