CSULB Center for Latino Community Health, Evaluation, and Leadership Training Receives Nearly Million Dollar Grant to Support Food and Human Sciences
The Center for Latino Health received a third USDA grant for $975,314 to support the "Leveraging Interdisciplinary Nutritional Knowledge (LINK) Program".
LINK is a collaboration between five Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) in Southern California: two 4-year universities, California State University (CSU) Long Beach and CSU Fullerton, and three 2-year community colleges (CC) including Fullerton, Long Beach City, and Santa Ana Colleges. LINK will strengthen partnerships between the institutions to create a nutrition and health sciences academic pathway for students.
Using a multidisciplinary approach, LINK will effectively address nutrition-related issues with a focus on Latino Health. To get to the root of health issues, LINK’s approach will use a combination of epidemiology, biology, sociology, psychology, anthropology, and social work. Moreover, LINK will recruit students and faculty from diverse academic fields including Nutrition and Dietetics, Health Science/Public Health, and Kinesiology. Students will conduct externships at nonprofit organizations, local health departments, and research organizations. The established partnerships will enhance the transdisciplinary nature of training and development.
The LINK Program will promote the success of students in the food and human sciences professional and scientific workforce. Students will have the opportunity to participate in outreach, mentoring, education, support services, research, and professional internships with community partners to support Latino Health. This well-rounded, experiential learning opportunity will help students develop nutrition-related skills to address chronic diseases.
Dr. Melawhy Garcia, Assistant Professor of Health Science and Director of the Center for Latino Community Health, Evaluation, and Leadership Training will serve as PI, Dr. Selena Nguyen-Rodriguez, Associate Professor of Health Science, will serve as the Evaluator, in collaboration with other College of Health and Human Services faculty who will provide research training for students.
