To address the “misinformation epidemic,” this project aimed to “leverage community-based networks to promote health, as trusted local influencers can disseminate accurate health information that not only reaches its target audience but also is accepted by community members” on the basis that “trusted community influencers can promote scientifically sound, specifically tailored health information in marginalized communities, and that involving students will make this effort sustainable.”

For this project, Mount Sinai researchers partnered with the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health (AAIUH) to create the Community Health Information and Education Forum (CHIEF), a collective of researchers, community leaders, and students in Brooklyn, NYC to develop a technology platform to “help community influencers spread scientifically sound information to Brooklyn residents, most of whom are of African American and Afro-Caribbean descent.”

“The technology platform will have two components: a Message Mapping Dashboard, which will provide a cockpit for members of community-based organizations to create, deploy, and measure health information campaigns; and a Mobile Health Bulletin Board, a smartphone app specially designed for barbers and stylists, who are known influencers in communities of color. The app will give these community influencers easy access to understandable, reliable, and timely health infographics to share with clients. By applying principles of implementation science, CHIEF will be sustainable beyond the life of this grant by creating an enduring technology platform that can be adapted by other marginalized communities.”