Arnold School:  Becoming an Engaged Institution and Eliminating Health Disparities 

This Arnold SPH project is sponsored by Community-Campus Partnerships for Health and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The Arnold SPH was selected as one of 12 graduate programs in public health to participate in the engaged institutions initiative. The Arnold SPH team includes, Dean Richter, faculty, staff, graduate students, and several community partners. The initiative has two interrelated goals: (1) to build the capacity of Arnold SPH to fully realize its potential as an engaged institutions focused on eliminating racial and ethnic health disparities; and (2) to build the capacity of community partners to develop authentic partnerships with Arnold SPH to address racial and ethnic health disparities.  Contact Dr. Heather Brandt for additional information.

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The Statewide Cancer Prevention and Control Program (CPCP) at USC is one of the research centers of the Office of the Vice President for Research. The CPCP faculty engage in comprehensive cancer prevention and control research and practice. Many of the initiatives of the CPCP are community-based and participatory in nature. The CPCP fosters partnerships and collaborative research efforts with many community-based organizations, non-profit and for profit entities, medical systems, and others committed to addressing cancer prevention and control, especially cancer disparities.

Consortium for Latino Immigration Studies 

The Consortium for Latino Immigration Studies at USC promotes and coordinates multi-disciplinary research related to Latinos in South Carolina and the Southeast. Through its various activities the Consortium fulfills the University's mission to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of all state residents.

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Duke Endowment Wellness Initiative

Funded by the Duke Endowment, the goal of this project is to enhance the environments of 30 children's homes in North and South Carolina to promote physical activity and improve nutrition among the children's homes' residents. The primary strategies are identification and training of children's homes' wellness teams, on-going consultation and support for wellness teams, and enhancing organizational support for these organizational changes. The project also includes extensive evaluation and measurement, including assessments of individual physical activity and dietary behavior, observation of children's homes' environments and organizational policies and practices, assessment of organizational and environmental change through key informant interview, and qualitative assessments of wellness team activities. Please contact Dr. Ruth Saunders, Principal Investigator on the project, for additional information.

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Healthy Eating Reduces Obesity Effectively in Students (HEROES) 

This emerging collaboration builds on the existing Zest Quest® model of school wellness programs to improve the school nutrition environment through partnerships with school districts and their contractors. Dr. Douglas Winesett, pediatrician at Greenville Children's Hospital Center for Digestive Health, has led the effort to build on Zest Quest's community investments in upstate South Carolina.  Please contact Dr. Sonya Jones, the Co-Investigator at USC, for additional information.

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Mainstreaming Nutrition Initiative 

The Mainstreaming Nutrition Initiative is funded by the World Bank to catalyze the integration of priority nutrition actions into health sector policies and programs worldwide. It is a collaborative effort among the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), the Program in International Nutrition at Cornell University, and other partners.  Dr. Edward Frongillo at USC is the Principal Investigator for the US‑based portion of the effort.  In the first year of the project, we are reviewing the evidence for integrating nutrition interventions within various maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) policies and programs. This will lead to the development of a framework, tools and strategies to facilitate the mainstreaming process in different countries and different policy and program contexts. Other project activities in Year 1 include a global review of nutrition interventions led by ICDDR,B and Aga Khan University, which will contribute to the forthcoming Lancet series on nutrition. A series of reviews on critical issues confronted by nutrition programs has also been commissioned. The reviews will address such questions as: what are the barriers to accessing health and nutrition services, current issues in growth monitoring and promotion, challenges to scaling up exclusive breast feeding promotion programs, and targeting of supplementary feeding.  In addition, the mainstreaming nutrition team is working with the Department of Child and Adolescent Health of the World Health Organization on a related project, and this past summer assisted the Gates Foundation on the development of its forthcoming global nutrition strategy.

The major goals of this study are to partner with African Methodist Episcopal (AME) churches to promote moderate-intensity physical activity and healthy dietary practices using a community-based participatory research model. Dr. Ruth Saunders at USC is a member of the intervention planning group and facilitator of process evaluation planning. This research is being funded by the National Institutes of Health-National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Self-Determination for Increasing Physical Activity 

This project, being funded by National Institutes of Health-National Child Health and Human Development, is testing the effectiveness of a 6-month student-centered, after school program on physical activity in an under-served adolescent population. The intervention will be conducted in 12 middle schools in South Carolina; 12 additional middle schools, providing a typical after-school program, will serve as controls. Dr. Ruth Saunders at USC is a member of the intervention team and taking the lead on process evaluation planning for the intervention.

South Carolina American Legacy Empowerment Evaluation Project (SCALE) 

The goal of the South Carolina American Legacy Empowerment Evaluation Project (SCALE) project was to use participatory research to develop a conceptual framework for youth empowerment and develop program model guidelines for youth empowerment programs. An interdisciplinary team of faculty and students from USC collaborated with youth and adult leaders from four youth programs in the state to increase our shared understanding of youth empowerment and how it occurs within the context of youth programs. 

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South Carolina Hispanic/Latino Health Coalition

The mission of the Hispanic/Latino Health Coalition is to provide coordinated leadership to advocate for equal access to quality health care for Hispanics/Latinos residing in South Carolina. Priorities for action are in keeping with the guidelines set forth by the National Health Care Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS).  Several faculty members in Health Sciences at USC have served as members of the Executive Committee and have developed education, outreach, and research projects in collaboration with the Coalition.  Several students in HPEB have completed projects with the Coalition such as developing a newsletter and creating a community resource guide.

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Stories from Graniteville: Ethnographic Interviews Designed to Capture the Experiences of Community Residents

The goal of this project is to capture Graniteville (SC) community residents’ personal experiences (i.e., “stories”) regarding the impact of the Norfolk Southern train accident and subsequent chlorine leak which occurred on January 6, 2005. Data collection methods include personal interviews with community members and observational site visits. The collection of personal stories will be assembled in a format (e.g., booklet, museum quality display, and/or framed pages) suitable for giving back to the Graniteville community for public display and/or for distributing to wider audiences statewide and nationally. Ultimately, the purpose of collecting and giving back residents’ stories is to promote community rebuilding and cohesion in the wake of the devastating tragedy that occurred. Dr. Sara Corwin (HPEB) and Dr. Lee Pearson from the Arnold School of Public Health are Co-PIs on this project.

Women’s Well-being Initiative

The University of South Carolina's Women's Studies Program, with the commitment of its faculty affiliates, has launched the Women's Well-being Initiative to improve the overall well-being of South Carolina's women and girls by promoting an interdisciplinary, community-focused program of research, education, and action.

Well-being is conceived of broadly to include mental and physical health, social, economic, and spiritual well-being. The primary aims of the Initiative are to enhance and facilitate:

1. university-community partnerships
2. collaborations across disciplines (sciences, social sciences, humanities)
3. critical perspectives and approaches to the promotion of well-being that incorporate the full diversity of women's experiences across race, class, age, ethnicity and other dimensions of difference.

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