The 5th cohort of the Community Research Fellows Training Program at their graduation.
Congratulations to the 27 graduates of the fifth cohort of the Community Research Fellows Training (CRFT) program, a community training program offered through the Program for the Elimination of Cancer Disparities (PECaD). A certificate ceremony was held on August 22nd for the trainees and their families.
The event included a silent auction of photos taken by cohort members as part of a Photovoice project. Photovoice is a way for community members to take and share photographs that express the strengths and needs of their community. Photovoice allows participants to identify, represent, and enhance their community using photos. CRFT fellows used their images to promote awareness of several topics and how they are related to social capital and health in their communities, including education, religion and faith, neighborhood and community resources, healthy eating, policy, crime and violence, and work environments. The proceeds from the silent auction went to The Pink Angels Foundation and Jamaa Birth Village.
CRFT is a 15-week program that is based on a Master of Public Health curriculum, providing community members interested in reducing health and cancer disparities with education on public health research methods and hands-on experience to take back to their own communities. The CRFT alumni are able to use information learned through
this training program and address health disparities within their own neighborhoods to also work towards PECaD’s goal of eliminating health disparities in our region.
The CRFT program began in 2012. Previous alumni have engaged in community research projects and received grant funding to explore ways to improve the health of their community members. For more information on the CRFT program, please contact crft@wustl.edu.