COMMUNITY CORE

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Over the past decade, Mount Sinai investigators have established collaborations with a variety of community groups and organizations in Harlem. Relationships between researchers and community leaders were initially tenuous, and characterized by community leaders doubting researchers' understanding of, and commitment to improving health outside their hospitals, and researchers doubting the expertise of community leaders. As our partnerships matured, we shared in proposal development, research decisionmaking, authorship, financial responsibility and the selection of research agendas. The Mount Sinai EXPORT Center has become a center for building substantive collaborations through its very active Community Core. The Core's Community Advisory Board members are now published authors, accomplished speakers and knowledgeable research critics. For example, board members guided the EXPORT stroke researchers to move their intervention into the community and to adopt more practical recruitment strategies. The Community Engagement Core is now prepared to use our experiences and expertise to work with investigators and together, conduct health disparities research. Core advisory board members will improve research designs so projects recognize and capitalize on existing community resources and are sensitive to the backgrounds of Harlem residents. We will also propose and implement novel strategies to recruit and retain Harlem residents in studies, help researchers pose relevant questions during data collection and analysis, devise ways to sustain and replicate successful programs, and educate the community and local change agents about our research and about health-disparities. This team will use Appreciative Inquiry, a solution-oriented, as opposed to a more traditional, problem-focused approach, to harness the creativity and energy of community leaders and researchers to work together to conduct effective research. Through the work of this Core, we aim to inspire a new generation of academic-community partners with skills and dedication to eliminate the health disparities that lead to a disproportionate burden of suffering among Harlem residents.