Founded in 2006, Students for Health Equity (formerly Communities And Students Together for Learning-Enhanced Service), leverages unique campus resources with the knowledge, skills, and experience of communities to pursue health equity and improve the health and wellness of underserved or marginalized communities in Davidson County, Tennessee. Students for Health Equity achieves this by partnering with established community agencies to bridge the resources of the community with those of the university, implementing replicable and research-informed models, and involving undergraduate and graduate students in community-engaged program evaluation, research, organizational capacity building, and implementation of pilot community initiatives. Students for Health Equity is a student-driven program, with guidance from VUSN faculty member and SHE director, Leah Branam.
Community Partners
Over the years, Students for Health Equity (SHE) has worked on the development, implementation and evaluation of numerous projects with dozens of local agencies. Some specific projects in these areas include:
- Development: SHE teamed up with the New Vision Academy to create a mentorship program for its female students called “Girls' Circle”, designed to improve the social and emotional wellbeing of its participants.
- Implementation: SHE partnered with a variety of community centers including the South Nashville and McGruder Family Resource Centers, Coleman and Hadley Park Community Centers, Flatrock Heritage Foundation, Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center and others to organize and host its Community Kitchens workshops. These seminars have educated hundreds of low-income adults and youth on topics including health and wellness, nutrition, and chronic disease management.
- Evaluation: Initially implemented at Hadley Park Community Center in North Nashville, SHE helped design and implement a free afterschool program designed to provide a safe and nurturing environment for elementary and middle school students, while promoting nutritional and physical health as well as academic performance. SHE helped facilitate a study gauging the effectiveness of the program, which yielded positive results.
SHE is proud to have partnered with the following local organizations in achieving their missions:
In addition to the organizations above, SHE is honored to have partnered with, Belmont University, Middle Tennessee State University, Lipscomb University, Tennessee State University, Trevecca Nazarene University, and Vanderbilt University to engage students in community health.
If you are part of a community agency in the Greater Nashville area and interested in partnering with SHE, please contact us.
Student Partners
In order to achieve full integration between students and the community, SHE recruits students from local universities to take part in planning, implementing, and evaluating its programs. Thus, students are able to work with SHE in a variety of functions: as a student worker, volunteer, intern, or part of an independent study. We also welcome Immersion Vanderbilt students interested in collaborating with the SHE program for their Immersion project. Students from many major areas participate in SHE, including Business (BA, MBA), Nursing, Music/Arts, Education, Pre-Med, Social Work, Exercise Science (MS), Child Development, and many others.
If you are a college student in the Nashville area and interested in learning more about becoming a student partner, please contact us.
Through SHE, students will be presented opportunities to participate and grow in the following areas:
- Community and health research, particularly survey research and qualitative interviewing
- Health promotion
- Curriculum development
- Project coordination and management
- Team management
- Event development and implementation
- Conducting community needs assessments
- Grant writing and fundraising
- Personal professional skills development
For the 2022-2023 academic year, our current student involvement programs include:
- Organizing and presenting Community Kitchen workshops on healthy meals and nutrition education for hundreds of refugee youth and their families in the Catholic Charities Refugee Youth Program held at the Catholic Pastoral Center and Haywood Elementary. Our parent engagement events feature food demonstrations, recipe meal kit giveaways, and engagement with other community/city/state agencies such as the Metro Nashville Public Health Department for pediatric oral hygiene educational lessons and the Tennessee Justice Center for SNAP enrollment.
- Improving youth’s physical fitness, academic performance, and emotional wellbeing with afterschool programs that include homework help, physical activities, nutrition lessons, and enrichment activities.
- Unique internship placement opportunities for students interested in learning more about and performing the specific functions of a nonprofit organization.
They are so excited to learn, especially when it comes to talking about what they eat on a daily basis. I remember one game in particular that involved trying different foods from My Plate, the current nutrition guide based on dietary guidelines for Americans. The children were so delighted to try new foods- whether delicious or odd-tasting foods - from black berries to mushrooms.
Some past student involvement projects include:
- Helping Vanderbilt University sports teams develop and implement sports workshops for afterschool programs in underserved Nashville neighborhoods.
- Building youth’s participation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) projects by designing workshops for afterschool programs on these subjects.
- After training in focus group methodology and qualitative data analysis, SHE students developed, implemented, and analyzed focus group results related to community understanding and acceptance of infant immunization, use of booster seats, and family attitudes related to obesity and physical development in teen years.
Student partners have grown personally from working with SHE:
"From my experience thus far, I have learned that [Students for Health Equity] represents a fundamental idea that we belong to each other. At its root, the mission is both health-oriented and moral. It is based on solidarity, rather than charity alone. Engaging with the community partners…perpetuated why social equality is an essential part of a service-learning program."
Ashley Nelson, Former Staff Member (2011-12)
"When I first joined [Students for Health Equity], I did not know much about Nashville at all. I got the information of the history, people, stereotypes, and needs of the community by asking questions and listening. Over time as I learned more and more answers, I was better equipped to serve the community and the people, and also understand my relationship with the community in a stronger light."
Sarah Kenny, Former Staff Member (2010-2014)
"The [Students for Health Equity] program is more than a job opportunity, a volunteer placement, or an internship. It is a home and a place to come to learn about yourself and the world you live in."
Anonymous, Staff Member
Contact SHE
If you are a college student interested in becoming a student partner or a community-based organization interested in partnering on a health initiative, please contact us via the form below.