Community Advisory Board (CAB)
Advancing health equity for Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC), LGBTQ and other under-served aging communities is core to CHAI’s mission. We are committed to building and nurturing ongoing, authentic community relationships that are mutually beneficial. CAB members play a critical role in connecting CHAI with cultural communities to ensure responsiveness & accountability to our communities’ needs and priorities.
The purpose of the CAB is to connect CHAI with the community and ensure that it is responsive and accountable to community needs and priorities. CAB members do this by,
- Bringing forward the lived experiences, needs, and priorities from the community voices that wouldn’t otherwise be heard or represented at the table.
- Sharing their wisdom, cultural knowledge and experiences of older adults and caregivers in BIPOC, LGBTQ and underserved communities to guide CHAI’s priorities and inform programs and policies that affect their community.
- Being a critical “two-way” bridge between CHAI and culturally diverse communities to promote equity and healthy aging for all.
To achieve our vision, we root all our work in equity and diversity to support BIPOC, LGBTQ, older adults with disabilities and other underserved, underrepresented, and marginalized communities. Individual members from these communities are invited to apply to become members of the CAB.
CAB members will be able to make an impact in several ways:
Share their voice, wisdom, cultural knowledge, and lived experiences of older adults, to
- Impact on CHAI priorities
- Influence Programs and Policies affecting their community
Increase the understanding of community’s barriers and assets to healthy aging, to
- Improve Quality of Life
- Improve Quality of Care
Contribute their cultural and equity perspective, to
- Reduce health disparities and
- Improve the lives of older adults
Connect with UMN resources, to
- Support community priorities
- Expand community capacity
CAB members will be expected to attend 6 2-hour meetings per year. The meeting dates and locations will be selected based on the preferences of group members.
CAB members may be asked to take part in one of more of the following activities:
- Members will be expected to attend up to five meetings during the first year. The meeting dates and locations will be determined by group members. We anticipate a mixture of virtual and in- person meetings based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and UMN guidelines.
- Provide feedback to CHAI in a variety of areas (e.g. recruitment of new faculty, strategic plan, community engagement, priorities for the Research and Education cores, etc.)
- Participate in and contribute to workgroups the CAB identifies.
- Identify and access funding sources for equity-focused projects.
- Connect students and researchers with equity-based, aging-related projects.
- Facilitate new connections between the University, CHAI and community-based organizations.
- Obtain community feedback to inform aging and diversity policy statements and recommendations.
Members will receive a stipend for participating in each meeting.
The application process for the CAB is currently closed. When new opportunities for engagement with the CAB arise, we will post them here along with a link to our application form. Please, check here periodically for CAB updates and new opportunities.
