Timeline

September – December 2003

• The Greensboro Health Disparities Collaborative (The Collaborative) was formed when a group of 25 community leaders and advocates, public health researchers, university faculty and staff, clergy, health care professionals and other members of the Greensboro community decided to come together to better understand and reduce racial and ethnic health disparities.  The Partnership Project (with a subcontract to UNC-Chapel Hill) is awarded a planning grant from the Moses Cone-Wesley Long Community Health Foundation

February 2004

• The Collaborative held its first meeting.

March 2004

• The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond (The People’s Institute) conducted an Undoing Racism™ workshop for The Collaborative and others in the community at Guilford College.

May 2004

• Eight Collaborative members divided into sub-groups of Black and White members who researched and presented to The Collaborative on the topics of “Internalized Racial Oppression” and “Internalized Racial Superiority.”

June 2004

• The People’s Institute conducted an Undoing Racism™ workshop for The Collaborative and others in the community at The Women’s Hospital.  This workshop was designed to attract more Hispanic participants and two of the three presenters were from Puerto Rico.

September 2004

• Dr. Eugenia (Geni) Eng, professor of Health Behavior and Health Education in The School of Public Health at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, conducted a training session on Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) and capacity building for The Collaborative.  The training was held at the Moses Cone Area Health Education Center (AHEC) wing.
• Collaborative members developed and signed a contract to acknowledge the value of the research process as well as the value of all people involved. They pledged to incorporate shared goals and expectations in the process.
• Five sub-groups of The Collaborative were formed in preparation for writing The National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant.  These groups were: research question, methodology, analysis, budget and timeline and reading.

October 2004

• The research question was finalized.
• The Collaborative began actively working on the NIH grant.

February 2005

• The Collaborative participated in a follow-up session on Undoing Racism.™ 
• The abstract was developed for the Cancer Care and Racial Equity Study (CCARES). 
• The NIH grant application was submitted.

July 2005

• The People’s Institute conducted an Undoing Racism™ workshop for The Collaborative and others in the community at Proximity United Methodist Church in Greensboro.

August 2005

• The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation awarded a $45,000 grant to The Partnership to support the ongoing work of the organizing and training and for the work of The Collaborative.

September 2005

• Collaborative members met with Jim Whiting (Vice-President of the Moses Cone Health System, Regional Cancer Center) and Dr. John Feldmann (Director and Principal Investigator for the Clinical Research Division, Regional Cancer Center) to discuss the recently submitted NIH grant application.

October 2005

• Nora Jones and Michael Yonas presented “The Art and Science of Integrating Community-Based Participatory Research Principles and the Undoing Racism Process to Design and Submit a Research Application to NIH” at the International Conference on Urban Health in Toronto, Canada.

November 2005

• The Collaborative received an invitation from the Journal of Urban Health to contribute an article based on the theme “learning from our challenges and addressing barriers in community-based participatory research”.

January 2006

• The Partnership Project, The Collaborative, The Greensboro AHEC and the UNC Program on Ethnicity, Culture and Health Outcomes (ECHO) sponsored a program titled “Accessing Equitable Healthcare” that featured Ms. Barbara Major as the guest speaker. Ms. Major is the co-chairwoman of the “Commission to Bring Back New Orleans,” a community organizer and trainer for The People’s Institute and the Executive Director of the St. Thomas Health Clinic, a non-profit health clinic providing services to the underserved and uninsured population of the St. Thomas/Irish Channel community in New Orleans, LA.  The program was held at The Women’s Hospital

February 2006

• Members of The Collaborative speak to faculty and students in the UNC School of Public Health as a part of a monthly CBPR Seminar Series.
• Ralph Mitchell, a motivational speaker and trainer, gave a presentation on team building to members of The Collaborative.

April 2006

• The Collaborative was awarded a two-year NIH grant to conduct CCARES.
• Collaborative members attended the Legislative Breakfast titled “Health Care for the Uninsured” at the Greensboro Coliseum Special Events Center.

May 2006

• Collaborative members met with Dr. John Feldmann, Jim Whiting, Tami Knutson (Clinic Coordinator for Moses Cone Health System Regional Cancer Center’s Breast Cancer Program) and Adaline Brown (member of the Executive Board of the Association of NC Cancer Registrars) at the Regional Cancer Center to discuss access to the Cancer Registry for research.

June 2006

• At North Carolina Central University, Collaborative members served as speakers at a conference entitled, “Promoting and Cultivating Health Disparities Research.”
• The Public Relations Committee for the Collaborative finalized the Greensboro Health Disparities Collaborative pamphlet.

July 2006

• Institutional Review Board (IRB) training for Collaborative members was held at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). The training was conducted by Dr. Geni Eng.
• An article entitled “The Art and Science of Integrating Undoing Racism with CBPR: Challenges of Pursuing NIH Funding to Investigate Cancer Care and Racial Equity” was submitted for the Journal of Urban Health.
• Members of the Collaborative are invited to serve as speakers on community-university partnerships at the Promoting and Cultivating Health Disparities Research conference sponsored by the Department of Psychology, North Carolina Central University and ECHO.

August 2006

• Members of the Collaborative went to Chapel Hill to meet with Amanda Briggs (Deputy Director for Research Development and Administration for the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at UNC) and others.

September 2006

• Dionne Smith and Jim Amell, Postdoctoral Fellows with the Kellogg Health Scholars Program at UNC, join the Collaborative.
• Dinushika Mohottige (a graduate student at UNC) joins The Collaborative and begins working with CCARES as a research assistant. 

October 2006

• The People’s Institute conducted an Undoing Racism™ workshop for The Collaborative and others in the community at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Greensboro, NC.
• Dr. Geni Eng conducted IRB training for Collaborative members at Moses Cone Hospital.
• Nettie Coad and Nora Jones present on CBPR for a graduate class in the UNC School of Public Health.
• At Guilford Technical Community College, Dr. Sam Cykert presented, “The Content of Health Insurance for Everyone: A Physician’s View.”
• Jana Henderson and Sarah Cottrell of Personalized Printing begin development of websites for The Partnership Project and The Collaborative.

November 2006

• Nettie Coad and Nora Jones met with Glenn Waters (Chief Operating Officer of Moses Cone Health System) and then with Bob Newton (Then President of the Moses Cone-Wesley Long Community Health Foundation) to reaffirm existing relationships.
• Dr. Geni Eng conducted an IRB training session at Moses Cone for the remaining Collaborative members who had not received the training.
• At the Thomas Wolff Symposium, Dr. Sam Cykert presented “Breast Cancer Disparities”, in addition to explaining the role of the Collaborative and the reasons for the proposed research. 
• The Collaborative and the Moses Cone-Wesley Long Health Foundation presented a Stakeholders Reception to strengthen relationships with various persons and organizations connected with CCARES.