Understanding the implementation and sustainability needs of evidence-based programs for racial and ethnic minoritized older adults in under-resourced communities with limited aging services.

BACKGROUND: Evidence-based programs (EBPs) for older adults effectively improve health outcomes. However, there is a limited understanding of the unique needs of service providers as they consider adopting, implementing, and maintaining programs for older minority adults in low-income communities with limited aging services. METHODS: We conducted semi-structured interviews with key informants of community-based organizations (CBOs) to understand implementation and sustainability needs of CBOs within four racial and ethnically diverse Los Angeles County geographic areas. We performed thematic analysis of interview transcripts. RESULTS: Interviews were conducted with representatives from 25 senior-serving agencies providing aging-related EBPs. CBO representatives reported implementing EBPs in 8 domains: Falls Prevention (68%), Mental Health (64%), Caregiver Health (48%), Chronic Disease Management (48%), Diabetes Management (36%), Arthritis Management (28%), Physical Activity (24%), and Multiple Conditions Management (8%). Themes are presented using the six domains of the Bass and Judge framework for factors impacting successful and sustained EBP implementation. CBOs in low-income and diverse communities described unique challenges with tailoring interventions based on local community context (literacy, language), cultural context, and locally available resources (technology, safe community spaces, transportation) and faced resource-intensive administrative burdens through staff turnover, data collection, sustainable funding, and networking. CONCLUSIONS: Serving racial and ethnic communities has unique challenges that require tailored approaches and additional resources to ensure equitable access to EBPs for all communities. We describe suggestions for enhancing the effective adoption of EBPs among service agencies in under-resourced and diverse aging communities serving populations with aging-related health disparities.

Community-based organization perspectives on participating in state-wide community canvassing program aimed to reduce COVID-19 vaccine disparities in California.

BACKGROUND: Inequities in COVID-19 vaccine accessibility and reliable COVID-related information disproportionately affected marginalized racial and ethnic communities in the U.S. The Get Out the Vaccine (GOTVax) program, an innovative statewide government-funded COVID-19 vaccine canvassing program in California, aimed to reduce structural barriers to COVID-19 vaccination in high-risk communities with low vaccination rates. GOTVax consisted of a community-academic-government partnership with 34 local trusted community-based organizations' (CBOs) to conduct COVID-19 vaccine outreach, education, and vaccine registration. The purpose of this qualitative evaluation study was to explore the barriers and facilitators of using local CBOs to deploy a geographically, racially, and ethnically diverse state-wide COVID-19 vaccine outreach program. METHODS: Semi-structured online interviews were conducted with participating GOTVax CBO leaders from November 2021 to January 2022. Transcripts were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. RESULTS: Thirty-one of 34 CBOs participated (91% response rate). Identified themes encompassed both facilitators and barriers to program participation. Key facilitators included leveraging trust through recognized entities; promoting empathetic, tailored outreach; and flexibility of milestone-based CBO funding contracts for rapid program implementation. Barriers included navigating community sociopolitical, geographic, and cultural factors; managing canvassers' safety; desiring metrics for self-evaluation of outreach success; mitigating canvassing technology challenges; and concerns of program infrastructure initially limiting outreach. CBOs problem-solved barriers with academic and government partners. CONCLUSIONS: Between May and December 2021, the GOTVax program reached over 2 million California residents and registered over 60,000 residents for COVID-19 vaccination. Public health campaigns may improve benefits from leveraging the expertise of community-trusted CBOs and universities by providing flexible infrastructure and funding, allowing CBOs to seamlessly tailor outreach most applicable to local minoritized communities.

Geospatial analysis of access to dermatology care in Los Angeles County: a cross sectional study.

Geographic maldistribution of dermatologists contributes to disparities in access to dermatologic care. We aimed to investigate the geographic distribution of, and differences in wait times for medical dermatology services in Los Angeles County (LAC). We placed phone calls to 251 dermatology practices in LAC to ask for a new patient appointment for a changing mole. We found West LAC (Service Planning Area [SPA] 5) had the highest number of dermatologists and South LAC (SPA 6) had the lowest (26.1 versus 0 per 100,000 residents, P=0.01). Service Planning Area 6 has a higher non-White, uninsured, and impoverished population than SPA 5. Dermatology appointment wait times and Medicaid acceptance varied between SPAs but was not statistically significant (P=0.37 and P=0.20, respectively). Medicaid-accepting practices had a significantly longer mean wait time for an appointment than practices that did not accept Medicaid (26.1 versus 15.1 days, P=0.003). Regions with predominantly non-White, Spanish-speaking, and medically underinsured residents were found to be disproportionately lacking in dermatologists across LAC, which may contribute to impaired access to dermatology services in LAC.

