Background: Urban African American adolescents and young adults (AYAs) face multiple barriers to effective engagement in health care, including access to primary and specialty care services resulting in significant disparities in care. Purpose: To conduct a needs assessment to enhance service delivery of AYAs at an urban federally qualified health center (FQHC) organization in Detroit. Methods: Semistructured interviews were conducted among pediatric staff members (N = 11) using the community needs assessment approach specified for FQHCs. Results: The needs assessment determined the following priorities for AYAs seeking care at this FQHC organization: (1) mental health (e.g., depression and anxiety), (2) obesity, and (3) sexual health (e.g., sexually transmitted infection testing). Conclusion: When analyzing a population to learn about community-based issues, a needs assessment is a valuable tool. The information here has been used as supplemental information to address the health inequities that African American youth face within Detroit.

Background:The suicide rate among adolescents has been increasing rapidly over the past several years.Local problem:Adequate screening for suicide risk in this population, particularly youth of color, is lacking.Methods:The Ask Suicide-Screening Questions (ASQ) tool was implemented at two adolescent-focused health clinics in a large U.S. city.Interventions:This project followed the Ottawa Model of Research Use. Participating clinicians were surveyed before and after receiving an educational module on suicide risk screening, the ASQ tool, and clinical pathways. Clinicians were also asked about the feasibility and acceptability of the ASQ tool in their practice. An electronic medical records software was used to gather data on patients newly screened for suicide risk using the ASQ tool.Results:Among eligible patients, 40.2% were screened using the ASQ tool during the 4-month duration of the project. Most clinicians reported that using the tool was feasible within their practice (66%) and 100% endorsed its acceptability (i.e., reporting that they were comfortable screening for suicide and that the ASQ was easy to use).Conclusions:The ASQ may be a promising screening tool for clinicians to use to address the mental health needs of at-risk youth. This project supports the universal acceptability and feasibility of its use in inner-city primary care clinics.

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) approaches are being leveraged more and more in efforts to improve health equity. Informing the building of community-academic partnerships, CBPR draws on the community’s expressed needs and engages stakeholders in future intervention development. To date, however, little has been published on such efforts targeting the health of young Black men (ages 18-24), despite this population’s disproportionate need. In this paper, we describe the formation of a community-academic partnership in a federally qualified health center, with the goal of improving the health of young Black men in Detroit, Michigan. After conducting a needs assessment, we built upon existing networks to form a Community Advisory Board (CAB). We held three community forums during which CAB members highlighted key health issues in their community and described how they could be addressed. We developed a plan for future research and community engagement based on community input. Finally, we provide insights on community engagement strategies, forum structure, setting boundaries, trust-building, and valuable information in addressing the inequities in health that affect young Black men.