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Strategic Initiatives

Community Driven Research Day

Community-Driven Research Day (CDRD) is an annual event that provides a networking opportunity for community-based organizations (CBOs) and academic institutions, in an effort to foster joint projects that enhance the health of communities.  Representatives from CBOs submit proposals for an interactive poster session to share their programs and projects with participants. The event also includes keynote speakers focused on best practices for community-based participatory research (CBPR). CDRD is a cross-institution collaboration, jointly sponsored by the following institutions: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Drexel University, Temple University College of Public Health, La Salle University, Thomas Jefferson University (JCPH and the College of Nursing), and the University of Pennsylvania.

As a result of CDRD, poster presenters and academic researchers discuss potential partnerships followed by Research Readiness Day & proposal submissions.

The following is an overview of organizations and projects that have been supported (through research and collaboration) by JCPH as a result of Community Driven Research Day: 

The program incorporated music creation into nutrition education for young people attending an afterschool program at the PAL of Wilmington, DE. It offered a new medium for connecting knowledge to an individual’s attitudes self-efficacy, and behaviors related to a healthy diet. 

No More Secrets Mind Body Spirit (NMS) is a sexuality awareness organization that has developed the only feminine hygiene bank and in-home delivery service in Philadelphia. Specifically, NMS spreads awareness about period poverty. The project qualitatively explored the menstrual health experiences of and communication norms of women in Philadelphia. 

The SPICY (Sanctuary Independent Cultural Youth) project named by the participants themselves, was designed as eight monthly sessions where immigrant youth from across Philadelphia came together to engage with professional artists and designers in creative workshops. Centered on relationship-building, dialogue, and personal reflection, participants learned to articulate and understand their mental health needs, geographic safe spaces, access to mental health supports, and strategies for self-care and community care. 

This project focused on identifying the most prevalent health issues, and evaluating connections between social cohesion, location, and health among residents of the Somerset neighborhood in Philadelphia. The project study was designed to help New Kensington focus on risk factors and health outcomes contributing to the burden of disease among residents in Somerset in order to inform the organization on how community development practices could be adapted to improve community health. 

Philadelphia Interfaith Hospitality Network (PIHN) is a network of numerous congregations in Northwest and Northeast Philadelphia that provides emergency services to families experiencing homelessness. This research project was designed to examine variables most frequently associated with positive outcomes, and the factors and services clients perceive as most important to their sustaining self-sufficiency after receipt of shelter services. 

2024 Community-Driven Research Day 

Jan. 29-Registration deadline for CDRD presenters
Jan. 31-Registration deadline for attendee registration 
Feb. 9-Community Driven Research Day 
Feb. 22-Research Readiness Day 

Sponsored by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Drexel University, Temple University College of Public Health, La Salle University, University of Pennsylvania, & Thomas Jefferson University