About ARCHES
HISTORY
ARCHES was established in 2013 by the UNC Charlotte College of Health and Human Services (CHHS) for developing and implementing trans-disciplinary community-based participatory research (CBPR), training, and service partnerships in Charlotte. Although several community partnerships already existed, there was limited infrastructure for coordinating and sharing resources, developing funding needs, strategies, and priorities, or stimulating ideas and synergy across the university.
ARCHES develops and leverages relationships, programs, and funding across the university and partnering organizations and communities to address social determinants of health in vulnerable populations in Charlotte and the surrounding area.
Mission
To improve health outcomes and quality of life in vulnerable communities, through community-based participatory research (CBPR) and service-learning activities co-developed with community partners.
Goals
- To develop and evaluate sustainable and generalizable community-engaged approaches for improving the social determinants of health in ways that promote individual and community health
- To promote and support community-engaged service -learning and training experiences for students and faculty, in ways that contribute to building the capacity of community organizations to manage the community’s health needs
- To create a research pipeline linking together undergraduate and graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, early stage researchers, and established researchers in a mentoring and applied research network for improving community health outcomes