"The System Doesn't Let Us in"-A Call for Inclusive COVID-19 Vaccine Outreach Rooted in Los Angeles Latinos' Experience of Pandemic Hardships and Inequities.

OBJECTIVE: Latino adults in Los Angeles have experienced disproportionate cases, deaths, and socioeconomic impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic. This qualitative study aimed to explore community perspectives on readiness for COVID-19 vaccination and to identify culturally tailored vaccine outreach strategies. METHODS: We conducted virtual focus groups with Los Angeles County Latino/a residents via Zoom between December 2020 to January 2021, as the first COVID-19 vaccines were receiving Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). Focus groups were facilitated in Spanish and English by bilingual members of the research team. Discussions were analyzed via Atlas.ti software using reflexive thematic analysis. RESULTS: Three focus groups (n = 15; four to six people each; two Spanish focus groups; one English) were conducted. Thematic findings centered on Latino COVID-19 vaccine equity: (1) Disproportionate infection risk due to essential worker status and socioeconomic burdens, misinformation, and familial or cultural tensions (2) Concerns for inequitable vaccine access due to immigration fears and limited healthcare access, and (3) A need for community-centered COVID-19 vaccine outreach and access. CONCLUSIONS: Our study on early Latino adult reactions to vaccine roll-out suggests the need for outreach strategies centering on validating community hardships, combating dis-/misinformation through trusted sources, and addressing socio-economic needs impacted by the pandemic.

Fishing for health: Neighborhood variation in fish intake, fish quality and association with stroke risk among older adults in the Cardiovascular Health Study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Fish consumption has been associated with better health outcomes. Dietary patterns may vary substantially by neighborhood of residence. However, it is unclear if the benefits of a healthy diet are equivalent in different communities. This study examines associations of fish consumption with stroke incidence and stroke risk factors, and whether these differ by neighborhood socioeconomic status (NSES). METHODS AND RESULTS: We studied 4007 participants in the Cardiovascular Health Study who were 65 years or older and recruited between 1989 and 1990 from 4 US communities. Outcomes included fish consumption type (bakes/broiled vs. fried) and frequency, stroke incidence, and stroke risk factors. Multilevel regressions models were used to estimate fish consumption associations with clinical outcomes. Lower NSES was associated with higher consumption of fried fish (aOR = 1.47, 95% CI: 1.10-1.98) and lower consumption of non-fried fish (0.64, 0.47-0.86). Frequent fried fish (11.9 vs. 9.2 person-years for at least once weekly vs. less than once a month, respectively) and less frequent non-fried fish (17.7 vs. 9.6 person-years for less than once a month vs. at least once weekly, respectively) were independently associated with an increased risk of stroke (p-values < 0.05). However, among those with similar levels of healthy fish consumption, residents with low NSES had less benefit on stroke risk reduction, compared with high NSES. CONCLUSION: Fish consumption type and frequency both impact stroke risk. Benefits of healthy fish consumption differ by neighborhood socioeconomic status.

STOP COVID-19 CA: Community engagement to address the disparate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in California.

Objective: To describe the early activities and lessons of the Share, Trust, Organize, Partner COVID-19 California Alliance (STOP COVID-19 CA), the California awardee of the NIH-funded multi-state Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL) against COVID-19. The Alliance was established to ensure equity in Coronavirus-19 disease (COVID-19) research, clinical practice, and public health for communities most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Study setting: The STOP COVID-19 CA Alliance network of 11 universities and affiliated partner community-based organizations (CBOs) across California. Study design: Mixed methods evaluation consisting of an analysis of activity (August 2020 to December 2021) detailed in reports submitted by community-academic teams and a survey (August 2021) of academic investigators and affiliated community-based organization (CBO) partners. Data collection: We summarized activities from the 11 community-academic teams' progress reports and described results from an online survey of academic investigators and CBO partners in the California Alliance. Principal findings: A review of progress reports (n = 256) showed that teams fielded surveys to 11,000 Californians, conducted 133 focus groups, partnered with 29 vaccine/therapeutics clinical trials, and led more than 300 town halls and vaccine events that reached Californians from communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. Survey responses from academic investigators and CBO partners emphasized the importance of learning from the successes and challenges of the California Alliance teams' COVID-19 initiatives. Both academic and CBO respondents highlighted the need for streamlined federal and institutional administrative policies, and fiscal practices to promote more effective and timely operations of teams in their efforts to address the numerous underlying health and social disparities that predispose their communities to higher rates of, and poor outcomes from, COVID-19. Conclusions: STOP COVID-19 CA represents a new and potentially sustainable statewide community engagement model for addressing health disparities in multiethnic/multicultural and geographically dispersed communities.

