Field Placement: Community Health Councils, Inc.
Location: West Los Angeles, CA
Preceptor: Nancy Watson
Student Name: Heather Onuma
Year: 2004

Project Title: Community Outreach Intern

Statement of Problem. This internship provided me with an opportunity to work on elimination of health disparities through community organizing and coalition building. My objectives were to: 1) Familiarize myself with the history and projects of Community Health Councils, Inc., 2) Coordinate and attend meetings of the Inglewood-Lennox-Hawthorne and Long Beach Councils, 3) Keep up to date with health policy issues and communicate policy information to council members, 4) Meet with council members to increase council participation, and 5) Assist with creation and distribution of the Inglewood-Lennox-Hawthorne Resource Directories.

Context/Organization Setting. Community Health Councils, Inc. (CHC) is a non-profit advocacy organization whose mission is to address and eliminate health disparities experienced in low income populations. It is funded through grants from agencies including the CDC and Partnership for the Public’s Health. CHC is staffed by both full-time and part-time staff.

Place of Project Within Organization. I served as a community outreach intern and assisted the director of the community health councils of Long Beach, Inglewood, Lennox and Hawthorne.

Results Achieved. I was able to achieve all of my objectives listed above, and I was able to take on a few more projects as well. Over the six months that I worked at CHC, I was able to get to know its organizational structure and other projects, I coordinated and attended council meetings, I attended and represented CHC at several community and city meetings regarding health issues, and I worked on two grant applications.

Theoretical Comparisons with Field Studies. Several theories and concepts guided the projects that I worked on at CHC, including community organization theory, Freirian-Praxis theory, and social marketing theory. Skills learned in biostatistics and health economics were also useful.

Recommendation for Similar Projects. I learned that you have to be very self-motivated in order to get the most out of the internship experience. I learned a lot about community outreach and organization. Specifically, I learned more about health policy and decisionmaking on a local level.

Recommendations for Yourself. Reflecting upon my experience, I think I would try to take a more realistic approach to time management. I think that I tried to take on too many projects as an intern, which will be something to think about during my career.

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