We are pleased to announce that we were awarded one of 25 nation-wide Prevention Research Center grants for the 2019-2024 cycle. The new PRC-MI is a partnership between the University of Michigan School of Public Health (UMSPH), Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Division of Public Health, Kettering University, the Healthy Flint Research Coordinating Center (HFRCC), and Community Based Organizations. The PRC-MI will be guided by a broad-based, multi-sector community advisory board, which will be led by the HFRCC Community Core. Our Center builds on over 20 years of experience working in Flint, MI, to create safer and healthier futures through high quality community-engaged applied public health research.
Our core research project is entitled Health Promotion through Environmental Design (HPTED): A Transformative Approach for Community Engagement and Health Equity. This innovative approach to improving health outcomes will leverage existing studies, multidisciplinary research experience and expertise, multi-university collaboration, and long-term community partnerships to create an environmental change approach to reduce health disparities and increase health equity.
Our recent work through the Michigan Youth Violence Prevention Center and the PRC-MI has been focused on community-engaged Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) to reduce violence. For our HPTED study, we will adapt the CPTED approach to engage residents in neighborhood change to address health disparities and improve health equity.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funds 25 academic institutions to conduct applied public health prevention research. PRCs develop, test, and/or evaluate public health interventions for wide application, particularly in underserved communities, based on the latest science. This new PRC network will build on the strong achievements of previous PRC networks to advance innovative and important studies that are relevant for public health practice to improve health for people across the United States. To see the full list of awardees visit www.cdc.gov/prc.
The Prevention Research Center of Michigan will be led by Drs. Marc Zimmerman, UM School of Public Health, Debra Furr-Holden, MSU School of Public Health and Ms. Yvonne Lewis, Healthy Flint Research Coordinating Center.
