PRC staff partner on health disparities report released by MDH’s Center for Health Equity
The year 2021 marks the 20th anniversary of the Eliminating Health Disparities Initiative (EHDI) grant program at the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). As stated in a recent press release, the Center for Health Equity (CHE) and EHDI grantees “have been reflecting on our state’s investment in these grants and its impact over the years. We have also been thinking about what future investments are needed in order to strengthen Minnesota’s ecosystem to advance health equity for all. Out of this reflecting, analyzing, and visioning came this report: Cultivating a Health Equity Ecosystem: Lessons Learned from the Eliminating Health Disparities Initiative.”
A team at the Healthy Youth Development – Prevention Research Center (HYD-PRC) joined Rainbow Research as part of the Evaluation Capacity Building Technical Assistance team supporting EHDI grantees in 2017. Senior evaluators Kara Beckman and Shari Plowman led development and implementation of a “Shared Measurement System” (highlighted on page 13-17 of the report) to better capture the collective impact of EHDI grantees. HYD-PRC Deputy Director and Implementation Specialist Abi Gadea led a Community of Practice for EHDI grantees while post-doctoral fellow Maura Shramko assisted with management and analysis of survey data from multiple teen pregnancy and STI/HIV prevention grantees.
“Not only are we passionate about eliminating health disparities among Minnesotans, several of the project areas directly affect adolescent and young adult health,” said Beckman. “Our experience with multi-site evaluations taught us to start small and prioritize developing measures based on grantees own evaluation plans,” she said. Shramko, a post-doctoral fellow in the Interdisciplinary Research Training in Child and Adolescent Primary Care program and recently named as a Minn-LInK Researcher in the School of Social Work, was able to get first-hand experience with a large-scale evaluation program. “Being a part of the EHDI evaluation team has provided valuable insight into large scale program evaluation and allowed for additional conversations about the work that stills needs to be done to truly eliminate health disparities among Minnesotans,” said Shramko. Plowman and Gadea agree and are excited the team will continue to partner with CHE, Rainbow Research, and a new cohort of EHDI grantees in the 2020-2023 cycle. Beckman noted “We look forward to building on our work and further consider how evaluation can be a catalyst for supporting the EHDI grantees in the work they do to advance health equity in communities of color and American Indian communities. We are also excited to continue bringing an adolescent health and health promotion lens to the table, and specifically to explore whether measures of community wellness might be a good way to expand on the work from last cycle.”