Process and Outcome Evaluation of the National Institutes of Health Community Engagement Alliance

In 2020, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) established the Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL) to ensure that communities experiencing health disparities had a voice in finding effective solutions. This mixed-methods study evaluated processes and outcomes of CEAL.

We used the National Academy of Medicine's Assessing Meaningful Community Engagement conceptual model to guide our evaluation. Data sources for the evaluation included interviews, programmatic data, community surveys, and partner surveys. We assessed the domains of strengthened partnerships, expanded knowledge, and improved health, health programs, and policies.

CEAL teams built a robust partnership network that reached populations most affected by COVID-19, facilitated knowledge increases among community members and partner organizations, and positively affected COVID-19 vaccination rates.

This evaluation suggests that the infrastructure built by CEAL teams could be leveraged to address additional topics and populations of interest and enhance future National Institutes of Health-funded efforts in community-engaged research.