Community Engagement Core

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Project Summary/Abstract The Community Engagement Core derives from infrastructure established through successful long-term partnerships between South Florida (predominantly, Miami-Dade County, but also adjacent Broward County) communities and Florida International University’s (FIU’s) health disparities researchers. This existing infrastructure provides a unique and solid foundation on which to build the Center’s Community Engagement Core. FIU’s health disparities researchers have built trust with South Florida communities; the success of the Community Engagement Core, and the Center itself, relies on this trust. This core will encourage participants to engage in research that addresses minority communities’ health concerns, not only as research participants, but also by contributing to the early design of studies and dissemination of research results. Many of the FIU investigators in the Community Engagement Core come from underrepresented backgrounds in science, such as women, and racial and ethnic minorities, with a composition similar to that of our community. It is these investigators’ intimate and long-standing knowledge of the culture and beliefs of the community, and the ensuing cultural humility, that will facilitate recruitment of local populations into the proposed studies, and the establishment of long-term relationship with CBOs, such as community clinics, hospitals, wellness organizations, and others. As in our earlier health disparities work, we will encourage community partners to collaborate with FIU investigators in study design, study execution, participant recruitment, and dissemination of study findings across the FIU- RCMI’s proposed, pilot, and preliminary studies. Working with community partners, the Community Engagement Core will establish and support health disparities research in real life settings.