Ben Springgate (Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center), Arthur Johnson (Lower Ninth Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development), and Larry Palinkas (University of Southern California) have teamed up with researchers, citizen scientists, and staff from community organizations and other universities to establish a community-partnered learning collaborative and research network across southern Louisiana. The learning collaborative and research network focused on building capacity to test and promote practices that would improve mental health and disaster resilience.
This webinar unpacks processes and findings from the learning collaborative and research network—providing an avenue for researchers to explore related research topics and community groups an opportunity to apply community-partnered participatory research (CPPR) to their day-to-day priorities and projects.
Thriving Communities Grants are supported by the Gulf Research Program Settlement Funds and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Why participate in this virtual event?
- Webinar participants will learn about the value and importance of community-partnered participatory research.
- Webinar participants will learn about anticipated and active extensions of the work regionally and nationally.
Speakers and Bios
ARTHUR JOHNSON is the Chief Executive Officer of the Lower Ninth Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development (CSED) in New Orleans, Louisiana. Arthur was born in the Nation’s Capital but his roots are in New Orleans and date back to visits with his grandmother who lived in the Lower Ninth Ward on Fostall Street. He grew up in Washington, DC, and earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from The George Washington University and the University of the District of Columbia, respectively. He relocated to New Orleans in 1999 where he has established himself as an accomplished fundraising professional and non-profit leader with a number of educational institutions and non-profit organizations. This has included work with Tulane and Xavier Universities and the New Orleans Public Schools. More recently, he has served as Regional Vice President for Major Gifts with the American Heart Association, Director for the Office of Development for Episcopal Community Services of Louisiana, and Chief Development Officer for Operation Reach. As CSED’s Chief Executive Officer, he is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the organization and works closely with staff and volunteers to advance CSED’s key initiatives focused on Food Security, the Natural Environment and the Built Environment. Arthur has served on the Board of New Harmony High School, a state charter school focused on environmental and resilience, providing opportunities to explore and development young minds and leaders of the future! Arthur was selected as the winner of the 2019 Paul and Joyce Aicher Leadership in Democracy Award. This CSED winning team was selected from 64 nominations in this national competition, for combining citizen engagement with environmental science to create equitable development and policy on climate resilience.
LAWRENCE PALINKAS, Ph.D.is the Albert G. and Frances Lomas Feldman Professor of Social Policy and Health in the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work at the University of Southern California. He also holds secondary appointments as Professor in the Departments of Anthropology and Preventive Medicine at USC. A medical anthropologist, his primary areas of expertise lie within health services research, preventive medicine, and cross-cultural medicine. Dr. Palinkas is particularly interested in behavioral health, global health and health disparities, implementation science, community-based participatory research, and the sociocultural and environmental determinants of health and health-related behavior with a focus on disease prevention and health promotion. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, NASA, NIH, the MacArthur Foundation, and the William T. Grant Foundation. Current research encompasses implementation of child and adolescent mental health services, sustainment of prevention programs and initiatives and effects of climate change on vulnerable populations. Dr. Palinkas currently is the co-lead of the Social Work Grand Challenge on Strengthening Social Responses to Environmental Change; and a member of committees of the National Research Council and National Academy of Medicine. He has conducted several workshops on qualitative and mixed methods for investigators conducting research in low and middle income countries, including Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Cambodia, Mozambique, Botswana, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, and South Africa. Dr. Palinkas is an elected fellow of the American Academy of Social Welfare and Social Work, a fellow of the Society for Social Work and Research, American Anthropological Association and Society for Applied Anthropology, and the author of more than 430 publications.
BENJAMIN SPRINGGATE, M.D., MPH.is a Professor of Medicine and Public Health; Chief of Community and Population Medicine; and Director of the Center for Healthcare Value and Equity at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. Dr. Springgate serves as the Principal Investigator of the Community Resilience Learning Collaborative and Research Network (C-LEARN), a community-academic collaborative focused on testing approaches to build community resilience in the face of climate change and climate-related disasters. C-LEARN takes a Community Partnered Participatory Research (CPPR) approach to its efforts including: a rapid assessment of how communities address resilience; determining how to best promote improved mental health resilience by comparing two approaches – providing agencies with technical resources to assist clients, or supporting community planning by agencies and individuals to adapt and improve technical resources for local context and use; as well as comparing two mobile phone based applications to enhance skills to cope with stress, and offer resources to enhance resilience. Dr. Springgate has been focused on developing partnerships to support resilience in the face of climate change and disasters since 2005. His work has been funded by the National Academies of Sciences Gulf Research Program, NIH, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the American Red Cross, the Louisiana Department of Health, and others. Dr. Springgate serves as Chief Health Officer to New Orleans Public Schools, focused on the COVID-19 pandemic response. He is a practicing internist and directs the Integrated Health Clinic at University Medical Center, a primary care center focused on the needs of patients with opioid use disorder. Dr. Springgate directs the MD/MPH training program at LSU Health Sciences Center, training the next generation of physician leaders in public health. He is a frequent scientific contributor to multiple television, print, and radio media outlets.