Chicago Cancer Health Equity Collaborative: Adaptations in collaboration with our community partners during COVID-19

The Chicago Cancer Health Equity Collaborative partners community, professional, and academic institutions to address cancer health inequity in Chicago. Its Outreach Core focuses on the development and sustainability of the community partnerships.

A key annual event is the Community Forum. This paper describes the processes, challenges, opportunities, and strategies used to transition from an in-person to a virtual format in 2020 and 2021 and a hybrid model in 2022.

Community-driven participatory and capacity-building approaches were used in planning and executing the forums. Post-forum survey data were used to assess audiences' perceived experiences.

The inclusive, detailed planning led to high levels of engagement. Although the majority preferred in-person, a third preferred virtual or either.

Strong partnership is key to success in the complex planning and implementing of community activities regardless of delivery format. The hybrid model worked well, but overall the attendees preferred in-person speakers.