A&T, Cone Health to Host “Building a Better You” Community Wellness Fair on July 8

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (July 30, 2023) – North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University’s Center of Excellence in Integrative Health Disparities and Equity Research (CIHDER) and the Cone Health Center for Health Equity will host a “Building a Better You” community wellness fair Saturday, July 8.

The fair, will takes place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Hayes-Taylor YMCA, 2630 E. Florida St., Greensboro. The Building a Better You fair will feature more than 20 community partner organizations and local service providers, along with an opportunity to enjoy free food, entertainment, health screenings, and a children’s play area. The fair will also provide a “service Learning” opportunity for 10 North Carolina A&T student volunteers who will conduct interviews with participants.

“Building a Better You” will introduce wellness resources that will improve health equity within the East Greensboro community. It also will serve as the kickoff for a series of community outreach events designed to assess and address the health and social disparities of the East Greensboro community.

A&T actively collaborates with Cone Health to create a framework that expands opportunities for future cooperation at a time when the university is expanding its clinical degree offerings and advancing multidisciplinary team research approaches to alleviate health disparities.

CIHDER is housed in the John R. and Kathy R. Hairston College of Health and Human Sciences. Hairston college faculty involved with the initiative include Cassandra M. Germain, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology and associate director of education and training, Marc Cook, Ph.D., associate professor of kinesiology and associate director of research, and Stephanie Teixeira-Poit, Ph.D., associate professor of sociology and a CIHDER Steering Committee member. They worked with Cone Health to develop a survey to determine community needs that are related to social determinants of health.

The survey, approved by A&T and Cone Health’s institutional review boards, is a guide for the community outreach events series, which will focus on chronic diseases, such as cancer and obesity/diabetes, and outcomes for heart and brain health, among others.

For more information about “Building a Better You” and the community outreach event series, email Germain at cmgermain@ncat.edu.