Residents over 14 that experienced housing insecurity as a youth in New Britain encouraged to take part in project

Originally posted at New Britain Herald

The Weitzman Institute at the Community Health Center’s “Photovoice with Youth” project is making a final recruitment for potential project participants.

There are only eight spots remaining and project leaders are encouraging people over the age of 14 who experienced any form of housing insecurity as a youth in New Britain to apply. This is a paid opportunity and English and Spanish speakers are welcome to join. For those interested, contact Angel Ortiz-Siberon at [email protected] or call 787-245-4920.

The Photovoice with Youth is one of the major project goals for the Weitzman Institute, where researchers are seeking youth ages 14 to 24 to join the project team to help the wider community understand the various causes of youth homelessness in New Britain. This is an opportunity for participants to take photos of things from their life and tell a story to explain why something is the way it is.

The project started several months into the covid-19 pandemic and April Joy Damian, associate director and chief investigator of the Weitzman Institute Project Team, said they knew there was going to be a hard economic hit on families.

“Any time there’s a public health emergency, the poor members of the community and people of color are always hit the hardest,” she said. “Our project is the intersectionality approach of understanding that racial ethnic equity, poverty, and housing instability are all public health challenges that have been exacerbated by the pandemic and racism.”

The Weitzman Institute is the first community-based research center established by a federally qualified health center. They are dedicated to quality improvement and research in primary care for the underserved as part of the Community Health Center.

Through a $200,000 grant award from the Aetna Foundation, the project hopes to improve how the health and health-related social needs of youth experiencing housing insecurity, particularly homeless LGBTQ+ youth and youth of color, are addressed, and to address the health disparities.