Mechanisms for Community Health Worker Action on Patient-, Institutional-, and Community-Level Barriers to Primary Care in a Safety-Net Setting.

Medically and socially complex patients disproportionately face barriers to primary care, contributing to health inequities and higher health care costs. This study elicited perspectives on how community health workers (CHWs) act upon barriers to primary care in 5 patient (n = 25) and 3 CHW focus groups (n = 17). Participants described how CHWs acted on patient-level barriers through social support, empowerment, and linkages, and system-level barriers by enhancing care team awareness of patient circumstances, optimizing communication, and advocating for equitable treatment. Limitations existed for influencing entrenched community-level barriers. CHWs, focusing on patient preferences, motivators, and circumstances, intervened on multilevel barriers to primary care, including advocacy for equitable treatment. These mechanisms have implications for existing CHW conceptual models.

Enhancing existing medical school curricula with an innovative healthcare disparities curriculum.

BACKGROUND: Effective healthcare disparities curricula seek to train physicians who are well equipped to address the health needs of an increasingly diverse society. Current literature on healthcare disparities curricula and implementation focuses on courses created independent of existing educational materials. Our aim was to develop and implement a novel resource-conserving healthcare disparities curriculum to enhance existing medical school lectures without the need for additional lectures. METHODS: This non-randomized intervention was conducted at the University of California Los Angeles. The curriculum was offered to all first-year medical students in the class of 2021 (n=188). With institutional approval, a new healthcare disparities curriculum was created based on the Society of General Internal Medicine's core learning objectives for effective healthcare disparities curricula (J General Internal Med 25:S160-163, 2010). Implementation of the curriculum made use of "teachable moments" within existing medical school lectures. Teachable moments were broad lecture topics identified by the research team as suitable for introducing relevant healthcare disparities content. The new lecture-enhancing healthcare disparities curriculum was delivered with the related lecture via integrated PDF documents uploaded to an online learning management system. Students were encouraged to complete pre- and post- course assessments to examine changes in disparities knowledge and self-rated confidence in addressing disparities. Matched χ2 tests were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Participating students (n=92) completed both pre- and post-course assessments and were retrospectively stratified, based on self-reported use of the new lecture enhancing curriculum, into the "high utilizer" group (use of materials "sometimes" or "very often," n=52) and the comparison "low utilizer" group (use of the materials "rarely" or "very rarely," n=40). Students who self-identified as underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities in medicine were more likely to utilize the material (41% of the high utilizers vs. 17% of the low utilizer group, p<.01). Post-course knowledge assessment scores and self-reported confidence in addressing healthcare disparities improved only in the high utilizer group. CONCLUSIONS: Integrating new guideline based curricula content simultaneously into pre-existing lectures by identifying and harnessing teachable moments may be an effective and resource-conserving strategy for enhancing healthcare disparities education among first year medical students.

Not Speaking the Same Language-Lower Portal Use for Limited English Proficient Patients in the Los Angeles Safety Net.

BACKGROUND: With the expansion of online patient portals linked to electronic health records in safety-net health care settings, we need more data on the use of these websites by patients with limited English proficiency (LEP) in order to guide their continued design, implementation, and evaluation as portals for the underserved. METHODS: Cross-sectional portal data for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, the second largest safety-net system in the nation. We examined differences in portal use across language (English vs. non-English/LEP), covering four years since implementation. RESULTS: Of 425,281 patients assigned to primary care as of March 2019, 55,190 (13%) unique portal enrollments were registered. Among 54,981 portal users, LEP users had lower adjusted odds of using an active portal function (e.g., medication refill) vs. English-speakers. CONCLUSIONS: Even among those registered to access portals, these websites are underused, particularly by LEP patients. All systems must facilitate use for these populations, especially for time-saving active functions, which can improve outcomes. Health systems must prioritize design/usability as a factor to counter LEP underuse.

COVID-19 Vaccine Decision-making Factors in Racial and Ethnic Minority Communities in Los Angeles, California.

