Our Eyes and Ears in the Field

Two weeks ago, we discussed what brought us together as a group to work to improve the health of future generations of children. This week, we would like to talk about some of the amazing people that have helped us reach out to the community and conduct this work.

When the Greater Chicago Study Center (GCSC) was actively recruiting new people to take part in the National Children's Study (NCS), we engaged community partners to recommend people in their community who could serve as Neighborhood Ambassadors. Our hope was that we could expand our team with people who knew, and who were well known, in their community. Neighborhood Ambassadors would promote and provide information about the NCS at the very local level. They would make connections with community organizations and leaders and identify and attend events through local churches, neighborhood and parent organizations, and health fairs.

We were very lucky to meet five women very involved in their neighborhoods. From a mother who worked part time at a local hair salon, a woman who volunteered at her church, a woman who was a member of a local community organization to two women who had recently completed the Parent Leadership in Action Network as part of the Governor's Neighborhood Recovery Initiative. Besides promoting the NCS in their communities, this outstanding group of women completed the VideoVoice interviews we have been sharing with you on this blog for the last several months.

In this week’s outtake, one of our community partners talks about what were the benefits of having Neighborhood Ambassadors as part of our team:

"Primarily, [they] know what is the basis of the community, what does the community want, what it doesn’t want. I believed that someone who was hired for this role who came from another community, it would have been very difficult to get involved because there’s lack of trust, and when you don’t have trust, you don’t get anywhere. Something that would really help is being persistent. In life, you have to be very persistent. Don’t give up and explain to people. I believe people are going to see it like, “Oh, how lucky, someone is interested in my child, somebody is worried about my child’s health, I’m not alone in this.” So I see it as a positive."

Because the GCSC Neighborhood Ambassadors were an important part of the culture of those they served, they were able to understand how where a person lives and their community influence health behaviors and impacts access to and use of healthcare. In turn, they used this knowledge to encourage participation in the NCS when appropriate. In addition, because of their prior involvement in other community activities, they were able to point out community resources for those who might need them. As we continue our involvement in communities throughout Cook County with NCS participants, community partners and their families, we hope we are able to carry on the important work of the GCSC Neighborhood Ambassadors.