Supporting New Community-Based Participatory Research Partnerships

Area of Science:

• Community-based participatory research (CBPR)
• Health equity research
• Academic-community partnerships

Background:

• Marginalized communities often distrust research due to historical negative portrayals.
• Building trust for equitable research partnerships requires significant time for joint decision-making, co-learning, and integrating expertise.
• Limited resources exist to facilitate early discussions between community and academic researchers before grant applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the rationale and administration of an internal funding mechanism, the Community-Campus Partnership Support (CCPS) Program.
• To support the development of equitable partnerships for community-based participatory research (CBPR).
• To provide a model for fostering collaboration prior to formal grant submissions.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of an internal funding mechanism (CCPS Program) by two NIH-funded centers.
• The CCPS Program provides financial support for travel and time for community and academic investigators to discuss potential collaborations.
• Four examples of supported partnership-building efforts are provided.

Main Results:

• The CCPS Program facilitates discussions on complementary interests, skills, research designs, and data collection.
• It enables investigators to determine the mutual benefit of forming a partnership and submitting a collaborative grant proposal.
• The program supports the crucial initial phase of partnership development, distinct from pilot research funding.

Conclusions:

• The CCPS Program acts as a vital precursor to pilot research, enabling partnership building without the pressure of imminent grant deadlines.
• This mechanism addresses the time and resource limitations hindering the establishment of trusted, equitable research collaborations.
• It offers a scalable model for other centers and training programs to foster robust community-academic partnerships.