Community Solutions

Episode 30: Becoming A Health Education Specialist
Has becoming a certified health education specialist piqued your interest, but not sure about what they do or how they play a role in public health? On this episode, we are joined by certified health education specialists (CHES), Charity Bishop and Luz Machuca. Charity discusses the role of a health education specialist, the academic preparation in becoming a CHES, the types of places that a CHES may work, and how listeners can positively affect their communities in the ways health education specialists are trained. Luz then delves into using her certification in the field and the diabetes intervention programs she is currently working on. We hope this episode educates you about the role of education specialists and becoming an active member of your community!

This podcast episode highlights the book, "How Change Happens" by Duncan Green. This book outlines how community leaders can create change within communities, states and nations. The lessons from this book can be applied to improve current social, political, environmental and economic issues. We discuss past advocates’ work and how their strategies can be applied by current and future community leaders to positively transform communities. 

This podcast episode presents a discussion of the book “Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community” by Robert Putnam. The author centers the book on the term social capital, which is defined as the connectedness between people in a community. Join us as we delve into our discussion about social capital in the American community. We identify key factors that affect social capital and connectedness both positively and negatively. Some of these factors include age/generational differences, television, religion, urbanization and social media. Enjoy listening!

The majority of poor individuals around the world live in rural conditions. To significantly reduce global poverty, we need to work alongside individuals living in rural poverty to best understand their assets, needs and priorities. Listen and learn strategies to effectively work with rural communities and in the process transform your perceptions of rural living.

Today our book club focuses on The Stop: How the Fight for Good Food Transformed a Community and Inspired a Movement, by Nick Saul and Andrea Curtis. Listen and learn about the multiyear effort to create a sustainable, internationally recognized community food center that provides for, and fights for, food equity – the process of providing opportunities for all to access good, healthy food.  

Community Solutions episode 25 discusses Muhammad Yunus’ autobiography,Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty. Learn how and why Muhammad Yunus established the Grameen Bank, the obstacles he faced, how the bank has succeeded to radically improve the lives of the poor individuals around the world. To learn more go to: muhammadyunus.org or on Twitter @Yunus_Centre

This episode of the Community Solutions podcast will be discussing key points from “The Idealist: Jeffrey Sachs and the Quest to End Poverty” by Nina Munk. This book is about Jeffrey Sachs, a world-renowned economist, and his Millennium Villages Project.This project was based in Africa with one major goal in mind - to raise people out of poverty in rural African villages. In this podcast, we delve into the planning, implementation, and progress of the Millennium Villages Project,including the achievements and pitfalls. Is this project the answer to end poverty once and for all? Keep listening to find out. We hope you enjoy the podcast and learn something new about how to better your own communities!
To learn more about Jeffrey Sachs and his current work, please visit: www.jeffsachs.org

On this podcast three public health students discuss ‘The World Café’ by Dr. Juanita Brown and David Isaacs. They highlight the importance of facilitating conversations that are: inclusive of diverse groups of individuals, conducted in relaxed environments, and focused on building relationships while creating meaningful changes in communities.

MPH students at the IU Fairbanks School of Public Health engage in an enlightening discussion of the book “Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life” by the late Marshall B. Rosenburg, who was an expert in the field of nonviolent communication. Emily and Kelsey talk about key points from the book and give real life examples of how nonviolent communication can be utilized in the field of public health. Give it a listen and learn how nonviolent communication can be useful in your own life or career!

Margaret J Wheatley is an outstanding teacher and writer who travels around the world learning about different cultures and people. She has come to the simple conclusion: “We can change the world if we just start listening to one another again.” This novel, Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to restore Hope to the Future explores how simple conversations can turn into big movements. Simple listening to others and seeing them as humans can have a great impact on them. We should all make a more conscious effort to be active listeners and have more meaningful conversations with others. To learn more about Margaret J. Wheatley visit margaretwheatley.com.