Community Advisory Board for Diabetes Prevention in Prince George's County
This paper outlines a community engagement project centered on a Community Advisory Board (CAB) designed to address diabetes prevention and management among African American adults aged 18 and older in Prince George's County, Maryland. The paper covers the rationale for selecting this population, recruitment strategies and potential barriers, team competencies and partnership needs, ethical considerations around equity and confidentiality, long-term applications of CAB findings, and a detailed project budget totaling $23,812.50. Drawing on public health frameworks and community engagement literature, the project aims to reduce new diabetes cases in a county where African Americans represent over 61% of the population.
- Community Advisory Board Overview and Target Population: CAB purpose, target population, and diabetes burden
- Recruitment Strategies for CAB Participants: Partnerships, social media, and community events for recruitment
- Barriers to Recruitment and How to Address Them: Stigma, awareness gaps, and trust-building strategies
- Team Competencies and Community Partnerships: Skills, experience, and partner organizations needed
- Long-Term Applications of CAB Work: Funding, policy advocacy, and ongoing education initiatives
- Ethical Considerations: Equity, inclusion, confidentiality, and informed consent
- Project Budget: Itemized $23,812.50 budget across all project categories
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What makes this paper effective
- It grounds each section in specific, localized data — population size, racial composition, and cost figures for Prince George's County — which strengthens the project's rationale and credibility.
- The paper consistently links each proposed activity (recruitment events, social media outreach, partnership building) to a concrete goal, making the plan actionable rather than abstract.
- Ethical considerations are handled substantively, addressing both equity in participation and data privacy with specific procedural responses rather than general statements.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper models applied public health planning by integrating community engagement theory (citing Butterfoss, WHO, and others) with practical project design. Each section functions as a distinct planning component — purpose, recruitment, barriers, competencies, sustainability, ethics, and budget — showing how academic frameworks translate into real program infrastructure.
Structure breakdown
The paper is organized as a Q&A planning document with eight numbered sections. The early sections establish the project context and population, the middle sections address operational challenges and team needs, and the final sections shift to sustainability, ethics, and budgeting. This sequential structure mirrors a standard community health project proposal, moving from problem definition through implementation to accountability.
Community Advisory Board Overview and Target Population
The chosen community engagement activity for this project is the Community Advisory Board (CAB). The board plays a crucial role in understanding the specific needs, preferences, practices, habits, and concerns of the African American community aged 18 and above in Prince George's County, Maryland. The CAB will advocate for community members and help them understand diabetes, as well as how to reduce and prevent new cases. The board will also identify the community's needs concerning diabetes management and provide the necessary support to decrease diabetes cases. Additionally, the CAB will offer input on resources essential to reducing new cases of diabetes among African American adults in Prince George's County.
The target community for the project is African Americans aged 18 and above who reside in Prince George's County, Maryland. This population was selected because African Americans are more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes than other racial groups, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (American Diabetes Association, 2021). The community is a suburban area in the Washington Metropolitan area, with a total population of approximately 911,000 people as of 2020, of whom 61.2% are African American. The median age for residents of Prince George's County is 37.8 years, and the majority of African Americans living in the community use English as their primary language.
The project seeks to decrease new cases of diabetes among African American adults in Prince George's County, Maryland. Diabetes is recognized as an epidemic in the United States, with over 37 million people diagnosed with the condition, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2021). Diabetes has been associated with a wide range of health complications, including blindness, kidney failure, stroke, heart disease, and lower-limb amputation. Recent studies have further established a link between diabetes and some types of cancer, hearing loss, and dementia.
Diabetes impacts individual and familial well-being and can significantly burden entire healthcare systems. Persons diagnosed with diabetes incur approximately $9,601 in medical expenses per year in the United States, and those with diabetes are likely to incur medical expenses more than two times higher than those without the disease. In Maryland alone, diagnosed diabetes costs an estimated $7 billion annually (American Diabetes Association, 2022).
The project's duration runs through December 2023, but the Community Advisory Board will be a continuous effort to engage with the community and provide support and advocacy. The activities will take place in Prince George's County, Maryland, specifically targeting the African American community aged 18 and above. The facilities to be used for the project are not fixed, as the CAB can meet in a variety of locations that are convenient for community members.
