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Building a Healthy Community for our Diverse Neighbors

The UPMC Center for Engagement and Inclusion partners to address major health disparities in our communities. The Center for Engagement and Inclusion's strategy targets two key areas: health and youth. The intent is to invest efforts and resources in a deep and narrow manner to foster greatest impact.

Health

Our commitment to addressing key health issues that disproportionality affect our diverse communities includes:

UPMC hosts prevention and safety forums and created the UPMC COVID-19 Ambassadors and Community Vaccine Collaborative.

UPMC COVID-19 Ambassadors consists of Physicians and Employees who have received the Vaccine and are willing to speak about their experience in local underserved communities.

The goals of this group are to be sure that our underserved communities are not disadvantaged due to misunderstanding or lack of information about the risk and benefits of the vaccine. The specific focus is to develop a communications plan around Vaccine Education & Employee based Community Champions.

The Community Vaccine Collaborative (CVC) is an innovative community and academic partnership centered on mitigating the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black and Latinx communities. The CVC will collaborate with the Pittsburgh community by nurturing trusted messengers and increasing trustworthiness of health care and research using work groups that will connect, communicate, and build trust through:

  • Speakers’ Bureau and Community Meetings
  • Creative, interactive messaging/social media
  • Increasing trustworthiness of COVID-19 vaccine research and health care and promoting vaccine delivery and uptake

The Pittsburgh Inequality Report Employment Disparities Workgroup was created in response to the report set forth by Pittsburgh’s Gender Equity Commission. The income, employment, and education imbalances addressed in the report are now a key focus for the continued development of the UPMC workforce.

Youth

Junior Health Care Explorers

Provides students across the Pennsylvania region with a virtual 13-week program to begin their career exploration in the health care industry. Explorers will engage in interactive sessions and panel discussions about a variety of health sciences and information technology topics, learn from Pitt and UPMC professionals, discover new career paths in the health care industry, and make lasting connections along the way.

Reading is FUNdamental (RIF)

A weekly literacy mentoring program that pairs UPMC employees with students from Manchester Charter School (MACS). Employees meet weekly with their paired reading buddies and build literacy skills, a love of reading, and meaningful relationships through conversation, books, and literacy-based activities.

Community Health Partnership Council

The Community Health Partnership Council's mission to build a healthy Pittsburgh for our diverse communities and address their needs and health disparities.

The goals of the council include:

  • Share data on relevant issues impacting our diverse neighborhoods and act on opportunities in a timely manner.
  • Foster positive dialogue and feedback from community partners on Center for Engagement and Inclusion programs to ensure the best benefit and use of resources.
  • Create an ongoing communication platform that keeps UPMC and its partners apprised of each other’s programs and actions.
  • Provide underserved areas with health literacy content.

Take Charge of Your Health

To reinforce UPMC’s commitment to research, improving health literacy, and overall community health, the Center for Engagement and Inclusion partners with:

  • The University of Pittsburgh Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI)
  • The New Pittsburgh Courier
  • The Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh

Each month, the Courier publishes an article highlighting pertinent research to the health of our diverse neighborhoods.

View all the Take Charge of Your Health articles