KU Center for Community Health and Development

Image of a map of Africa with the text "WHO + KU. COVID-19 monitoring across America."

Center researchers lead effort to monitor and evaluate COVID-19 response in 47 African countries. Read more.

Image from the new Latino Health for All video on YouTube.

The Latino Health for All Coalition celebrates a decade of impact. Watch video.

Image of man serving lunch to kids in school cafeteria.

Largest study of its kind gauges community efforts to combat childhood obesity: Groundbreaking publications have emerged from KU Center for Community Health and Development researchers’ study of 9,000 programs and policies from 130 communities across the nation to assess their effectiveness. Read more.

Image of Steve Fawcett represented KU’s WHO Collaborating Centre at the Regional Meeting of Mayors from Healthy Municipalities in the Americas, held in Santiago de Cuba on 6-7 November 2018. Pictured with Dr. Gerry Eijkemans, Director, and Micaela Pereira, Consultant, Health Promotion and Social Determinants of Health Unit of the Pan American Health Organization.

Steve Fawcett represented KU’s WHO Collaborating Centre at the Regional Meeting of Mayors from Healthy Municipalities in the Americas, held in Santiago de Cuba on 6-7 November 2018. Pictured with Dr. Gerry Eijkemans, Director, and Micaela Pereira, Consultant, Health Promotion and Social Determinants of Health Unit of the Pan American Health Organization.

Photo of team members Dr. Jomella Watson-Thompson, Dola Gabriel, Nadia Jessop, and Courtney Moore from the Community Youth Development & Prevention Team.

Kansas City Youth Violence Prevention Project featured on KCUR "Up to Date" radio program. Listen here. Pictured here: team members Dr. Jomella Watson-Thompson, Dola Gabriel, Nadia Jessop, and Courtney Moore. Read more.

We offer online documentation and evaluation services. Find out more.

Our mission: supporting community health and development through collaborative research and evaluation, teaching and training, and technical support and capacity building.

Since 2004, our center has been continually designated as a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Community Health and Development.

Recent Highlights:

Center Researchers Lead Effort to Monitor and Evaluate COVID-19 Response in 47 African Countries

Researchers from our center are monitoring and evaluating COVID-19 response activities in 47 African countries. The project — in partnership with the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa — is designed to capture and communicate COVID-19 response activities, such as programs and policies related to infection-control and risk communication, in order to help eliminate transmission of the disease.

KDHE Maternal and Child Health Opportunity Project Launches

Steve Fawcett and Christina Holt are collaborating with colleagues at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to build capacity and jump start health equity efforts in the state. A Health Opportunity RFA has just been released, paired with free technical support through the new Kansas Healthy Communities Action Toolkit: http://ksactiontoolkit.org/. The Action Toolkit offers guidance for taking action to build communities with equal opportunities for healthy living and well-being, as part of a statewide effort to improve equity in maternal and child health outcomes.

Arkansas Department of Health Receives Community Tool Box Curriculum Training

Christina Holt and Jerry Schultz provided Community Tool Box Curriculum capacity-building training for sixty participants convened by the Arkansas Department of Health. Participants included staff of the state and local health departments as well as staff from local non-profit organizations and coalitions.

Jerry Schultz Shares Latino Health for All Coalition Lessons Learned

During LiveWell Douglas County’s February retreat, Jerry Schultz served on a panel to share lessons learned from the Latino Health for All Coalition’s community engagement and sustainability efforts to coalition members.

Jomella Watson-Thompson Joins KU Center for Service Learning as Senior Faculty Associate

Congratulations to Associate Director for Community Participation and Research, Jomella Watson-Thompson, who is joining the KU Center for Service Learning as senior faculty associate. Watson-Thompson’s experience developing service-learning and community-engaged scholarship and partnerships will help expand engaged scholarship opportunities for KU students. Read more.

YouthLead.org Launches

At the Global Youth Economic Opportunities Summit, USAID Agency Youth Coordinator Michael McCabe announced YouthLead, a new online platform for young global changemakers. We couldn't be happier to have the Community Tool Box serve as a content sponsor for this new platform, empowering young changemakers with tools for change from the Community Tool Box.The platform will serve as a collaborative marketplace where young changemakers can forge connections with a community of peers and scale their innovations. While focused on youth from the Global South, the platform is available globally.

Kansas City Youth Violence Prevention Project Featured on KCUR Up to Date

Listen to the November 20 KCUR Up to Date program featuring Jomella Watson-Thompson as she shares about the exciting new KCK Youth Prevention Project.

Healthy Communities Study Findings Shared at APHA

Associate director Vicki Collie-Akers and other members of the Healthy Communities Study presented findings about what communities are doing across the US to prevent or address childhood obesity at the American Public Health Association (APHA) annual meeting in Atlanta.

New Action Planning Guide

The KU Center for Community Health & Development is proud to partner with the KU Research & Training Center on Independent Living to offer a new resource entitled "Your Action Planning Guide for Promoting Full Community Participation Among People with Disabilities: A Resource for Independent Living Centers and Other Community-based Initiatives."

WHO-PAHO Healthy Communities Action Toolkit

Senior advisor Stephen Fawcett recently collaborated with the Pan American Health Organization on developing the WHO-PAHO Healthy Cities Action Toolkit, to provide guidance for taking action in promoting healthy cities, municipalities, and communities. The toolkit provides questions to consider, key activities and examples, and resources to help you with health promotion work in your community. This work is part of the KU Center’s World Health Organization Collaboration Centre. Access the toolkit in both English and Spanish.

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