National Institutes of Health (NIH) Community Partnerships to Advance Science for Society (ComPASS)
The ComPASS program provides an unprecedented opportunity to design innovative intervention projects that focus on social determinants of health for community-empowered research. The program will enable communities and researchers to work collaboratively as equal partners in all phases of the research process to enhance the quality of interventions and advance health disparities research. The intent of this research is to improve health outcomes in communities affected by health disparities and inform social policies, systems, and practices to achieve optimal health for all. Rather than tackling inequities one disease, organ system, or life stage at a time, Compass will develop an NIH-wide strategy to address structural factors that impact multiple dimensions of health.
Partners: UCLA Clinical Translational Science, Charles Drew University, Watts Rising Community Leadership Council
The Community Leadership Council (CLC) was formed in April 2024 as a way to directly involve community members and Watts stakeholders in the design and implementation of the selected intervention. The council will convene once a month for the next 2 years and will hold conversations around various social determinants of health. By the end of the 2 years, the council will decide on and design a specific program (“intervention”) to tackle Watts’ most pressing health needs.
What have we been doing?
May 2024- The CLC met at the new Kaiser Permanente building in Watts. The meeting kicked off with a share out of photovoice assignments by the CLC members. Each photo was related back to impact of community health. Residents shared many similar feelings of being impacted negatively by things like excess trash and unsafe streets and agreed on the resiliency and importance of the community coming together to make improvements- as they have done for decades. Members also met data partners at UCLA and heard a research 101 presentation that helped promote a better understanding of research ethics and best practices for community-centered research. The meeting ended with small break out groups where members discussed different structural determinants of health (ex: safety and violence, healthcare systems). Members received relevant community data on each topic, shared their own lived experiences, and began to brainstorm intervention ideas.
June 2024- This month we started out with GOOD NEWS! To start out on a high, members shared the positives they have recently seen in their lives and in the community. Following this, we continued in the conversation of how the CLC is going to make decisions and build consensus. This is a very important discussion as the CLC will decide on one structural intervention to bring into the community. CLC members met in small groups to dive deeper into how we want to come together to make decisions. Members shared various ideas such as establishing counsels, setting intentions, anonymous voting processes, and forming sub-committees. Next month, members will share their photo voice assignments (photos of parts of the community with descriptions) that will focus on the importance of financial health in Watts.
- Presentation slides for the first CLC meeting can be found in English here and in Spanish here.
- Presentation with Los Angeles County health data can be found here. in English and here in Spanish.
- Research 101 slides can be found in English here and in Spanish here.
- these provide a great introduction into the ethics of community-based research.