The Cancer Information Service: using CBPR in building community capacity

The National Cancer Institute's (NCIs) Cancer Information Service (CIS) Partnership Program followed many of the key principles of community-based participatory research in providing technical assistance to partner organizations. Using five case studies, this article describes how the CIS Partnership Program served to identify community needs and leaders, bringing resources together to build capacity and increase knowledge, and facilitate further dissemination of findings. CIS Partnership Program staff transcended the traditional health education role by building the capacity of community partners to bring cancer information in culturally appropriate ways to their own communities. The lessons learned by the CIS Partnership Program are useful for both academics and service organizations that would benefit from working with medically underserved communities.