UCLA-Drew/City of Los Angeles Area Agency on Aging Center for Community Research

描述（由申请人提供）：在过去的10年里，我们加州大学洛杉矶分校的科学家们与洛杉矶市老龄化部门的领导层合作，开展了以社区为基础的项目，旨在改善低收入老年人的健康和生活质量。鉴于我们互补的专业知识和资源，我们的学术界伙伴关系建立在相互尊重和共同愿景的基础上，即实施和测试切实可行的循证干预措施，使老年人能够保持活跃和健康。我们不仅在彼此之间建立了牢固的关系，而且与广大的社区伙伴网络建立了牢固的关系，并以双向方式合作，部署和评估NIH、老龄化管理局（AoA）和旨在改善低收入老年人生活的私人资助项目。我们为加州大学洛杉矶分校德鲁/洛杉矶市老龄化中心寻求支持，该中心致力于低收入老年人社区研究。对这个拟议中心的支持将把我们现有的合作转变为一个永久性的基础设施，以维持一个真实的种族多样化的城市“社区授权测试”，以便在美国最大、种族最多样化的城市中部署和测试低收入老年人的行为研究。在我们的“试验台”中被证明有效的程序可以在洛杉矶城市老龄部门的程序中实现全系统范围的程序。这个拟议中的中心将成为创新的温床，学术健康中心与社区组织合作的典范，以及国家老龄化管理局可以在全国范围内传播的新项目的“试验场”，以实现其传播以证据为基础的模式以改善老年人的健康和功能的使命。在老龄化研究领域国家领导的外部咨询委员会以及加州大学洛杉矶分校和德鲁医学院发展办公室的支持下，ARRA对加州大学洛杉矶分校/洛杉矶市中心的支持将立即创造新的就业机会，并利用新的资源来确保中心的长期可持续性。建立一个坚实的基础设施，以拟议的中心的形式将我们团结在一起，这将最大限度地提高我们的效率，并加快我们实现共同目标的步伐，即部署旨在改善低收入老年人生活的科学调查。我们为期3年的具体目标是：1)将我们现有的合作转变为永久性的基础设施，以维持一个真实的种族多样化的城市“社区授权测试平台”，将研究成果转化为实际的社区干预措施；2)利用这一基础设施作为部署和测试创新研究项目的平台，目标是为低收入老年人的生活质量创造有意义的持续改善；3)促进洛杉矶市老龄化部门对经验支持的社区项目的采用、实施和维护；4)确保资源，以确保拟议中心的长期可持续性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): For the past 10 years, our UCLA-Drew scientists have worked in partnership with the leadership at the City of Los Angeles Department of Aging on community-based projects aimed at improving the health and quality of life of lower income older adults. With appreciation of our complementary expertise and resources, our academic-community partnership is based in deep mutual respect and a shared vision for implementing and testing practical evidence-based interventions to empower older adults to stay active and healthy. Together we have built strong relationships not only with each other but also with a vast network of community partners, and have collaborated in a bi-directional manner to deploy and evaluate NIH, Administration on Aging (AoA) and privately-funded programs aimed at improving the lives of lower income older adults. We seek support for a UCLA-Drew/City of Los Angeles Department of Aging Center for Community Research for Lower Income Older Adults. Support for this proposed Center would transform our existing collaborations into a permanent infrastructure to maintain a real-world ethnically diverse urban "community empowered tested" for deploying and testing behavioral research among lower income seniors across the largest and most ethnically diverse city in the United States. Programs that are shown to be effective in our "test bed" can be implemented systems-wide into the programming of the City of Los Angeles Dept. of Aging. This proposed Center would serve as a breeding ground for innovation, a model for academic health center/community organization partnership, and a "testing ground" for new programs that the national Administration on Aging could disseminate nationally to meet their mission of disseminating evidence-based models to improve the health and functioning of older adults. With support from an external advisory board of national leaders in aging research and the UCLA and Drew School of Medicine Development Offices, ARRA support for the UCLA/City of LA Center would immediately create new jobs and be leveraged to obtain new resources to ensure the long- term sustainability of the Center. Creation of a solid infrastructure that unites us in the form of the proposed Center would maximize our efficiency and accelerate the pace at which we achieve our shared objective of deploying scientific investigations aimed at improving the lives of lower income older adults. Our 3-year Specific Aims are: 1) to transform our existing collaborations into a permanent infrastructure that will maintain a real-world ethnically diverse urban "community empowered testbed" for translating research findings into practical community-based interventions; 2) to use this infrastructure as a platform to deploy and test innovative research projects with the goal of creating meaningful sustained improvements in the quality of life of lower income older adults; 3) to facilitate the adoption, implementation, and maintenance by the City of Los Angeles Dept. of Aging of empirically-supported community-based programs; 4) to secure resources to ensure the long-term sustainability of the proposed Center. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: By 2030, 20% of Americans will be aged 65 years or greater; clearly it is of tremendous importance to our changing society that we don't give up on seniors but rather identify practical interventions to help older adults meet the Older Americans Act mission of being able to maintain their health and independence. Support for a UCLA-Drew/City of Los Angeles Department of Aging Center for Community Research for Lower Income Older would transform the way community research is conducted by creating a permanent infrastructure that will maintain a real-world ethnically diverse urban "community empowered testbed" for not only deploying and testing behavioral research among lower income seniors across the largest and most ethnically diverse city in the United States, but translating research findings into practical community-based interventions with the goal of creating sustained meaningful improvement in the quality of life of lower income older adults.