A Community-Engaged Approach to COVID-19 Testing in African-American Churches

Jan 19, 2022 | COVID-19, RADx-UP, Video, Webinars | 0 comments

Community-Campus Partnerships for Health and Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics – Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) present:  A Community-Engaged Approach to COVID-19 Testing in African-American Churches

Join us February 3rd, 3pm – 4:30pm ET REGISTER NOW

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is an innovative approach to combating health inequities through robust partnerships, community mobilization, and responsiveness to community-identified needs and assets. This webinar will describe a faith-based partnership that utilizes principles of CBPR to combat COVID-19 among African-Americans in Kansas City, MO. We will explore best practices for engaging community members in the research process as well as the role that faith-based organizations can serve in COVID-19 testing and prevention. 

This webinar will highlight the work of University of Missouri – Kansas City (UMKC) in partnership with the Clergy Response Network (CRN) and the Calvary Community Outreach Network (CCON) to deliver COVID-19 testing in African-American churches. The project is part of the NIH-funded RADx-UP network, a consortium of over 100 community-based COVID-19 testing projects across the U.S. Learn more about RADx-UP at radx-up.org.

Speakers*:

A Community-Engaged Approach to COVID-19 Testing in African-American Churches | CCPH

Jannette Berkley-Patton, Ph.D., is a professor in the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) School of Medicine Biomedical and Health Informatics Department, the director of the UMKC Community Health Research Group, and the director of the UMKC Health Equity Institute. Her expertise is in using tailored community-engaged approaches to develop, implement, and evaluate health screening and linkage to care interventions focused on HIV/STIs/HCV, mental health, dementia, diabetes, and COVID-19 with African American populations in collaboration with faith, community, and health agency partners with funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and local and national foundations. Her research also focuses on mental health and resilience with urban youth in community settings. She is currently the principal investigator of a NIH/NIDDK grant awarded to conduct a clinical trial testing a religiously-culturally tailored intervention to increase COVID-19 testing and linkage to care with African American faith-based organizations in NIH’s Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics-Underserved Populations program. She is also the PI of an NIH/NIDDK R01 focused on culturally tailoring the Diabetes Prevention Program to improve health outcomes with African American safety net hospital patients. Additionally, she is the PI of a community-wide project to increase COVID-19 vaccination and use of health services with faith, business, neighborhood, and youth sector leaders in Kansas City socially vulnerable communities with funding from the Jackson County (MO) Office. 

A Community-Engaged Approach to COVID-19 Testing in African-American Churches | CCPH

Carole Bowe Thompson is Project Director for the University of Missouri-Kansas City Community Health Research Group and has worked in this role for 10 years. In this role, she helps conceptualize, develop, and test NIH-funded, multilevel, interventions using a community-based participatory research approach. Mrs. Bowe Thompson has contributed to faith-based capacity building as Co-Project Director of the Heartland Health Network (HHN). HHN established a model partnership network between academic health researchers, African American faith-based community, and community-based health service organizations to address health disparities in African American communities. She has over 25 years of experience working in the non-profit sector where she held numerous leadership roles that focused on organization and project development, delivering community-based programs and clinical services with collaborative partners. In her current role Mrs. Bowe Thompson develops and facilitates training programs for research study team and staff members at partnering organizations, manages data collection activities and reporting, manualizing study procedures/activities, monitors and maintains IRB protocols and supervises research staff on large-scale health promotion interventions in underserved African American communities. She has contributed as an author to the conceptualization and preparation of manuscripts from several church-based studies and has presented findings in over 20 conference presentations. She is a wife, mother of 3 daughters, and 4 beautiful grandchildren.

A Community-Engaged Approach to COVID-19 Testing in African-American Churches | CCPH

Reverend Eric D. Williams is a loving husband and father of two wonderful sons. He has served as pastor of the Calvary Temple Baptist Church since July of 1988. Reverend Williams is the Executive Director and Founder of Calvary Community Outreach Network.  His vision is to expand to include general health information for all disparities and to help bring the African American morbidity rate at least in line with other races. In addition to his active teaching and preaching ministry, Reverend Williams is an accomplished singer/songwriter. Reverend Williams is fully involved in the life of the Kansas City community and has served in the following capacities receiving multiple appointments, awards and recognitions.

Reverend Dr. Faith A. Allen

Reverend Faith A. Allen is an anointed spirit-filled woman of God. She was raised in Wrightsville, Arkansas where her spiritual journey began at Beebe Chapel C.M.E. Church. Reverend Allen answered her calling to preach in 1990. Currently, she serves as the pastor of Jamison Memorial Temple C.M.E. Church in Kansas City, Missouri after having been appointed to the pastorate in July of 2014. She is a member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority. 

Moderated by: The CCPH RADx-UP Team

*Additional speakers may be announced.

Below is the recording of the webinar:

Author