What started as a few people interested in addressing health disparities has grown into a community-driven research powerhouse.
Over the past 16 years, the Somali, Latino, Hmong Partnership for Health and Wellness — known as SoLaHmo — has conducted nearly 50 health research studies; trained over 1,000 community members, students, and faculty in research; and raised the bar for how research engages communities.
What sets SoLaHmo apart is its fully community-led approach — an innovative model where local residents don’t just shape research but drive it, ensuring that every study is grounded in community priorities and needs. From the start, SoLaHmo has rooted its work in Federally Qualified Health Centers, providing a direct line to the communities they serve and ensuring their research addresses the most pressing local health needs.
Along the way, the grassroots group found a shared commitment to community-driven research in the Clinical Translational Science Institute (CTSI) at the University of Minnesota. SoLaHmo and CTSI’s community engagement team, CEARCH, formed a partnership that has deepened over the years. Ever since the early days, SoLaHmo has played a pivotal role in CTSI’s growth — co-creating initiatives, co-training people, and serving as research partners to advance community-engaged research and expand capacity-building efforts in Minnesota.
Through it all, SoLaHmo has stayed true to its roots in empowering local residents to shape, guide, and conduct research that addresses their communities’ most pressing health issues.
An expanding research portfolio
SoLaHmo has a knack for growing small research projects into large-scale, multi-year studies — always with deep engagement with affected communities.
For example, take the Immigrant Microbiome Project. The initial study, funded in part by CTSI, compared the gut bacteria of newly arrived Southeast Asian immigrants to those living across the globe.
“We recruited over 400 individuals from our local communities, working with research institutions both here and abroad to understand how moving to the United States affected their microbiomes,” says Shannon Pergament, MPH, MSW, a founding member of SoLaHmo and Director of Community Based Research at SoLaHmo’s clinic home, Community-University Health Care Center (CUHCC). “The findings were compelling, and we were able to secure larger NIH grants for subsequent gut microbiome studies.”
The final results, published in Cell, found immigration significantly alters immigrants’ gut microbes almost as soon as they touch American soil. Not only did study participants quickly lose microbes that helped their bodies break down and draw nutrients from traditional Southeast Asian foods, they acquired new, more Westernized microbes that altered how their bodies responded to food.
These tiny changes suggest one reason for the rapid weight gain and obesity among immigrant populations—a health concern that community members had identified and sought to better understand.
In another instance, a CTSI seed grant funded a study, Project TRUST, on improving outcomes for local Latino youth by helping teachers build more meaningful connections with students. The effort ultimately expanded to include Somali and Hmong youth, and led to two initiatives in 10 St. Paul schools that lasted more than a decade and addressed school connectedness among all students.
A multiplier effect
Both projects initially found funding through Community Health Collaborative Pilot Grants, which fund projects that address health issues as identified by local communities.
And in both projects, SoLaHmo turned a relatively small CTSI pilot grant into large, multi-year funding through NIH R01 grants in collaboration with UMN faculty researchers. SoLaHmo’s Kathleen A. Culhane-Pera, MD, MA, teamed up with UMN’s Dan Knights, PhD, and Robert Straka, PharmD, to co-lead subsequent microbiome work, and SoLaHmo’s Luis Enrique Ortega, MEd, teamed up with Michele Allen, MD, MS, to co-lead the initiatives in St. Paul schools.
“Grants from CTSI helped our grassroots team reach new heights with our research," says SoLaHmo’s Walter Novillo, JD, MBA, PhD. "With their funding and guidance, we were able to secure bigger grants and make a much bigger impact on the health issues our communities care about."
The secret to its success
What has made SoLaHmo so successful in producing groundbreaking research is its total commitment to its community mission.
The organization uses a Community-Based Participatory Action Research (CBPAR) framework that empowers communities to shape and drive the research that impacts their lives. The model empowers local residents to become active participants in research that affects their communities. They help guide everything, from study design to the interpretation of results.
“There’s no executive director, only members,” explained Pergament. “We make decisions collectively, ensuring that every voice is heard. It’s this organic, flat structure that allows us to truly embrace the needs and priorities of the communities we serve.”
This commitment ensures that the research conducted is not only scientifically rigorous but also deeply relevant and beneficial to the community.
Currently SoLaHmo is sponsored in part by CUHCC and is helping them build their research infrastructure. CUHCC is a Federally Qualified Health Center, Minnesota's first community health center, and a key collaborator on the University’s recent Clinical and Translational Science Award, and has among its strategic priorities a commitment to scholarly work.
“SoLaHmo is a trusted leader in community-engaged research and a valuable partner helping us to bridge research and community engagement efforts across Minnesota," says Angelica Koch, DrPH, MPH, who is Assistant Director of CTSI’s community engagement team, CEARCH. “Their dedication to addressing local health challenges with authenticity and integrity sets an example for anyone in the research space. And through their training and support, they’re inspiring and equipping others to make a difference too — academic and community partners alike.”
Building capacity through training
SoLaHmo’s dedication to training has been instrumental in building its legacy and ensuring that community-based research continues to thrive.
A pivotal moment came when CTSI facilitated SoLaHmo’s participation in a human subjects research training involving 13 other Clinical Translational Science Award (CTSA) hubs at the University of Michigan. Inspired by the experience, SoLaHmo adapted the training to Minnesota, eventually certifying over 50 community members in human subjects research ethics.
SoLaHmo also partnered with CTSI to develop a six-week workshop that trained community leaders to design and execute grant-fundable research projects. They even integrated their training content into a graduate-level course at the University’s School of Public Health, co-taught by SoLaHmo members.
They’ve also spearheaded the development of a number of free, online resources, including a research partnership checklist and an online training on community-academic research partnerships.
“The people who cross paths with SoLaHmo often pursue further education and research opportunities,” says Ortega. “We’re seeing a pipeline from community-based research to graduate studies, which is incredibly exciting.”
A growing legacy
Today, SoLaHmo continues to expand its impact with new initiatives that empower local communities and improve the way research is done.
For example, they’re a key partner in CHAT Sessions, which are forums that give community participants the opportunity to share their lived experiences about a particular health issue with researchers who are studying the topic.
SoLaHmo and CTSI are also exploring new ways to strengthen local partnerships, addressing real-world health challenges while creating evidence that truly benefits communities.
Through its unwavering commitment to community-driven research, SoLaHmo is not only tackling local health disparities but also shaping research practices on a national scale.
“What has made SoLaHmo so successful is its steadfast dedication to its mission,” says SoLaHmo’s Amran Ahmed, MN. “That’s why it works.”
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