Community Engagement & Dissemination Core

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Community Engagement and Dissemination (CED) Core Summary There is a persistent and troubling gap between the knowledge generated by health science research and its dissemination, translation and eventual uptake and use by relevant stakeholders, including community members and professionals that provide services to target communities. Closing this gap will be vital to reducing the inequities in health and healthcare that unnecessarily shorten lives and reduce life quality in affected groups. Historically-Black institutions (HBCUs) such as DSU, with their diverse faculty and student bodies, importance in preparing African-Americans for careers in the health professions, and close ties to minority communities can play a key role in the translation of research findings into sustainable community and systems-level changes, which will mitigate, and ultimately prevent health inequities. Key to this translation process is engagement with communities and effective dissemination of research findings, and involvement of stakeholders, throughout the research lifecycle. The Community Engagement and Dissemination core of the Interdisciplinary Health Equity Research Center (IHER) will facilitate collaborative relationships with a wide array of Delaware-based stakeholders, allied in the shared goal of advancing the science of health disparities, through a range of community-informed and community-engaged dissemination activities. Our overall goal for the CED Core is to embed a Community First in All Research (CFiAR) approach as a norm across the IHER Center to make research more impactful and responsive to community needs and priorities. The CED core of our Center will be focused on: 1) Developing a Kent-Sussex County Community Consultation Council and a network of community partners for research and dissemination; 2) Working with our community partners to conduct a community level assessment of the needs of underrepresented populations in Kent and Sussex Counties, as well as the existing resources, and services that address those needs; 3) In collaboration with our community partners, develop dissemination strategies and products, that will engage community members in health and health disparities research and science activities. This will include developing a Dissemination Awards program for DSU and community-based partners to facilitate contextually relevant dissemination activities and products to connect research findings to target audiences and end users; 4) Facilitate, coordinate, and evaluate community engagement and dissemination activities across all components of the IHER Center. By implementing these activities, we expect to contribute to the overall goal of IHER of advancing the science of reducing health inequalities by translating research findings into sustainable community and systems-wide changes.