Foundations of Community Engagement and Outreach for Improving Health Outcomes: Breaking Barriers Through Effective Communication with Communities

Overview:

This is a 90-minute recording of a live webinar on October 2, 2024. This is the second session in a three-part webinar series. Learners may choose to register for all webinars in the series or for individual sessions.

This is the second session in a 3-part webinar series that is designed to enhance the skills and knowledge of public health staff at local health departments in the Southeastern United States. The series aims to build capacity in effective community engagement and outreach, focusing on overcoming barriers, fostering trust, and developing sustainable practices to improve health outcomes. Each session addresses key challenges and solutions to equip health departments with knowledge, skills, and resources to improve their community outreach efforts.

This webinar explores effective communication strategies to engage with communities in a culturally responsive manner. This session will address language and literacy barriers, misinformation, and the need for culturally sensitive interactions. The goal of this session is to equip participants with practical tools and techniques for fostering clear, respectful, and impactful communication with diverse populations.

Dr. Joyee Washington is a Community-Engaged Research Consultant from Jackson, Mississippi. In 2020, she founded Joyee Washington Consulting with a mission to revolutionize public health by transforming public health research into life-changing public health solutions. Through her business, Dr. Washington works with community-based organizations, non-profits, public health organizations, and academic institutions to help them build meaningful community partnerships, conduct impactful research, and create data-informed solutions. 

Dr. Washington has over 18 years of research experience and 10 years of public health experience. Her educational background includes advanced degrees in biomedical sciences and public health. In 2022, she graduated with her PhD in Education (emphasis in research, evaluation, statistics, and assessment). As a Master Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES), she has served as a coordinator of community based participatory research, coordinator of community outreach for health resources, and faculty member in the Department of Public Health at The University of Southern Mississippi. Dr. Washington believes that a healthier and equitable future lies in the power of our communities. 

Additionally, Dr. Washington is host of The Public Health Joy Podcast, a safe space for real and honest conversation about public health research and the relationship building processes necessary to bring joy to the communities we serve. 

Learning Objectives: By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:

• Develop skills for communicating effectively with diverse audiences.
• Identify and overcome common communication barriers in community engagement.
• Summarize techniques for delivering culturally sensitive and accurate information.

CERTIFICATE: The course contains three modules: a module for pre-webinar questions, a module to access the webinar, and an evaluation module. After accessing the three modules, learners will earn a certificate of completion. When the certificate is available, learners will see a Certificate button on their dashboard.

This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number UB6HP31680, Public Health Training Centers for $4,348,992. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.