Community Engagement Alliance Against COVID-19 Disparities (CEAL)

AZ CEAL’s mission

The Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL) Against COVID-19 Disparities works closely with the communities hit hardest by COVID-19.

The Arizona CEAL Consortium is a collaboration of Northern Arizona University, University of Arizona, Arizona State University, Mayo Clinic, and the Arizona Community Health Worker Collaboration.

In partnership with members and leaders of African American, Latino/a/x and American Indian communities, we aim to: provide trustworthy information through active community engagement and outreach to the people hardest-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the goal of building long-lasting partnerships as well as improving diversity and inclusion in our research response to COVID-19.

NAU CEAL partners with AzCHOW

Strengthen the Community Health Worker workforce response to COVID-19 prevention vaccine efforts through capacity building and statewide training
Build vaccine confidence through social media campaigns among diverse, rural youth aged 16-25, and college enrolled students of northern Arizona

Meet the team

Samantha Sabo, DrPH, MPH associate professor of health sciences and CHER senior researcher serves as a Multiple Principal Investigator (MPI) for the Arizona CEAL.

NAU co-investigators

Regents’ Professor Julie Baldwin, CHER executive director
Nicolette Teufel-Shone, CHER associate director
Naomi Lee, assistant professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Amanda Pollitt, assistant professor, Health Sciences and CHER
Joseph Mihaljevic, assistant professor, School of Informatics, Computing and Cyber Systems
Dulce Jiménez, CHER research coordinator, Sr.

Projects

Community health workers (CHWs) — also referred to as community health representatives (CHRs) and promotores — are “frontline public health workers who are trusted members of the communities they serve,” according to the American Public Health Association. As such, they have a unique understanding of their community’s experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

AzCHOW partnership

Through CEAL, NAU researchers partnered with the Arizona Community Health Workers Association (AzCHOW) to develop and disseminate accurate, up-to-date COVID-19 information for community health workers to give to their communities.

To learn about what local communities are experiencing during the COVID-19 pandemic and their opinions and beliefs, we conducted focus groups with CHWs/CHRs Promotores. Their ideas and opinions are used to develop and adapt COVID-19 educational materials and health education messages. CHWs and CHRs then use the materials to serve their clients for COVID-19 prevention, including COVID-19 vaccine education, and COVID-19 research.

It’s Our Turn youth contest

CEAL’s It’s Our Turn contest invited youth and young adults between ages of 14 to 25 to share their creative take on a health message about COVID-19 vaccination, wearing a mask, or another pandemic-related health effect on youth. There were 12 winners selected by Arizona community members — each winning a $250 gift card.

Training videos

AzCHOW Training Center training and education videos

CEAL Against COVID-19 Disparities reports

In the news

National Institutes of Health (NIH) resources