Prevention Research Center of Michigan: Transforming the Built Environment to create Safe and Equitable Spaces for Physical Activity

University Of Michigan At Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

The Prevention Research Center of Michigan (PRC/MI) builds on over 30 years of experience working with academic, public health and community based partners to reduce health disparities and create safe, healthy and equitable futures through high quality community-engaged prevention research. Our Center brings together a multidisciplinary team of researchers and practitioners in public health, implementation science, physical activity, and urban planning, to extend our work on the built environment and apply an implementation science framework to study to effective and sustainable vacant land reuse programs for physical activity in Flint, Michigan (Category 9). Built environment approaches to improve physical activity such as walking paths and community green space, have an established evidence-base in the literature. Yet, in communities with high rates of violence and historical inequitable resource allocations, these approaches may be challenging to implement and sustain. Further, in legacy cities such as Flint Michigan, high rates of abandoned housing and land has created a complex structural and policy context for this work. Neighborhood safety, community engagement and space activation are critical components to ensuring the success of these initiatives. Although researchers have established both direct and indirect links between vacant land reuse programs and physical health, there are gaps in our understanding of strategies to ensure initiatives are accessible, feasible and sustainable. We also need further research into barriers and facilitators to adoption and implementation in priority community and neighborhood contexts. Notably, there is a critical need to ensure equitable implementation when working with and within these communities to understand what resources, expertise or facilitations are needed to succeed. In collaboration with our multi-sector community advisory board, including two local health departments, we will conduct a Hybrid Type III Effectiveness-Implementation study to improve use and sustainability of vacant land reuse as a mechanism for increasing physical activity of local residents in Flint, Michigan. We will partner with local public health departments to translate and build capacity for the public health workforce to engage in this work. We will disseminate our methods, translation products, and findings to various audiences including state and local policy makers, researchers, practitioners and residents. Using a CBPR approach, our Center will engage a broad-based community advisory board (CAB) to guide all PRC/MI activities. We will evaluate the activities, outputs, and outcomes of the PRC/MI and apply this information to improve center, research activities, and ensure equitable processes.