Public Health Portfolio
Jacqueline has over ten years of professional, research, counseling, and teaching experience in academic and public health institutions that investigate contemporary issues in public and urban health, incarceration, HIV/AIDS, gentrification, substance use, mental health, and the delivery of patient-centered care–where the goal is to promote positive health and biopsychosocial outcomes.
For collaboration or consultation, please contact Jacqueline. The four areas of Jacqueline's research portfolio are below.
Gentrification
Jacqueline's current work examines the social, health, psychological, and environmental impacts of living in public housing among residents and their experiences of undergoing citywide policy implementations of privatized redevelopment or renovation. For the last three years, she has conducted qualitative interviews with residents about their hopes and dreams, struggles and triumphs, perceptions of health, community, home, and safety, and their views and/or concerns about the transition. She has led ethnographic mapping observations of the available resources within each neighborhood and surrounding area, and has held interviews with social service and healthcare providers, and community advocates on their perceptions of the transition and policy recommendations. The hope of the study is to improve health and social outcomes and the way in which care and resources are delivered to better serve the community—in addition to implementing policy that would protect low-income families from displacement.
HIV Prevention
Jacqueline's spent close to 7 years on HIV prevention initiatives that investigated ways to promote positive health practices for HIV+ incarcerated men and explored the HIV risks among couples impacted by incarceration, where the man had been paroled for a least a year with the same female partner prior to and upon post-release.
Prison Industrial Complex
A majority of Jacqueline's work studies the impact of the prison industrial complex on the biopsychosocial, spiritual, cultural, and health outcomes among communities of color. She has worked tirelessly to implement and evaluate positive health programs that deter from incarceration and support upward mobility in life, health, and social networks. She has received restorative justice trainings, and spent ample time visiting jails, prisons, and juvenile justice centers, as well as attending conferences, and conducted meetings and qualitative interviews with stakeholders, community representatives, and those directly impacted by incarceration, in addition to holding community discussions—to explore alternatives to the penal system. Jacqueline has collaborated with artists of various mediums to use music and the arts to raise consciousness and fight against mass incarceration.
Youth Work
Another avenue of Jacqueline's work focuses on developing and delivering culturally competent expressive arts and healing programs for incarcerated, in-risk, justice-involved youth and transitional age youth (18-24 years old). Critical resistance pedagogy is integrated into the curriculum, where the works of revolutionaries are explored and expressive arts are used to navigate through triumphs and challenges to enhance positive progression. The course delves into nature, culture, and science—while building with the community to support the youth’s interested fields of studies and prospective careers.
