E-News
Equity, Evidence & Engagement
Introducing Year 4 TREE Center IDC Pilot Research Projects 
Submitted by: Theresa Cruz, PhD; Matthew Borrego, PhD & Janet Page-Reeves, PhD.

The Investigator Development Core (IDC) is excited to announce the three early stage investigators that were selected for Y4 TREE Center Pilot Research Project funding. The investigators and their projects will strengthen the research portfolio of the TREE Center through innovative strategies to reduce health inequities and increase wellbeing in New Mexico.
First, Dr. Lucia D’Arlach, Assistant Professor in Family and Community Medicine at UNM, will collaborate with her academic mentor, Dr. Janet Page-Reeves, and her community mentors with the New Mexico Army National Guard, Major Brian Pilgrim, Ph.D., Major Ivette Y. Bibb, LCSW, LADAC, and Maria Elena Castro, M.A. They will work in partnership to improve the wellbeing of young adults, ages 18-26, enlisted in the NM Army National Guard by studying risk and resiliency factors among recruits, calculating the association between these factors and negative outcomes (e.g., positive drug tests; suicidal ideation) and studying the implementation of an intervention – Pro-active Case Management and its effects on the same outcomes.
Next, Dr. Jaelyn deMaria, Assistant Professor in the Communication and Journalism Department at UNM, will be working with her academic mentor, Dr. Magdalena Avila, and her community mentor, Dr. Kee Straits, on her study titled Digital Storytelling through Indigenous Art: A Community Model for Behavioral Health Action. Dr. DeMaria will collaborate with artists from several tribal communities in New Mexico to develop and test a community-engaged, culturally appropriate and contextually relevant arts-­based digital storytelling model for preventing suicide and substance misuse among Native American youth. The research will be conducted with youth from the Native American Community Academy.
The final Y4 early stage investigator selected for funding is Dr. Tiffany Otero, Assistant Professor in the Department of Special Education at UNM. She will be working with her academic mentor, Dr. Magdalena Avila, and her community mentor, Dr. Baylor Del Rosario, Director of Special Education & Health Services at Bernalillo Public Schools as well as a strong team of UNM researchers and community partners to explore the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and identify culturally-appropriate pathways toward healing. Dr. Otero and her team will work with teachers and students to adapt a trauma-informed curriculum to teachers to implement in Bernalillo Public Schools.

These three studies exemplify the multi-level, transdisciplinary research to improve behavioral health and health equity in New Mexico that the TREE Center strives to support. We welcome the latest cohort of early stage investigators and look forward to working with them.
EVENTS
Embracing Anti-Racist Approaches and Centering Race and Racism in the Life Course Research Agenda

Thursday August 6th, 2020 at 9:00AM-10:30AM PT/12:00PM-1:30PM ET

Dear colleagues, 
 
We hope you will join us for an important and timely webinar with Dr. Iheoma U. Iruka

Poverty, race, culture, religion, or zip code should not determine a child’s trajectory, opportunity, and eventual life success. Often times, there is a focus on disparities and gaps between and among people with little consideration for root causes. Furthermore, there has been an assumption that “science” is objective and rooted in truthfulness. In this session, we will begin to examine what is racism and the necessity of research to focus on the manifestation of racism and the critical importance of a racial equity research agenda to reach racial justice. Discussion will focus on how research can be re-centered to focus on race and racism and lean into critical race theory methodological approaches to create and sustain an anti-racist research agenda. 
 
Iheoma U. Iruka, Ph.D., is the Chief Research Innovation Officer and Director of The Center for Early Education Research and Evaluation at HighScope Educational Research Foundation after tenure at FPG Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the Buffett Institute at the University of Nebraska.

Zoom Information:
Meeting ID: 976 2797 7980
Password: 259226 
RESOURCES
Centering Structural Inequities in Conversations on Mental Health 
Among People of Color

Margarita Alegría, PhD Director of the Center for Multicultural Mental Health Research (CMMHR) at Cambridge Health Alliance, and a full professor of the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. TREE Center Senior Consultant & Steering Committee Member

July is National Minority Mental Health Awareness Month. NIMHD Insights will highlight the challenges of mental illness faced by individuals of racial and ethnic minority communities through several posts during the month. In the latest issue of NIMHD Insights, Margarita Alegría, Ph.D., from the Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses how structural inequities impact people of color.
APHA Launches New Spanish-Language Resource Hub at COVIDGuia.org for Public, Policymakers

APHA curates COVID-19 tips and information geared toward Hispanic/Latino communities

APHA is compiling the latest evidence-based information on COVID-19 into one, easy-to-navigate spot.

This resource contains up-to-date information about COVID-19 from credible sources Topics include guidance on reopening, personal and community prevention tips, workplace safety guidance, and recommendations for safe voting and returning to school. It is the sister site to COVIDGuidance.org, an English-language site that was launched last month.

Access and bookmark the new resource page at COVIDGuia.org.
APHA lanza un nuevo centro de recursos en español en COVIDGuia.org para el público y formuladores de políticas

APHA selecciona consejos e información de COVID-19 orientados a las comunidades Hispanas/Latinas

La Asociación Americana de Salud Pública (APHA) está compilando la información más reciente basada en evidencia sobre COVID-19 en un solo lugar que será fácil de navegar.

Este recurso contiene información sobre el COIVD-19 actualizada de fuentes confiables para prevenir la infección con el COVID-19. Los temas incluyen orientación sobre reapertura de comercios y servicios, consejos de prevención personal y comunitaria, orientación de seguridad en los lugares de trabajo, recomendaciones para una votación segura, y el regreso a la escuela. Es el sitio hermano de COVIDGuidance.org, un sitio en inglés que se lanzó el mes pasado.

Acceda y marque la nueva página de recursos en COVIDGuia.org.
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