The Dillard University Department of Public Health is partnering with the School of Nursing, the departments of Library Services and Institutional Technology, and several community health clinics to promote the use of NLM's online resources as a means of reducing health disparities within the academic, professional and lay communities of New Orleans. Public health and nursing faculty and students, and community lay leaders/preceptors will be trained to train patients and staff at the community health clinics to access relevant health information from the NLM databases. The databases will also be used to augment and extend the nursing and public health curricula.

Florida A&M University's College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences will also train patients and staff at a community health center to utilize the online information available from NLM. Local middle school students will be introduced to the NLM databases as well. The project is designed to raise awareness of health issues by utilizing the NLM online resources as a foundation for the development of presentations, instructional handouts, and practical classroom applications related to health issues. The project will also increase the accessibility of valuable health information to the target population through the placement of computer workstations in strategic locations.

The Paine College initiative is being coordinated by its Division of Natural Science and Mathematics. In addition to integrating activities requiring the use of NLM resources into its existing curriculum, a hands-on NLM training workshop, open to all faculty, staff and students, will be conducted each month. High school seniors and pre-college freshman will be introduced to the NLM databases during summer enrichment programs at Paine College. Community members will be introduced to NLM's online resources through partnerships with local community centers and faith-based organizations.

Southern University's School of Nursing is collaborating with public libraries and Southern University System Libraries in Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Shreveport, LA to investigate the impact of online access to health information as a predictor for behavior change, while promoting increased utilization of NLM online resources. This project is designed to involve the active participation of students, librarians, community persons, and partnerships with community health experts. The health disparities content for this study focuses primarily on the prevention and management of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.