Abstract
The efficacy of the community partnership model is well supported in the literature. The university system affords the appropriate infrastructure for successful educational partnerships within culturally diverse communities. This proposed model has global implications. By creating a new cadre of professional and paraprofessional family health care providers, it provides a viable process for resolving the current nursing shortage and simultaneously meeting the goals of Healthy People 2010. The sharing of academic expertise and resources empowers individual community members to improve the quality of health care decisions for themselves and their families while promoting the necessary leadership skills required to significantly affect policy changes. Evaluating this model through a formalized process will add to the existing body of literature documenting the value of specific interventions and ultimately facilitate policy changes for the new millennium.
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