Earlier this month, the Community Engagement (CE) core group of the Southern California Clinical and Translational Science Institute (SC CTSI) presented their 2024 inaugural annual report.

The report highlights CE’s commitment towards addressing the healthcare needs of medically underserved communities in Los Angeles. Throughout 2023, the team led various initiatives aimed at advancing health equity and empowering communities to make informed health decisions.

The diverse range of initiatives described in the report include community outreach and education programs, capacity-building opportunities for community health workers, and the development of collaborative partnerships dedicated to mitigating health disparities. Noteworthy among these efforts is the successful implementation of their communications strategy, which effectively amplified CE’s mission and engagement with the community.

“2023 was an exceptional year of growth for the Community Engagement team,” said Nicole Wolfe, PhD, Co-Director of Community Engagement at SC CTSI. “We launched our place-based project in the Nickerson Gardens housing development in South Los Angeles, expanded our health-based initiatives with the Southern California Center for Latino Health, and successfully established a collaborative mental health training program in the third year of the National Institutes of Health-sponsored Community Engagement Alliance program.”

As CE continues their mission of advancing health equity, they remain dedicated in their commitment to empowering and uplifting communities in Los Angeles and hope to serve as a model for other academic and medical institutions.

You can read the full report here.