The Housing Authority for the City of Los Angeles Monday announced it is the recipient of a $6 million grant that will be used over five years to fund a first-of-its-kind community led-research program in the community of Watts.
Under the National Institutes of Health, the city will participate in the Community Partnerships to Advance Science for Society, or ComPASS, program, which is designed to advance health equity and examine reasons for certain health outcomes in different communities. The grant will allow HACLA, in partnership with UCLA and Charles Drew University, to research and study ways to address underlying structural factors within Watts — such as access to safe spaces, healthy food, economic opportunities, transportation and quality health care — that can affect health.
“We are proud to be one of the 26 awardees across the country to receive this unique funding from NIH,” Doug Guthrie, HACLA president and CEO, said in a statement. “Through these awarded funds, HACLA will work closely with residents of Watts and community partners to frame the local community health indicators of greatest concern and develop sustainable solutions that promote healthy equity and create lasting change in HACLA’s housing communities and the Watts community.”
The ComPASS program is funded through the NIH Common Fund, and managed in a collaborative effort by NIH staff. Many of NIH’s institute centers and offices provide input and participate in program development and management.
Research projects funded through the program focus on populations that experience health disparities and study social determinants of health, such as social, physical and economic conditions that may contribute to health inequities, according to HACLA.
Each NIH awardee has a “unique” approach to conducting its examination of underlying conditions, engaging residents and exploring strategies to improve those health outcomes in a local manner. HACLA and its research partners will work with the community group Watts Rising Initiative, which was initiated in 2017 and created projects focused on public and environmental health.
According to a statement from HACLA, the program is intended to address the public and economic health goals that impact Watts residents and build on the already initiated structural solutions that could include food access, health education and expansion of greenspace.
Cynthia Gonzalez, an assistant professor at Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science, said she was honored to continue as a data partner with Watts Rising. Gonzalez noted the grant is “historic” for NIH and for Watts.
“We’re looking forward to seeing the vision come to life and engage more residents of Watts,” Gonzalez said in a statement.
Arleen Brown, co-director with the UCLA Clinical and Translational Research Institute added, “This grant shifts the paradigm by supporting community-academic partnerships to conduct research initiated by the community.”
Brown noted the program and funding is a testament to the “tremendous community-based work being done at Watts Rising and HACLA.”