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Hosted by the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) School of Public Health (SPH) and with funding from the MacArthur Foundation, the Community-Engaged Teaching & Learning (CEnTL) Initiative is comprised of four (4) programs which all seek to build reciprocal academic-community relationships through synergistic and mutually beneficial public health learning opportunities:
Hosted by the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) School of Public Health (SPH) and with funding from the MacArthur Foundation, the Community-Engaged Teaching & Learning (CEnTL) Initiative is comprised of four (4) programs which all seek to build reciprocal academic-community relationships through synergistic and mutually beneficial public health learning opportunities:
Mission
Mission
Since inception in 2021, CEnTL seeks to build capacity at the neighborhood level by repurposing academic knowledge, skills, and resources to directly support community-based organizations (CBOs)*, through our classrooms, in order to lead community healing, address structural violence, and strengthen the local public health infrastructure. By addressing the harms and exclusionary practices that academia has historically participated in, we hope to transform academic institutions to be allies in building power at the community level.
*CBOs are typically non-traditional public health partners such as mutual aid organizations, grassroots community groups, and other entities made up of residents from the community/ies of focus rather than, but not exclusive of, traditional public health partners such as local health departments and hospital systems.
Background
Background
Where academia has traditionally benefitted from working in community, CEnTL aims to transform teaching, learning, research, and practice to be by and for community. Community leadership is centered in CEnTL through community co-instructors and guest speakers while student assignments offer hands-on learning opportunities that meet a concrete need of a community partner. Transforming academia such that those who are most impacted by social determinants of health will have the opportunity to co-produce and exchange knowledge, participate in critical learning, and lead public health efforts, brings public health back to its roots of being community-driven, inclusive, collaborative, and visionary.
Key Benefits of CEnTL:
Key Benefits of CEnTL:
Increases the capacity of CBOs and directly supports them in ways that meet their programmatic, organizational, and/or workforce development needs
Student learning is enhanced, as students understand organizational needs and assets, practice community engagement methods, and are better trained to enter the workforce and practice true public health
Academic-community relationships and partnerships are strengthened, through which health justice and equity is collectively advanced
Review CEnTL Semesterly Newsletters:
Review CEnTL Semesterly Newsletters:
Featuring interviews with an instructor and student who participated in Community Course Alignment
More on our busy year: student-CBO collaborations, health justice guest speakerships, conclusion of LEAPPS, a podcast feature, publications, conference presentations
What's Next for CEnTL?
What's Next for CEnTL?
In terms of future directions, the CEnTL team will...
Continue to implement Community Course Alignment and the Health Justice Speakers Bureau in a limited funding and operational capacity through spring 2025, while working to sustain and institutionalize CEnTL at SPH and perhaps beyond at UIC
Develop several manuscripts featuring this work, with one already accepted, and another under review
Build a connective pipeline between CEnTL programs and other community engagement opportunities for students, and build/sustain CBO-course relationships across multiple semesters
Expand the cohort of health justice speakers so that there are individuals who can speak on diverse public health topics related to their lived experience
The Community-Engaged Teaching & Learning (CEnTL) Initiative is generously funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation #21-2105-155647.
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