Community Collaborative Core

The Community Collaborative Core ensures that community engagement occurs across the full spectrum of clinical and translational research and in synergy with the community to promote health equity. The overall aim of the Community Collaborative Core (CCC) is to promote health equity by transforming our Learning Health System (LHS) into a Learning Health Research Community (LHRC).

The goals of the Community Collaborative Core are to:

Accelerate Clinical and Translational Science research to address the significant burden of conditions that disproportionately affect underserved populations in the Bronx.
Promote participation of underserved (and including historically excluded) populations in CTR and ensure that community-academic partnerships are fully collaborative
Build capacity for sustainable community engagement in all aspects of CTS research

These goals are closely aligned with the objective of NCATS to create infrastructure to engage communities with research projects and to advance the science of community-engaged research. We will use the CTSA to develop best practices, enduring curricula and other materials, and provide consultations on how to engage communities.

Request Community & Partner Engagement Services

Researcher Resources
Community Resources
Community Partners
Dissemination and Implementation Research

Community Engagement Program Structure

To address the complex needs of research and programs to reduce the health equity gap, the Community Collaborative Core consists of three collaboratives:

Community Engagement Collaborative (CE-C)

Co-led by Dr. Damara Gutnick, Ms. Heather Archer-Dyer, Dr. Hal Strelnick

CE-C focus is to disseminate best practices for community engaged research addressing community health needs, and link investigators to our community partners.

Health Systems Collaborative (HS-C):

Co-led by Drs. Michael Rinke, Michelle Gong, and Kevin Fiori

HS-C focus is further accelerate quality improvement, implementation, and dissemination science.

Partners include NYC RING, the Einstein-Montefiore based practice-based research network, the Health Research and Implementation Core, and Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Research Design (BERD) program.

Social Determinants of Health Collaborative (SDoH-C):

Led by Dr. Earle Chambers.

SDoH-C focus is to support the integration of SDoH measures in research across the translational spectrum. SDoH-C will help investigators choose validated metrics, provide expertise on the recruitment of racial/ethnic minorities in research, and support researchers in the measurement of systems-level bias and discrimination.

Services

Our program offers a wide range of consultative services to support researchers in conducing community engaged research or incorporating community input into their research. Community-engaged research recognizes the strengths of individuals and community organization and involves building authentic partnerships between researchers and community organizations.

Assistance is available for all degrees of community engagement and all phases of research projects, including project planning, study design, implementation, data collection, data analysis, translation and dissemination. Service requests related to grant applications (Letters of Support, Community Advisory Boards, Community Engagement Studios, Community Partner Referrals) should be made at least 1 month before the grant application deadline. Assistance can be provided through the following services:

Spanish Translation Resource

Our Spanish Translation Resource offers the Einstein/Montefiore research community access to a Spanish-language translator who will translate research documents from English to Spanish. Translations provided by the ICTR-supported Spanish Translation Resource will be from a fully-bilingual and certified individual who will incorporate linguistic and culturally relevant considerations.

Federal regulations mandate that information given to potential research participants (or their representatives) be given in a language they can understand. Translation of research documents is therefore necessary to comply with such regulations and can also help address barriers to research study participation among non-English and historically excluded populations.

Examples of research documents that may be translated include: Informed Consent documents, Questionnaires or study measures (if not already available and validated), Recruitment materials (print or social media ads, flyers), contact letters, among others.

Important considerations regarding translation services:

Cost should be accounted for in your research budget
Fees for Spanish-language translation is generally $100/page with variations according to project type or materials (ie website content, flyers)
Fees are waived for pilot studies or graduate research projects. Other considerations may be available on a case-by-case basis.
Only IRB-approved materials will be translated
We will request you provide the IRB-approved materials as the source file for translation.
Translating the documents is not always sufficient
The research team must include at least one person who is fluent in the target language(s) to ensure that participants can be effectively engaged and communicated with during all phases of research.

Submit a request for Spanish translation services

To submit a request for CCC services, please complete the ICTR Services request form and select Community & Partner Engagement Module. You should be contacted about your request within 24 hours.

Consultations to increase diversity in research studies

A central goal of the CCC Module is to promote participation of underserved (and including historically excluded) populations in CTR and ensure that community-academic partnership are fully collaborative. The CCC Module offers consultations to support projects that investigate how best to build trustworthiness and increase participation of underserved populations in research.

For more information please fill out an ICTR request form: https://informatics.einsteinmed.org/ictr/comm_engagement.login

For more information of the importance of increasing recruitment of diverse/minority populations in clinical research, visit our Resources for Researchers page.

Consultations in measuring social determinants of health in research

Within the CCC Module, the SDoH-C seeks to support the integration of Social Determinants of Health measures in research across the translational spectrum. The CCC Module offers researchers consultations on measuring and assessing the social determinants of health in their research. Research expertise can also be provided in measurement of systems-level bias and discrimination that affect access to and quality of care.

For more information, please fill out an ICTR request form: https://informatics.einsteinmed.org/ictr/comm_engagement.login

Consultations in qualitative analysis and mixed-methods research

The CCC Module offers research expertise and consultations in qualitative data analysis and mixed-methods research techniques.

For more information, please fill out an ICTR request form: https://informatics.einsteinmed.org/ictr/comm_engagement.login

Resources for Community Members

Below is a select listing of services available to community members through the CCC and the ICTR

CIRTIfication: Community Involvement in Research Training

This unique, self-paced online training program in human research protections is tailored to the unique roles of community research partners. This course, available in English and Spanish, provides an overview of research ethics and protections to enhance our community partners’ understanding of the research process to promote meaningful engagement.

Community partners, advocates, Community Health Workers, and others are encouraged to take advantage of this training at no charge.

Note: If individuals qualify to be listed on the IRB for a particular study, they should complete CITI training to ensure the institutionally required human subject projections training is completed.

Resources For Community Members and Community-Based Organizations:

Considering participating in a research study?

Recruiting Diverse Populations Into Research (video)

Resources for Researchers

Community Engagement Research Tools:

Community and Population Health Dashboards
Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos
The PhenX Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Assessments Collection
NowPow
Structural Racism and Rigorous Models of Social Inequity Interactive Resource
‘How To” Guides: Translating materials for non-English speakers, Partnered Data Collection, Partnered Consent Form, Pretest Survey, Design a Community Academic Partnered MOU (UCLA)

Community Engagement Research Basics:

Community-Engaged Research: A Quick-Start Guide for Researchers (UCSF)
Toolbox for Conducting Community-Engaged Research (Scripps Institute)
Online Training Course:University of Michigan Free Online Course: Community Engagement: Collaborating for Change.
- Free public access (no certification), Verified track available ($74 USD)
- 6 weeks (2-4 hours a week)
- Topics: Introduction to Community Engagement, Community Context and Ethical Engagement, Social Identities, Power, and Privilege, Collaborative Leadership, Reflections and Transitions, Community-Engaged Project Management