DATE: Friday, April 19, 2024
TIME: 1 PM – 2:15 PM EST
This webinar will explore considerations and strategies for engaging in participatory research processes with community members and organizations, including study design, partnership structures, engagement planning, and bidirectional communication.
- Describe the rationale and effective strategies for establishing partnership structures, processes, and agreements
- Explore approaches to establishing bidirectional community involvement, feedback loops, and reciprocity
- Consider examples of community engagement planning and tools that help promote and sustain trust, bidirectional communication, connectedness, and meaningful engagement and outcomes
SPEAKERS:
Alison Mendoza-Walters, MPH, MBA
Evaluator, Community Engagement Technical Assistance Center, Westate, Inc.
Alison is an evaluator at Westat for the Community Engagement Technical Assistance Center, where she works with NIH and research teams to assess academic-community partnerships and the cross-site and cross-program impact of community-engaged research projects. She received formal education and training in evaluation at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Public Health and through the American Evaluation Association Graduate Education Diversity Internship. Her 15 years of experience in public health program implementation and evaluation spans the non-profit, government, and private sectors and across the United States, United States-affiliated Pacific Islands (USAPI), Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, and the Philippines. She strives to incorporate principles of utilization-focused and culturally responsive into program evaluation. She is a mother of 3, daughter of Filipino immigrants, and lives outside of Washington, DC, where she enjoys bicycling, eating food from all over the world, and relaxing with her family.
Evon Peter, MA
Senior Research Scientist, UAF Center for Alaska Native Health Research, University of Alaska Fairbanks
Evon is Neets’ąįį Gwich’in from Vashrąįį K’oo (Arctic Village), Alaska. He is an advocate of Indigenous knowledges, languages, and rights, especially as they relate to the health and well-being of communities. Evon is a senior research scientist at the Center for Alaska Native Health Research at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). He serves as a board member of the Gwich’in Council International and the Gwich’in Social & Cultural Institute of Alaska. Evon has previously served as the tribal chief for Vashrąįį K’oo and as vice chancellor for rural, community and Native education at UAF. His work focuses on incorporating Indigenous knowledge and practices into healing, leadership development, and Dinjii Zhuh K’yàa (Gwich’in language) programs. He holds a baccalaureate degree in Alaska Native studies and a masters degree in rural development.
Hannah Robinson, MPH
Alaska Alliance for Community Engagement – Climate and Health, UAF Center for Alaska Native Health Research
Hannah is the project coordinator for the Alaska Alliance for Community Engagement -Climate and Health (AK ACE-CH) at the Center for Alaska Native Research (UAF). She completed her B.S. in chemistry at Bethel University (TN) and a Master’s of Public Health at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Having both a biomedical and public health background allows her to work seamlessly across disciplines. In her previous positions, she helped students at the undergraduate and graduate level to succeed in their goals of higher education and continues to be an unofficial mentor. She enjoys learning from community members and researchers on the AK ACE-CH project, camping, and reading.
Nanieezh Peter
Arctic Village Council, UAF Student
Nanieezh is Diné, Tohono O’odham, Ashkenazi Jewish and Neets’ąįį Gwich’in. She studies Gwich’in language, ethnobotany, and tribal governance at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, virtually from Arctic Village. As the youngest member of the Arctic Village Council, she advocates for food sovereignty, language revitalization, and the arts. In her free time, she enjoys visiting with elders, sleeping on the tundra, singing, and eating her native foods.
Angelique Jennings, MPH, CHES (she/her/hers)
Project Manager, NC CEAL, Assistant Project Coordinator, UNC Center for Health Equity Research
Angelique serves as the Research Project Manager for the North Carolina Community Engagement Alliance. Jennings earned a B.A. in Anthropology and a B.A. in Spanish from Georgia Southern University. She recently earned her Master in Public Health degree from Georgia Southern University, with a concentration in Community Health. She has experience working with diverse communities through research and service. She has worked in rural communities in coastal Georgia that lack resources to address their healthcare needs. Jennings has research interests in the mental health of families of children/adolescents with disabilities, as well as this community’s abilities to access these mental health resources. She is invested in learning and growing in the field of health equity and cultural competency to best assist every community she serves.
