News

HiOH Teams Up with University of Michigan-Flint for Health Summit 2024

January 19, 2024
Community and University Partners judging 8th grader community action projects

Eighth graders from Flint Community Schools reported the findings from their Community Action Research Projects to answer the question, “How can we work together to make our community healthier?” Their class had completed the “Health in Our Hands: How Can Looking for Thrills Make Me Miserable?”” curriculum in science class which explores the biology of substance use disorder (SUD) and behavioral addictions and examines the role of genetics and the brain’s reward system in their risk for SUD.   


For their final project, the students from Holmes STEM Middle School Academy  conducted original research to improve their school community to help prevent or reduce behavioral addictions. They created a survey to gather data about their health behaviors to study the effect of sleep, nutrition, exercise and hygiene on their well-being. Over winter break, students logged in each day to complete the survey.  When they got back to class, they analyzed the data in teams and created graphs and posters for presentation at the SUD Health Summit. 
  
During the SUD Health Summit, 30 students presented to about 30 adult volunteers who listened carefully to results and recommendations and celebrated their accomplishments. The Health Summit was hosted by University of Michigan-Flint Office of K-12 Partnerships. The Office organized a tour of the campus led by the Office of Admissions and a STEM Career Fair where students were introduced to programs, clubs and community organizations concerned with health and STEM.  The students left with smiles and a “swag” bag full of information, pens and other free goodies donated by partner organizations from. 

The Health Summit is a collaborative effort organized by the Health in Our Hands-Flint/Genesee Partnership, a coalition of community, health, and education organizations dedicated to achieving success and sustainability of Health In Our Hands in Flint and beyond. 

Many community  organizations and individuals made this event a big success through their generous contributions:  University of Michigan - Flint K-12 Partnerships (Dr. Suzanne Knight & Laura Martin); University of Michigan - Flint Marketing (Logan McGardy); Swag bag donations from Flint Community Schools, Genesee County Prevention Coalition,  MiSTEM Network, UM-Flint K-12 Partnerships; Teri Jones, the talented teacher and her 8th grade classes from Flint Community Schools; Parents and family members who support their scholars; All our wonderful volunteers! 

Find more information about the health summit by clicking on the news coverage from University of Michigan - Flint Press Release, ABC12 News and MidMichiganNow.
 

"How can looking for thrills make me miserable?" Health Summit 2024

December 15, 2023
Health Summit 2024

It's that time of year again to get ready for the 2024 Health in Our Hands (HiOH) Health Summit! 
 
With the success of last year, we’d like to invite you to participate again this year in the Substance Use Disorder Health Summit 2024 (Please see the flyer below and register here).  Would you like to participate this year as a judge (register here)? Would you or your organization like to provide swag (water bottles, bags, pencils, etc) for the students to take home after the event?
 
If you are interested in supporting the HiOH Health Summit in one of these capacities (judge or donating SWAG), please kindly reach out to Maria Salinas and she will follow-up by providing further information.
 
Finally, thank you, in advance, for your help in forwarding this information to other community members that you think might be interested in participating in the 2024 Health Summit.
 
We truly appreciate your commitment to Flint/Genesee County teachers and students.
 

Amazing Duo receives Community-Academic Partnership Award

November 27, 2023
Renee Bayer and Ella Greene-Moton receiving the HFRCC Award

Congratulations goes out to Renee Bayer, Principal Investigator of Health in Our Hands and Ella Greene-Moton, Co-Chair of the HiOH-Flint Genesee Partnership, Administrator of the Community Based Organization Partners – Community Ethics Review Board (CBOP-CERB), and the President of the American Public Health Association. 

