Building an Academic-Community Partnership for Increasing Representation of Minorities in the Health Professions

Abstract

We evaluated collaboration among academic and community partners in a program to recruit African American youth into the health professions. Six institutions of higher education, an urban school system, two community organizations, and two private enterprises became partners to create a health career pipeline for this population. The pipeline consisted of 14 subprograms designed to enrich academic science curricula, stimulate the interest of students in health careers, and facilitate entry into professional schools and other graduate-level educational programs. Subprogram directors completed questionnaires regarding a sense of common mission/vision and coordination/collaboration three times during the 3-year project. The partners strongly shared a common mission and vision throughout the duration of the program, although there was some weakening in the last phase. Subprogram directors initially viewed coordination/collaboration as weak, but by midway through the project period viewed it as stronger. Feared loss of autonomy was foremost among several factors that threatened collaboration among the partners. Collaboration was improved largely through a process of building trust among the partners.

A Network Approach to Preparing Underrepresented Students: The LEAD Model

“…In fact, this is already happening to a limited extent (e.g., Erwin et al 2004). Perhaps the overarching lesson to be drawn from LEAD is that form follows function; a network approach itself must matter in the solution of a problem.…”

Promoting Minority Access to Health Careers through Health Profession???Public School Partnerships: A Review of the Literature

“…[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] School-university relationships may be loaded with the historical weight of past problems in working together. 6,13 Public school personnel may feel threatened by outsiders or skeptical about what a university has to offer and how committed it is to long-term involvement; after all, programs come and go and funding is unstable.…”

“…Failure to serve all constituents' interests will make the partnership a burden to some rather than a resource. 5,9 Identifying the specific contributions that each organization is willing to make will determine the scope and logic of the intervention model. 5,6,8,13,19 The identification of partners, goals, and resources carries with it a number of dynamic tensions.…”

“…While mutual trust and respect are critical, and equal power is ideal, 5,6,9,12,13 true equality between public schools and universities may be elusive. They do not have the same interest or urgency in improving public schools, and it is unrealistic to expect both to commit equally to the same goals.…”

“…6 Participatory governance structures that give each partner representation in important decisions and committees can promote greater equality. 5,9 Open communication between partners fosters productive working relationships, and sharing information about progress toward goals also engenders project loyalty. 9 Partnership collaborations require more process time than other types of organizations.…”