This study aims to address the critical need to increase access to care for under-resourced children with ASD and their families. We have conducted several focus groups and interviews with parents of low-income, minority children with ASD across different sites (UCLA, UC Davis, U Penn, and U Rochester) in order to better understand challenges, barriers, and needs in the community. These data will be incorporated into an intervention to help families initiate services, increase engagement and advocate for their child. Using a Community Partnered Participatory Research (CPPR) model, we have built partnerships with service providers and agencies in the community. We have worked together to tailor services that address family needs, such as ASD education, linking families with resources, and cultural adaptations. We expect the Mind the Gap intervention to be a sustainable community-based intervention that increases caregiver engagement and uptake of intervention services for low-resource racial and ethnic minority families. 

http://www.airbnetwork.org/mind_gap.asp

CPPRN will be a new Patient-Powered Research Network (PPRN) in Los Angeles County and New Orleans focusing on behavioral health services in collaboration with under-resourced communities. This proposed network is driven by equal partnerships between patients, community members, and researchers to develop a behavioral health data infrastructure for conducting research based on the priorities of communities, patients, and caregivers. We use Community-Partnered Participatory Research (CPPR) to engage patients and community stakeholders in co-leading research relevant to communities, while addressing distrust in research. Our research shows that CPPR can lead to improved outcomes such as mental health quality of life, lowered homelessness, and reduced hospitalizations. 

http://www.pcori.org/research-results/2015/community-partnered-participatory-research-network-cpprn

The Resiliency Project is a community-patient partnered intervention tailored to meet the mental health needs of LGBTQ persons. We will work with a diverse group of LGBTQ-focused or trusted agencies (clinics, churches, social services and support, advocacy groups, etc.) to engage and address the needs of LGBTQ clients.

http://www.pcori.org/research-results/2016/resilience-against-depression-disparities-radd

The partnership between Charles Drew University (CDU) and UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center seeks to “Eliminate Cancer Health Disparities in Minority and Underserved Populations”. This objective will continue to strengthen the CDU cancer research and training infrastructure by enhancing the participation of minority students, fellows, and faculty engaged in Cancer Research, Training, and Cancer Outreach.

http://cdrewu-dcrt.org/research.aspx?page=partnerships  

The major goals of this project are to support: 1) an evaluation of the LA County Health Neighborhood Initiative; 2) innovations in Communication and Information Technology; 3) infrastructure and leadership for community engagement and research development; 4) mental health leadership; 5) collaboration with UC Davis around these issues; and 6) coordination with policy leaders statewide and nationally to communicate Center work and gather input.

http://hss.semel.ucla.edu/cce/

Co-PI with Aziza Lucas-Wright. The aims of this study are to assess the awareness and perceptions toward cancer among people of 18 years of age or older, are male or female, of any race and ethnicity, can speak English, and are willing to complete the survey instrument.  The study involves a one-time paper-based survey that will take approximately 30 minutes to complete. 

A large community-based participatory research network in perinatal medicine, the CCHN was developed to examine how community-, family-, and individual- level stressors may influence and interact with biological factors to affect maternal and child health. CCHN examined how these factors might result in health disparities in pregnancy outcomes and in infant/early childhood mortality and morbidity. It is anticipated that the discoveries from CCHN research will provide evidence-based methods for interventions to reduce disparities in perinatal health. Five centers were funded by the NICHD in this community-linked research collaboration network for maternal and child health research. The research blended social, behavioral, and biomedical approaches into a coherent community-linked study. 

https://www.nichd.nih.gov/research/supported/Pages/cchn.aspx

The NCS was a planned large-scale, long-term study of U.S. children and their parents designed to study environmental influences on child health and development. It was authorized by the Children’s Health Act of 2000.  The NCS Vanguard (Pilot) Study began in 2009, testing methods and procedures planned for use in a larger Main Study. When recruitment ended in July 2013, the Vanguard Study had enrolled approximately 5,000 children in 40 locations across the country. The planned NCS Main Study would have followed 100,000 children from before birth to age 21. However, the NIH Director, Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., decided to close the NCS on December 12, 2014, following the advice of an expert review group. To see this statement please click on this link: https://www.nih.gov/about-nih/who-we-are/nih-director/statements/statement-national-childrens-study. Please refer to the National Children’s Study Archive: Study Description and Guide (PDF - 1.4 MB) for a more detailed summary of the scientific basis and operations of the NCS Vanguard Study.

https://www.nichd.nih.gov/research/NCS/Pages/default.aspx

Community Partners in Care (CPIC) was a collaborative research project of community and academic partners working together to learn the best way to reduce the burden that depression places on our communities and other vulnerable populations. We worked in the communities of South Los Angeles (SPA 6) and Hollywood-Metro LA (SPA 4). CPIC was developed out of five years of collaborative work on how to address depression in our communities, on many years of prior research on how to improve depression care in primary care settings, and on extensive efforts to address health disparities through community-partnered initiatives. CPIC asked the question of whether agencies and communities working together through a community engagement process is a better way of improving depression services and client outcomes than agencies working alone. CPIC, along with Witness4Wellness (see below) won the 2014 Association for Clinical and Translational Science (ACTS) Team Science Award.

http://www.communitypartnersincare.org

This pilot project conducted a randomized, single blind trial of a psychosocial intervention called a “Resiliency Class” (RC), to provide depression education and health promotion to individuals with depressive symptoms, by training non-professionals to offer this class to clients receiving services within diverse community settings (e.g. health care clinic, church, community advocacy organization, social services agency).  This class was not designed to be therapy, but rather a class that was informed on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) principles used to address depressive symptoms, on how to improve mood, and to enhance resiliency in the face of stress.

https://www.slideshare.net/jebyrne/brich-building-resiliency-increasing-community-hope

A Feasibility Pilot Study with Dr. Aurora Jackson (UCLA) Guided by social cognitive theory and a relationship-oriented ecological framework, the proposed study will:  1) recruit 20 to 30 low-income single black mothers with a 3- or 4-year-old (focal) child who are involved with Healthy African American Families (HAFF), a nonprofit, community-serving agency in South Los Angeles; 2) develop a 3-month psychoeducation group intervention with half of the mothers and the nonresident fathers of their focal 3-/4-year-old children to facilitate more emotionally supportive and cognitively stimulating parenting; 3)  examine longitudinally the impact of this intervention on improvement in the children’s cognitive and behavioral development (preschool readiness skills and behavior problems) and the mothers’ scores on instruments measuring depressive symptoms, parent stress, self-efficacy, and parenting practices in the home environment; 4) elicit information from the mothers and nonresident fathers about their feelings about the group intervention at the end of each weekly meeting and their ideas about whether and how it might be improved to better meet their needs and the needs of others like them; 5) finalize a psychoeducation intervention manual for future use.

This study explored cultural perceptions of parenting and early parenting interventions among participants and non-participants of local parenting programs. Focus groups were conducted in three groups of parents: African Americans, Latinos, and Koreans. Parents from each of the three race categories were divided into at least four focus groups with the following characteristics: 1) Mothers in a parenting program, 2) Mothers not in a parenting program, 3) Fathers in a parenting program, and 4) Fathers not in a parenting program. The data generated from the focus groups was used to design a culturally appropriate perinatal parenting intervention to improve school readiness.

The purpose of this successful project was to explore the practicality of forging partnerships between barbershops and pharmacists to help African American men control their hypertension. 

On behalf of the Los Angeles Community Health Improvement Collaborative (CHIC), Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Healthy African American Families, To Help Everyone Clinic, Inc., UCLA, RAND, and the Department of Health Services partnered to develop an intervention research project(s) to improve diabetes related outcomes using community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles and methods.

The overall goal of the project was to promote men’s involvement in their health as well as social issues in Los Angeles County, particularly in communities of color.  We believe that if men take an active role in their own lives, they can play a major role in promoting maternal and child health.  We believe that strengthening male involvement in communities of color can help address the persisting racial-ethnic disparities. This workgroup had approximately 40 African American and Latino male members, ranging in age from 18 to 65.

The RCLA was a community partnered, planning process to develop a plan for a Restoration Center or set of Centers to improve the health, mental health, and wellness of persons of African descent in South Los Angeles and surrounding communities. 

This purpose of this project was to educate apartment owners and landlords about environmental factors that could affect tenants’ health.

African American and Latino children are more likely to have asthma related urgent care visits, and higher rates of asthma than children from other ethnic groups (Inkelas et al., 2008; Smith et al. 2005).  To address this issue, HAAF developed the “Breathe Free” Asthma Project in partnership with the Asthma & Allergy Foundation of America’s Southern California Chapter, providing in-home services to families of asthmatic children. Services included environmental assessments for allergen triggers, referrals for additional services. Child care center trainings, distribution of allergen-safe materials, medical provider advocacy and follow-up, micro case management, public health awareness by way of media message development, and community-based trainings and education.