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Faith, Health and Family Collaborative

The Faith, Health and Family Collaborative provides services, health information and resources to faith-based organizations.

The church setting is a central aspect of community among many African Americans and has been recognized as an integral component of delivering health promotion and prevention services to this community. Roughly half of African Americans reported attending church weekly, making this a unique setting for collaboration and education. Church-based interventions, including those developed collaboratively with academic institutions, can be successful in improving health behaviors among African Americans. Previous research has confirmed that partnering with churches can result in an increase in physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption, cancer screening, etc.

The goals of the Faith, Health and Family Collaborative are to:

Enhance an existing faith-based-academic partnership to address family obesity in the African American community.
Strengthen the knowledge, skills, and abilities of collaborators and the local community, through resource connection opportunities, to address family obesity.
Assess the interest of congregations and communities in obesity and related behaviors in African Americans.
Develop a community-driven research agenda focused on addressing African American family obesity in faith-based settings.

Services

Adult Interviews

We're conducting interviews with pastors, church leaders and parents to learn more information about obesity, health programs and other priority health issues related to the church and community. Participants will be compensated with a $20 gift card for their time.

Eligibility Criteria

Pastors and Church staff:

Be able to provide information about church activities related to health
Have a working telephone number

Families:

Self-reported African American race
Be a father or mother of a child between the ages of 9-15 years old
Have a working telephone number

Please contact us if you or your church is interested in participating in an interview.

Youth Town Halls

Youth Town Halls are informal conversations with youth, ages 9 to 15 years, to learn more about their perspectives on healthy eating and physical activity, as well as church and community health programs that would be of interest to them.

A special thank you to New Faith Church and Greenspoint Baptist Church for hosting youth town hall sessions this summer!

Please contact us if your church is interested in hosting a youth town hall.