On Friday, September 29th during the Healthy Flint Research Coordinating Center (HFRCC) Research Symposium, they received the Community-Academic Partnership Award. This award is conferred on “one community and one academic person working in partnership with each other where they have demonstrated their commitment to moving Flint forward. These individuals have made positive contributions within the Flint community through their active engagement in community-academic partnerships.”​ 

This is what the HFRCC Executive Committee had to say about this amazing duo:

“Renee Bayer is the Principal Investigator for Health in Our Hands (HiOH). This project, funded by the Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA), brings together much of her interest, concern and experience in science education and public health. Renee was involved in the two previously funded SEPA projects which took place in schools in Detroit and Flint and has worked together with community members, health professionals, and educators in Flint and Genesee County for over 25 years. HiOH supports her larger role at CREATE for STEM Institute as Associate Director for Engagement connecting faculty across the university with schools and community members. She is a valuable partner and contributor to public health in Flint.”

“Ella Greene-Moton is the President Elect [at the time of the award] of the American Public Health Association and serves as the Community Based Organization Partners Community Ethics Review Board Administrator. Ms. Greene-Moton has an extensive background in public health advocacy, public health policy, Community-Based Participatory Research and programming, spanning over more than 40 years in the City of Flint and surrounding areas. Her areas of expertise include facilitating community/academic/practice partnership building and sustainability; developing, managing, and evaluating community-based projects; and training programs for graduate students, community members, and middle and high school students partnering with community-based organizations, schools, and public health agencies. Her work has been instrumental to providing awareness and elevating community voices to improve inclusiveness at the local, state, and national levels.”

 

2023 Celebration with HiOH Flint Genesee Partnership!

June 15, 2023
Renee Bayer speaking to the audience about updates and announcements regarding Health in Our Hands

What a  great time to celebrate! The Health in Our Hands (HiOH) Team brought together the HiOH Flint Genesee Partnership (FGP) to share all of our accomplishments! The celebration was attended by 23 people from 14 different organizations. 

We would like to thank Jason Carliste with GCI for hosting the event and Omar Sims from HAP for sponsoring the wonderful Panera Bread Breakfast!

The HiOH Team were very excited to present the Evaluation Report for Year 4, Moving Forward with our Final Year and New Grant Proposal and last but not least Next Steps.

Tania Jarosowich, PhD, Censeo Group shared the evaluation report for Year 4:   191 7th grade students in 10 classrooms taught by 3 teachers in Atherton and Flint used the 7th grade Diabetes Unit. The SUD unit was used by 183 8th grade students in 10 classrooms with 3 teachers in Atherton and Flint. To culminate their learning experience, students completed Community Action Research Projects (CARP) and presented them to peers and community members at Health Summit events held at the Genesee Career Institute. The evaluation showed that the health summit plays an important role in students’ learning. Students who attended the health summit were more likely to report a stronger impact from the CARP than those who did not attend.

Consuleo Morales, PhD, the HiOH Academic Specialist, shared: How can the FGP help us with our ideas for next year focus.  Our plan is to pilot and evaluate strategies to  leverage partners to connect with families and community resources earlier to support teachers and students and  engage partners to advocate for teachers (community resource, health knowledge resource) to benefit teachers, students, and partners (individuals and organizations). Discussion will continue with teachers during the Aug 2, 2023 PL. 

Renee Bayer, MHSA, the HiOH Principal Investigator, shared the title of the grant proposal: Health in Our Hands: Advancing Community-Inspired Project-Based Learning (CI-PBL). A proposal is planned to be submitted to our funder,Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) National Institutes of Health Due July 14.

Maria Salinas, MS, the HiOH Project Coordinator shared about upcoming  Professional Learning which will take place beginning in August. We are requesting that community partners attend and help us plan a more robust connection between community members and the classroom to support student learning.  Also, we have scheduled the dates for the Health summits for this school year.Mark your calendars: SUD will take place on Friday, January 19, 2024 - University of Michigan - Flint and  Diabetes will take place on Thursday, January 25, 2024 at the Genesee Career Institute. Our meeting dates for next year will be sent out.  We asked partners to consider changing the times of our meetings so that teachers are able to attend. 

Thank you all for celebrating with HiOH and going on this journey with us. We couldn’t have done without you and we are excited to move forward!
 

Middle School Science Teachers Professional Learning Opportunities

July 20, 2023
Professional Learning Opportunities for Middle School Teachers 2023

Health in Our Hands Middle School Life Science Professional Learning Workshop Series! FREE with Funding from the National Institutes of Health!