Recruitment Strategies for CAB Participants
Recruiting participants for community engagement activities can be a challenging task, but partnering with community organizations can make the process easier (Butterfoss, 2006). To recruit participants for the Community Advisory Board in Prince George's County, Maryland, this project will work closely with community partners.
One strategy is to collaborate with local churches, community centers, and health clinics to help spread the word about the CAB. Outreach to these organizations will include scheduled meetings to discuss the project's details and how they can help identify individuals who would be interested in joining the board. During these meetings, brochures, flyers, and other informational materials will be provided for distribution to the organizations' members and patients.
Another recruitment strategy involves leveraging social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. These platforms can be an effective way to reach a large number of people in a short amount of time (Latha et al., 2020). Posts will describe the CAB's purpose and how individuals can get involved. Relevant hashtags related to the project and Prince George's County will also be used to increase visibility.
In addition to these strategies, informational meetings and recruitment events will be held in the community at local community centers, churches, and other public spaces. During these events, more details about the CAB will be shared, and attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions. The goal is to demonstrate how working together is in the community's best interest.
Collaborating with community organizations, leveraging social media, and holding recruitment events are expected to produce a diverse group of participants who are passionate about decreasing diabetes cases among African American adults in Prince George's County.
Barriers to Recruitment and How to Address Them
Several potential barriers to recruitment could impact the success of the CAB project. One potential barrier is a lack of awareness and interest in the project among the target community. Since the CAB focuses on diabetes prevention and management, some individuals may not view this as a pressing concern for themselves or their families.
Another potential barrier is the sensitive nature of discussing health issues, especially in a public setting. Many individuals may feel uncomfortable sharing personal health information in a group setting, or may be hesitant to participate in discussions around diabetes management due to stigma or fear of judgment.
Partnering with trusted community organizations and leaders is a critical aspect of the recruitment strategy. These partners can help build trust and credibility with the target population, increasing the likelihood that community members will be willing to participate. Local churches, community centers, and health clinics are potential partners because they are trusted institutions with established relationships in the community.
To leverage these partnerships, outreach efforts could involve distributing flyers and informational materials through these organizations, who can then disseminate information to their members and networks. Hosting community events and workshops is another effective way to engage with community members and generate interest. These events can be organized in collaboration with community partners and can feature educational sessions on diabetes prevention and management, as well as opportunities for participants to learn more about the project and how to get involved.
It will also be important to create a safe and supportive environment for participants to discuss sensitive health topics. This could include establishing clear guidelines and expectations for CAB meetings, such as confidentiality agreements and respectful communication protocols. Efforts to build trust and rapport among participants — through icebreaker activities and team-building exercises, for example — will also be valuable.
References
American Diabetes Association (2021). The burden of diabetes in Maryland.
American Diabetes Association (2022). The cost of diabetes. https://diabetes.org/about-us/statistics/cost-diabetes
Baum, N. M., Gollust, S. E., Goold, S. D., & Jacobson, P. D. (2009). Ethical issues in public health practice in Michigan. American Journal of Public Health, 99(2), 369–374.
Butterfoss, F. D. (2006). Process evaluation for community participation. Annual Review of Public Health, 27, 323–340.
CDC (2021). Diabetes. https://www.cdc.gov/globalhealth/healthprotection/ncd/diabetes.html
Goforth, A. N., Nichols, L. M., Sun, J., Violante, A., Christopher, K., & Graham, N. (2022). Incorporating the indigenous evaluation framework for culturally responsive community engagement. Psychology in the Schools, 59(10), 1984–2004.
Latha, K., Meena, K. S., Pravitha, M. R., Dasgupta, M., & Chaturvedi, S. K. (2020). Effective use of social media platforms for promotion of mental health awareness. Journal of Education and Health Promotion, 9.
World Health Organization. (2017). WHO community engagement framework for quality, people-centred and resilient health services (No. WHO/HIS/SDS/2017.15). World Health Organization.
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