MyBlack^® Health

Using Social Media for Make Social Change

Source: Public News

HARTFORD, Conn. - A large Connecticut foundation is spearheading the use of social media, including Facebook and Twitter, to do more than just let friends socialize. The Society for New Communications Research recently received a $200,000 grant from the Connecticut Health Foundation to use these 21st-Century communications tools to build a network that will promote discussion and point to solutions for the state's ongoing racial and ethnic health disparities. In Connecticut, African American residents suffer higher mortality rates and endure more serious illness than their white counterparts.

Jen McClure, founder and president of the Society for New Communications Research, says her organization debuted four weeks ago and has already attracted a thousand participants. The goal, she says, is to bring many voices to the discussion to explore this complex issue from a multitude of perspectives,

"We want to empower the people of Connecticut to feel they can use a new media, a new communications tool, to have a voice in terms of how they want to see things changed."

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