This year at Ci3 we have remained steadfast in our commitment to addressing the systems and structures that limit opportunities for young people. Amidst the global pandemic, social unrest, and growing economic and health inequalities, we have supported young people as well as their health and wellbeing.
Bringing public health messages and information to communities during COVID-19
Informing Young People of the Important Role They Play During the Pandemic
Using science-informed messaging and asset-based approaches, Ci3 developed One Day at a Time, an animated awareness initiative informing young people about the health behaviors that help prevent transmission of COVID-19. With support from University of Chicago Medicine’s Center for Healthcare Delivery Science and Innovation, we collaborated with young people, medical providers, and public health researchers to center prevention awareness and the lived experiences of young people.
How U.S. Health Disparities are a public health crisis for Black Women
Dr. Gilliam participated in The University of Chicago’s Urban Network panel, Racism as a Public Health Crisis for America’s Cities. She addressed America’s health disparities, underscoring why solutions are needed to improve access to quality care. She was joined by Illinois State Representative Lauren Underwood and Brenda Battle, Vice President of the Urban Health Initiative and Chief Diversity, Inclusion and Equity Officer at UChicago Medicine. Read more about the panel discussion here.
Ci3 Founder Discusses Complex Emotions of Youth During the Pandemic on NBC
To further discuss COVID-19 related challenges, Dr. Melissa Gilliam, Ci3 founder and director, was featured in an NBC News broadcast segment. She discussed how storytelling approaches can help guardians and parents talk to their children about the complex emotions brought on by the pandemic. View Dr. Gilliam’s TV interview here.
Designing with and for young people
Ci3 designed new and accessible digital spaces to collaborate with young people.
Youth Advisory Council
Virtual Youth Advisory Council meetings provided a space for young people to come together to express their perspectives and concerns around healthcare inequities, civil unrest, and lack of social interaction. Using storytelling to document their experiences and complex emotions, these high school students from Chicago’s South and West Sides published This Ain’t It, a digital zine produced in collaboration with Ci3. Find out more about our Youth Council here.
Frankly. Podcast
The production team for our soon-to-launch Frankly. podcast recorded interviews with young people and experts, and moved into the editing and post-production phase. Our young fellows Alizha Vernon and Kaya Thomas, were critical to the production process, co-hosting and co-producing alongside our team. Frankly. is a seven-episode podcast series that builds on the findings from Ci3’s Adolescent X Study, a research project that studies narrative methods to explore the messages that young people receive about their bodies, identities, and sexual health.
Announcing Hexacago Health Academy 2.0
Ci3 was awarded a grant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Science Education Award Program to design and implement Hexacago Health Academy (HHA) 2.0. Currently in development, HHA 2.0 will be a game-based STEM and health careers pathway program for high-performing, 11th grade Chicago Public School students from underrepresented groups in STEM professions. We will begin accepting students for our new cohort this spring. HHA 2.0 is an extension of our previous HHA summer program that ran from summer 2015 to summer 2019 and engaged high school students in addressing major health issues through game play, interaction with STEM and health professionals, and near-peer mentoring. Learn more about HHA here.
Ci3 creates STEP UP
Ci3 is developing STEP UP for STEM, an interactive digital game that includes the key elements of a sexual harassment bystander intervention. Funded by the NIH, this game-based intervention will empower high school students to mitigate bias and sexual harassment in STEM and health learning environments, and attain a positive STEM identity. STEP UP will be a state-of-the-art, theory-based intervention with a long-term goal of increasing representation of women and people of color in STEM and health careers.
Introducing Caduceus Quest
Ci3’s Game Changer Chicago Lab launched the production of Caduceus Quest, a digital game-based intervention that aims to educate young people about public health, promote healthy behaviors among adolescents, and increase interest in STEM careers. To assist in the game’s development and commercialization, this project is supported by an NIH Small Business Innovation in Research (SBIR) grant in collaboration with Resilient Games Studio.
New research advancing health equity and patient centered care
This year, Ci3 published 13 studies in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology, Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, and other notable publications.
Some of our 2020 findings include:
To identify the role of systemic inequalities in adolescent pregnancy, then family planning fellow Dr. Laura Laursen, examined the structural and systemic factors that impact young girls in urban communities. The study found that participants who were exposed to higher levels of community violence had an increased likelihood of experiencing intercourse without contraception and teenage pregnancy.
-Published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence
Through our ongoing research study in Uttar Pradesh, India, we described the social and systemic barriers experienced by menstruating girls. Young women also have few opportunities to discuss their experiences. Further, their mobility and daily activities are restricted during menstruation.
