OUR MISSION
The Healthier Black Elders program (HBE) is affiliated with the Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research (MCUAAAR) (https://mcuaaar.org). Our work is supported by the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health (Grants 2P30AG015281-21 and 1R24AG065151-01).
We provide:
- Community programming
- Connections with community organizations that serve older adults
- Trusted research opportunities
We work to ensure that older Black adults in Detroit and Flint, MI are better represented as participants in health research and that researchers and community members have tools to better understand diverse research participation.
Our community advisory boards (CAB) are composed of older adults and community, civic, and faith leaders who serve older adults. These advisory boards provide oversight for our research activities and community programming and partnerships. Our free community programming encourages older adults to participate in safe, ethical, social and behavioral health research and educates them on health and wellbeing. These specific events are called Lunch & Learns. Prior Lunch & Learns have featured experts sharing the latest research and evidence on:
- Nutrition
- Eye Health
- Heart disease
- Positive aging
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Dementia and Brain health
- Emergency preparedness
- Caregiving
- Diabetes self management
- Men’s health
- Medicare
- Financial literacy
- Diabetes
For a list of Lunch & Learn events or links to join virtually, click here.
SOCIAL CONNECTION
Lunch & Learn events are held eight to ten times a year and also provide rich opportunities for older adults to connect with each other in person and virtually. In addition to learning about research topics of interest, attendees discuss health with academic and medical experts and hear about community resources and programs. Based on changing public health needs, HBE programming is provided virtually, with options to call in or receive handouts by mail for additional accessibility.
RESEARCH PARTICIPATION
The Community Advisory Boards in Detroit and Flint help to recruit community members to join our Participant Research Pools (PRP), these are volunteer research registries of community members who agree to be contacted by researchers at local universities to participation in non-medication research projects, the majority of which are focused on social and behavioral health on aging.
Members of the Participant Research Pools (PRP):
- Attend Lunch & Learn events
- Receive program newsletters
- May receive compensation for their participation in each research study, depending on the project.
Learn more about The Healthier Black Elders Program in Flint & Detroit in the video below:
This brief video provides more information on how volunteering for research can improve the health of future generations:
