Community Engagement

Our residents work to enhance our accountability to our local and global community through sustained and informed engagement.

Opportunities for involvement

Michigan Advocacy Group

A resident-led initiative focused on addressing health disparities, lobbying for pediatric public policy issues, and advocating for children throughout the state of Michigan. The mission is to educate all residents on the needs of our patient population, advocate for all children in the political arena, and promote local advocacy and volunteer opportunities. Recent activities have included organizing noon conferences on dermatologic diagnosis/management in skin of color, working with pipeline programs, voter registration efforts, creating a bank of anti-bias resources for the outpatient setting, and adding a sustainable service-learning requirement to our longitudinal advocacy curriculum.

Pediatricians for Black Lives

Pediatricians for Black Lives is a group of resident and faculty allies that has come together with the goal of making sustainable anti-racist change at the University of Michigan, with the overarching goals of support of current Black and URM medical students, faculty, and employees, resident recruitment and education, both reflecting a commitment to anti-racist practices, and sustained, informed community engagement. 

Doctors for Tomorrow

An outreach program that exposes underrepresented minority students to careers in medicine and provides them with the skills needed to help them pursue this path. Our residents serve as mentors in this program.

Anti Racism Oversight Committee

Resident representation on departmental and Michigan Medicine-wide committees focused on improving Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion such as the Anti Racism Oversight Committee.

Pediatric Community Health and Advocacy Rotation

All residents complete a Pediatric Community Health and Advocacy Rotation during residency.  During this rotation, residents engage with community partners such as Food Gatherers, the Washtenaw County Health Department and Early On, learn from child advocates in our community such as the Pediatric Advocacy Clinic at the University of Michigan Law School, and gain experience giving presentations to communities on pediatric health topics in venues such as Mom Share at The Women's Center of Southeastern Michigan. Residents complete an advocacy curriculum which teaches skills including legislative advocacy, writing an op-ed, social media advocacy and community project planning.

Michigan American Academy of Pediatrics (MIAAP) Advocacy Day 

Residents have the opportunity to attend the Michigan American Academy of Pediatrics (MIAAP) Advocacy Day in Lansing, MI at our state capitol, to engage with local legislators and discuss important child health issues that affect children in our state. Residents from programs across the state come together to learn from each other and bring important pediatric topics to our legislators. Our program provides residents with mentorship, resources, and information to assist the effectiveness of our residents' communication with these local legislators.

Reach Out and Read

Reach Out and Read® of the University of Michigan began in 1997 with the encouragement and generous support of a few special community advocates. The program was one of the nation’s earliest Reach Out and Read programs, and is frequently consulted by those wishing to start new programs across the state.