CLARKSTON CENTER FOR COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Working Together
Housed on Georgia State University’s Clarkston Campus, the new Center for Community Engagement is a collaboration among Georgia State’s Perimeter College, School of Public Health and College of Education and Human Development. The center brings together Clarkston community members; governmental, nonprofit and faith-based agencies; Georgia State researchers, and local partners to work on issues important to the community, including health, education, legal rights and responsibilities, social integration and family sustainability. The center also works to coordinate research efforts on issues facing refugee and immigrant populations and to oversee Perimeter College engagement endeavors on other Georgia State campuses.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded Georgia State University a five-year, $3.75 million grant to establish a Prevention Research Center (PRC) that will focus on the health and health disparities of refugees and migrants.
Community Partners
Our community partners include a wide range of organizations, businesses, agencies, and funders. This list of partners represents those currently engaged with a program or project involving the center:
The Study of Film and Media
The study of film at Perimeter College examines the analysis, history, theory and critique of the film industry, allowing students to learn how art, business and technology combine to create films that express our 21st century culture.
Film and Media Pathway
The film and media pathway is designed to help students smoothly transition to the bachelor’s degree program at Georgia State University, where film is a popular major.
To see the academic requirements click link below.
FINE ARTS
For more than 50 years, the mission of the Perimeter College Arts and Humanities Department has been to foster student success. To accomplish this, we focus on providing outstanding instruction, excellent facilities, advanced technology and diverse opportunities within a liberal arts setting. An education in the arts and humanities at Perimeter College equips our students with the skills and habits of mind that enable them to become self-motivated learners who flourish, actualize their potential and generate a positive impact on the world.
The Department of Fine Arts at Georgia State University Perimeter College is a multi-disciplinary department: offering instruction in art, music, theatre, and film. Here’s a closer look:
The Mission
Doctor for a Day Conference
The Clarkston Summit
The conference was the kick-off event for the recently established Refugee & Immigrant Health and Wellness Alliance (RIHWA), a partnership among Georgia State University, the Emory Global Health Institute, Kaiser Permanente of Georgia, the DeKalb County Board of Health, numerous refugee resettlement agencies and other organizations working with refugees and immigrants in Clarkston.
MINA
The Rohingya Crisis
“The topic of the Rohingya crisis was so large that most of us were absolutely overwhelmed by the scale of the refugee crisis, the severe and unimaginable violence and ethnic cleansing experiences by the Rohingya people and the need for continued global support to bring this situation forward into some semblance of peace and safety,” said Sakib Qureshi, who moderated the event.
The Rohingya people are an ethnic minority group indigenous to the Arakan/Rakhine state of Myanmar (formerly known as Burma.) They are described by the United Nations as one of the most persecuted ethnic groups in the world. It is estimated that more than 500 Rohingya refugees live in Clarkston, according to the Burmese Rohingya Community of Georgia, a nonprofit organization.
Panelists at the free event included Dr. Wakar Uddin, director general of the Arakan Rohingya Union and chairman of the Burmese Rohingya Association of North America; Edward Ahmet Mitchell, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson.
As part of the event, Dr. Mary Helen O’Connor was honored with a human rights champion award by the Burmese Rohingya Community of Georgia. O’Connor is the director of the Center of Community Engagement at Perimeter College, one of the program’s sponsors. Others were Georgia State’s Center for Human Rights and Democracy, the Atlanta Global Studies Center and the Burmese Rohingya Community of Georgia.
Event Photographs
The Center for Community Engagement establishes and nurtures relationships with community partners to provide teaching and learning experiences for students. From public health practicums to business internships, the center connects university programs and departments with community organizations, businesses and institutions to offer practical, hands-on learning experiences.
Defining Home: A Night of Migration Films & Conversations
‘Teach Back’ Health Literacy Program
Community-based research projects under way include:
- Dr. Mary Helen O’Connor and Dr. Iris Feinberg, associate director of Georgia State University’s Adult Literacy Research Center, received a $15,000 grant from the Atlanta Global Research and Education Collaborative. They will collaborate with colleagues at Morehouse College, Emory University, Grady Memorial Hospital and Georgia State’s Prevention Research Center on the project “Saving Lives in the Refugee Community: A Cultural and Linguistic Adaptation of Stop the Bleed,” which will translate a trauma intervention program, “Stop the Bleed,” into Arabic, Somali and Burmese.
- A data collection project, “Barriers and Facilitators to Healthcare for Refugees and Immigrants,” in partnership with the Adult Literacy Center in the College of Education and Human Development.
- A community-asset mapping project in partnership with the Adult Literacy Research Center and the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Neighborhood Nexus Project. View map.
The Center also plays an integral role in a prestigious multidisciplinary Prevention Research Center grant awarded to Georgia State by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The grant will focus on health disparities and community needs of migrants in the city of Clarkston, Ga., a resettlement hub for refugees outside Atlanta.
Listen to this Georgia State University podcast interview with Dr. Mary Helen O’Connor, assistant professor of English at Perimeter College and director of the Center for Community Engagement, about refugee health and the university’s new Prevention Research Center in Clarkston.

DR. MARY HELEN O'CONNOR
Mailing Address
Center for Community Engagement
555 N. Indian Creek
Clarkston, GA 30021
Physical Address
555 N. Indian Creek
Building CA, Suite 1300
Clarkston, GA 30021