Our Journey into a CBPR Project: Health and Nutrition Solutions in the Alabama Black Belt

Project UNITED is a federally funded grant that addresses obesity issues in the Alabama Black Belt. The Black Belt represents some of the poorest counties in the United States and is plagued with chronic health conditions—obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer—which are predominantly found in African Americans. Community leaders from the Black Belt Community Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation whose purpose is to help improve the quality of life of residents in the Alabama Black Belt, participated in the project as community health scholars. Project UNITED partnered community health scholars and academic scholars to develop proposals that addressed obesity issues in rural communities. A team of three community health scholars and three academic scholars collaborated and formed, Home Sweet Home, a two-year, $50,000, multigenerational obesity intervention in Greene and Sumter counties. This paper provides reflections from the three community health scholars regarding their experience in a community based participatory research (CBPR) project. The paper is presented as first person testimonials describing the experiences of each participant.