Resident Health Advocates

We work to improve the health and well-being of the residents of Boston's public housing, and thus reduce health disparities, by engaging residents in community-centered research programs and prevention activities.

Welcome to the Resident Health Advocates Page

RHA Program Objectives:

Recruit and train a group of housing residents across BHA developments annually.
Enhance knowledge of health issues and career opportunity through RHA Training Certificate Program.
Partner with the Boston Public Health Commission for curriculum development and training.
Evaluate the RHA curriculum through participant feedback and input.
Engage Community Health Centers near housing developments to enhance RHA and outreach worker connections.

Tool Kit

This toolkit provides materials developed and used by the Partners in Health and Housing Prevention Research Center (PHH-PRC) in its program to train public housing residents as Resident Health Advocates (RHAs). Once trained, RHAs play two key roles: they provide basic health information to other public housing residents, and they guide residents to nearby health resources.

Resident Health Advocate Marsha Chery created a digital story. To view, click the arrow.

The Partners in Health and Housing Prevention Research Center (PHH-PRC) at Boston University School of Public Health is a member of the Prevention Research Centers Program, supported by Cooperative Agreement Number RFA-DP-09-001from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Its contents are those of the PHH-PRC and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.