The mission of the KU Work Group is to promote community health and development through collaborative research, teaching and public service. The Work Group has developed widely used capabilities for community-based participatory research and for building capacity for community work, including through the Community Tool Box. Recognition of these capabilities led to official designation in 2004 as a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre.
World Health Organization reconfirms KU Work Group as collaborating centre
The University of Kansas’ Work Group for Community Health and Development has been redesignated as an official World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Community Health and Development. Stephen Fawcett, Kansas Health Foundation Distinguished Professor and Director, and Jerry Schultz, Co-Director, will continue to direct the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Community Health and Development at KU.
“We are honored to continue in this extraordinary network of centers working to assure conditions for health and human development,” said Fawcett. “As a WHO Collaborating Centre, we have opportunities to learn and contribute with those who are working for health equity around the world.” More...
KU Work Group, Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department Launch Academic Health Department
The University of Kansas Work Group on Community Health and Development and the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department have launched a new kind of partnership, called the Academic Health Department, the first in Kansas and one of only a few in the country.
The KU Work Group is a longstanding partner with the Health Department, most recently in facilitating the recent Comprehensive Community Health Assessment, but the Academic Health Department takes the collaboration a step further. “We hope to ultimately create a shared research agenda with the Health Department,” said Vicki Collie-Akers, assistant research professor, who leads the KU effort, “to merge our goals with theirs.” More…
Evaluation of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation's Together on Diabetes Initiative
The KU Work Group was selected to serve as the national evaluators for the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation's Together on Diabetes initiative, a $100 million, 5-year initiative which targets adults in the United States that are disproportionately affected by type 2 diabetes.
The Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation and Together on Diabetes grantees evaluate their efforts to understand what is being accomplished by the initiative and improve performance at the individual project and overall initiative levels. The KU Work Group developed an Online Documentation and Support System to provide the Foundation and its Together on Diabetes grantees with real-time information about how projects are progressing toward their goals and objectives. The Work Group supports grantees and leaders of the Together on Diabetes initiative to reflect on the progress being made, identify and consider changes occurring in the community, and determine what impact the changes may have and what can be adjusted and improved. Program evaluations, success stories, and lessons learned will be communicated through grantee reports, case study books, presentations and publications. More...
KU Work Group selected as one of 10 CDC REACH CORE grantees
The KU Work Group was recently selected for one of ten Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) for Communities Organized to Respond and Evaluate (CORE) programs across the nation. Our project, “Mobilizing to Reduce Health Disparities among Latinos in Wyandotte County Kansas,” takes a health equity approach to working to prevent diabetes and cardiovascular disease among the Latino community by implementing policy, systems, and environmental changes.
KU Work Group selected for national study of childhood obesity prevention programs
The KU Work Group is a scientific partner in the National Study of Childhood Obesity Prevention Programs. Funded by several NIH Institutes, CDC, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation , this five-year study is examining what works in community-level efforts to prevent childhood obesity. More...
NIH grant to reduce health disparities
In August of 2008, the KU Work Group received a five-year grant to test a model to reduce health disparities in the Latino Community of Kansas City. This grant was funded by the NIH/National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities. More...
