Furr-Holden Research Projects

Closing the racial gap in health outcomes and COVID-19 vaccination rates in Michigan as well as other states is the aim of a $6 million, one-year grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC grant is for the National Network to Innovate for COVID-19 and Adult Vaccine Equity, or NNICE project. The project is a partnership between MSU, Michigan Public Health Institute, the Community Foundation of Greater Flint, and Community-Campus Partnerships for Health. The project also partners with organizations committed to reducing African American health disparities including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, and the National Medical Association.

The Flint Center for Health Equity Solutions (FCHES) is a Transdisciplinary Collaborative Center (TCC) for Health Disparities Research on Chronic Disease Prevention within the DHHS-defined Region 5 titled. This TCC arises from active collaborations among TCC Core Academic Faculty (from the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine Public Health Division, The University of Michigan-Flint, and The University of Michigan-Ann Arbor); Lead Consortium Partner the Flint-based Community Based Organization Partners (CBOP); National Consortium Partners including The National Collaborative for Health Equity, The National Health Office of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and U.S. Congressman Dan Kildee (5th Congressional District); State partner State Senator Sheldon Neeley (34th District, which incudes the larger Genesee County and Flint); and local partners including the Genesee County Health Department (GCHD), The Genesee County Land Bank, Flint Odyssey House, Inc., Community Outreach for Families and Youth (COFY) Center, The Greater Flint Health Coalition, The City of Flint, American Muslim Community Services, Latinos United for Flint, The National Center for African American Health Consciousness, Genesee County Hispanic Latino Collaborative, and Wellness Services. Core Academic Faculty and their community partners bring significant research and practical expertise in health equity efforts, behavioral health interventions and epidemiology, geography and the effects of built environment on health, and physical fitness and healthy eating in economically distressed, minority-majority communities. The TCC targets its initial activities within Flint, Michigan, with formative plans to extend the scope and reach of Center activities more generally across the state through the Michigan State University Extension Program and nationally.

Strengthening Flint Families is a community-based behavioral health intervention designed to reduce behavioral health disparities and improve family resilience in the Flint Community by providing multiple levels of peer support and family services. Strengthening Flint Families is comprised of three behavioral health interventions: at the Individual-level: Peer Recovery Coaches (PRCs); at the Family-level: Strengthening Families Program; and at the Community-level: a Multi-Media Campaign. The three behavioral health interventions are an excellent fit for the needs of economically distressed, minority-majority cities such as Flint. This research project is a hybrid type III implementation trial that focuses on how to best implement these effective behavioral health interventions to reach underserved populations and maximize sustainability while evaluating the effectiveness of the programs themselves. Strengthening Flint Families is part of the Flint Center for Health Equity Solutions (FCHES).

In collaboration with the Flint community, the Healthy Flint Coordinating Center (HFCC) is a university-community partnership a mong UM/Flint, UM/Ann Arbor, and MSU to aid Flint to recover and rebuild from the Flint Water Crisis.

This project addresses gaps in knowledge regarding the effects of alcohol outlet density and availability (AODA), and structural interventions, namely alcohol polices designed to decrease density and restrict access to alcohol, on youth violence. This is the first study of its kind to examine this relationship with children and adolescents and represents the most comprehensive evaluation of structural interventions focused on alcohol policies to prevent and reduce violence.