–Published in Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters
Hello Options, an all-in-one tool featuring physical replicas of contraceptive methods such as the pill, patch, ring, shot, IUD (copper and hormonal), implant, and internal and external condoms, was found to be a useful, feasible, and acceptable decision aid that can support the provision of patient-centered contraceptive care for young people.
-Published in the Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology
Frankly. Podcast Presented at the Healthy Teen Network National Conference
Audio Visual Production Manager, Ireashia Bennett, presented on the Adolescent X study and Frankly. podcast at #HealthyTeen20, a virtual conference hosted by Healthy Teen Network. In this poster presentation, Ireashia discussed the oral and visual participatory narrative methods —story circles and body mapping. They also presented how the study informed the salient themes discussed in the Frankly. podcast.
Discussing Ci3’s COVID-19 Animation with National Healthcare Leaders
Illustrator Quinn Burrell represented Ci3 at the Scottsdale Institute’s virtual panel along with three other grant recipients of UChicago’s Center for Healthcare Delivery Science & Innovation’s COVID-19 Innovation Challenge. Quinn discussed the process of making Ci3’s One Day at a Time animation to help reach and inform young people about the virus. Read more about the panel discussion and recipients here.
CI3 disseminated study findings on contraceptive care and health equity across a variety of digital news platforms.
Addressing sexual and reproductive health care in Chicago and beyond
Last year, we worked with family planning providers, community partners, and young people to inform advocates and state-wide policymakers about reproductive health care concerns.
Improving Contraceptive Access in Illinois:
A Statewide Needs Assessment
In July, Ci3 released Understanding the Needs of Family Planning Providers to Improve Contraceptive Access, a report detailing recommendations and opportunities for expanded access to comprehensive, compassionate care and counseling. Read the full report here.
Ci3 releases infographic informing policymakers on the implications of
parental notification of abortion law
Prior research suggests that laws requiring parental notification of abortion (PNA) are unnecessary and potentially harmful to adolescents seeking abortion care. Developed with input from young people, the Ci3 policy team created an infographic that was shared with and disseminated by our state-wide coalition partners to educate policymakers about the realities of the PNA law and the judicial bypass process. View the full infographic on the below.
CI3’S HELLO OPTIONS
TOOL DISTRIBUTED FOR USE IN OHIO HOSPITAL
Ci3 finalized the first sale of our Hello Options tool early this year. Managed and distributed through Resilient Games Studio, Ci3 disseminated 150 tools to Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio to help facilitate conversations between patients and providers and dispel myths about particular methods of contraception. To learn more about providing the tangible contraceptive tool to your adolescent reproductive healthcare team, please contact Amanda Geppert, Design Director at ageppert@bsd.uchicago.edu.
Supporting our Partners to Center Youth Voices
We partnered with youth-facing organizations to share research and engagement approaches that aim to center the lived experiences of young people. We completed a series of virtual, interactive workshops that inform the use of Ci3’s key concepts and methods in storytelling, adolescent engagement, and communication for systems change. Learn more about our trainings here.
Ci3 Community Recognition
CI3 FOUNDER NAMED A DISTINGUISHED SERVICE PROFESSOR
Dr. Gilliam, the Ellen H. Block Professor of Health and Justice, and a member of the National Academy of Medicine since 2015, was named a Distinguished Service Professor. This honor, bestowed by the President of the University of Chicago and approved by the Board of Trustees, recognizes Gilliam’s outstanding contributions to the University, the Biological Sciences Division, and the field of Family Planning.
Ci3 Receives Core 77 Community Choice Award
This year, Ci3’s Kissa Kahani project was selected as the Core77 Design Awards’ Community Choice Grand Prize Winner. The Community Choice competition gives the audience an opportunity to be involved in the decision-making process of the Core77 Design Awards. Kissa Kahani—which was produced in partnership with Ramya Ramakrishnan Design and StratComm Consulting—was also named Runner Up for Core77’s Design Education Initiative Award.
American Public Health Association Honors Ci3 Researcher
Researcher Suchi Bansal was awarded the 2020 Outstanding Young Professional Award from the American Public Health Association (APHA), Sexual and Reproductive Health Section.
Support Ci3
Consider making a financial contribution to support our work.
To learn how to support our research and initiatives, please contact:
Audrey Carie
Senior Associate Director of Individual Giving at the University of Chicago Medicine
acarie@mbsd.uchicago.edu
