Team Members
- Erin Bradley
- Linda Baffo
Research Project Description
A robust body of evidence highlights housing as a key social determinant of health and equity. Unequal access to high-quality, affordable housing for Black populations has been institutionalized by historical (e.g., redlining, racial covenants) and contemporary (e.g., disproportionately higher loan denials, lower appraisals) policies and practices that help create or sustain health disparities. To date, few social and structural interventions to improve health via housing have been developed and evaluated. In historic Black communities like Atlanta's Grove Park neighborhood, which has a high percentage of renters, long-time residents are being displaced as revitalization efforts following decades of disinvestment make housing unaffordable for people with limited access to opportunities and resources.
Our interdisciplinary team will evaluate the effectiveness of an affordable housing nonprofit's multilevel strategy to improve health and promote homeownership in Grove Park. Grove Park Renewal aims to holistically improve health for residents by providing income-based housing coupled with assets-based programming to build social capital and increase economic mobility on the path to home ownership. The primary aims of our research are to evaluate the extent to which Grove Park Renewal achieves its intended goals and to assess the potential to implement the model in similar communities.
Team Members
Erin Bradley
Erin is a researcher and college professor with nearly 20 years of health equity experience. Erin earned a PhD in Behavioral Sciences & Health Education and MPH (Emory). She has 15 years of experience in epidemiological and intervention development/efficacy testing research, primarily NIH- and CDC-funded studies, and more than 20 peer-reviewed publications. Erin is currently conducting research on gentrification in Grove Park and also teaching a community engaged program evaluation capstone course.
Linda Baffo
Linda is a program evaluator with a DrPH in Community Health Behavior and Education (Georgia Southern), MPH (Emory), and more than 12 years of experience in research and evaluations of public health programs funded by federal agencies and national organizations. She is trained in qualitative research, has experience in culturally responsive and equitable evaluation, is a certified health education specialist (CHES). and serves as president of the Atlanta-area Evaluation Association.