Importance: The COVID-19 pandemic has had disproportionate effects on racial and ethnic minority communities, where preexisting clinical and social conditions amplify health and social disparities. Many of these communities report lower vaccine confidence and lower receipt of the COVID-19 vaccine. Understanding factors that influence the multifaceted decision-making process for vaccine uptake is critical for narrowing COVID-19-related disparities. Objective: To examine factors that members of multiethnic communities at high risk for COVID-19 infection and morbidity report as contributing to vaccine decision-making. Design, Setting, and Participants: This qualitative study used community-engaged methods to conduct virtual focus groups from November 16, 2020, to January 28, 2021, with Los Angeles County residents. Potential participants were recruited through email, video, and telephone outreach to community partner networks. Focus groups were stratified by self-identified race and ethnicity as well as age. Transcripts were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Main Outcomes and Measures: Themes were categorized by contextual, individual, and vaccine-specific influences using the World Health Organization's Vaccine Hesitancy Matrix categories. Results: A total of 13 focus groups were conducted with 70 participants (50 [71.4%] female) who self-identified as American Indian (n = 17 [24.3%]), Black/African American (n = 17 [24.3%]), Filipino/Filipina (n = 11 [15.7%]), Latino/Latina (n = 15 [21.4%]), or Pacific Islander (n = 10 [14.3%]). A total of 39 participants (55.7%) were residents from high-poverty zip codes, and 34 (48.6%) were essential workers. The resulting themes included policy implications for equitable vaccine distribution: contextual influences (unclear and unreliable information, concern for inequitable access or differential treatment, references to mistrust from unethical research studies, accessibility and accommodation barriers, eligibility uncertainty, and fears of politicization or pharmaceutical industry influence); social and group influences (inadequate exposure to trusted messengers or information, altruistic motivations, medical mistrust, and desire for autonomy); and vaccination-specific influences (need for vaccine evidence by subpopulation, misconceptions on vaccine development, allocation ambiguity, vaccination safety preferences, the importance of perceiving vaccine equity, burden of vaccine scheduling, cost uncertainty, and desire for practitioner recommendation). Conclusions and Relevance: In this qualitative study, participants reported a number of factors that affected their vaccine decision-making, including concern for inequitable vaccine access. Participants endorsed policy recommendations and strategies to promote vaccine confidence. These results suggest that support of informed deliberation and attainment of vaccine equity will require multifaceted, multilevel policy approaches that improve COVID-19 vaccine knowledge, enhance trust, and address the complex interplay of sociocultural and structural barriers to vaccination.

Community-based organizations' perspectives on improving health and social service integration.

BACKGROUND: Collaborations between health systems and community-based organizations (CBOs) are increasingly common mechanisms to address the unmet health-related social needs of high-risk populations. However, there is limited evidence on how to develop, manage, and sustain these partnerships, and implementation rarely incorporates perspectives of community social service organizations. To address these gaps, we elicited CBOs' perspectives on service delivery for clients, the impact of the Whole Person Care-Los Angeles (WPC-LA) initiative to integrate health and social care, and their suggestions for improving health system partnerships. METHODS: Using stakeholder engaged principles and a qualitative Rapid Assessment Process, we conducted brief surveys and in-depth semi-structured interviews with 65 key informants from 36 CBOs working with WPC-LA. RESULTS: Major themes identified by CBOs included: 1) the importance of a holistic, client-centered, continuously engaged approach that is reliant on regional partnerships; 2) benefits of WPC-LA expanding capacity and networks; 3) concerns about communication and redundancy hindering WPC-LA; and 4) a need for more equitable partnerships incorporating their approaches. CONCLUSIONS: CBOs value opportunities for integration with health systems, bring critical expertise to these partnerships, and seek to strengthen cross-sector collaborations. Early, equitable, and inclusive participation in the development and implementation of these partnerships may enhance their effectiveness, but requires policy that prioritizes and incentivizes sustainable and mutually beneficial partnerships.

Reflections on the Importance of Community-Partnered Research Strategies for Health Equity in the Era of COVID-19.

OBJECTIVE: In the face of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) physical distancing mandates, community-engaged research (CER) faces new vulnerabilities in the equitable inclusion of communities within research partnerships aiming to address these very inequities. METHODS: We convened a series of virtual meetings with our CER partnership to discuss the current state of activities and to identify considerations for remote community engagement. We outlined and expanded recommendations through iterative, partnered discussions to inform protections against new CER susceptibilities. RESULTS: This article presents CER recommendations in translational COVID-19 research for health equity, including increasing accessibility for remote engagement, promoting opportunities for bi-directional knowledge exchange, committing to a community-centered workforce, and leveraging novel opportunities within community-academic partnerships. CONCLUSION: Researchers conducting CER face an opportunity to reimagine community engagement remotely for partnered resilience to ensure the voices of the most affected are appropriately and inclusively integrated into all aspects of decision-making within the COVID-19 research, practice, and policymaking continuum.

Researcher perspectives on embedding community stakeholders in T1-T2 research: A potential new model for full-spectrum translational research.

Effective community engagement in T3-T4 research is widespread, however, similar stakeholder involvement is missing in T1-T2 research. As part of an effort to embed community stakeholders in T1-T2 research, an academic community partnered team conducted discussion groups with researchers to assess perspectives on (1) barriers/challenges to including community stakeholders in basic science, (2) skills/training required for stakeholders and researchers, and (3) potential benefits of these activities. Engaging community in basic science research was perceived as challenging but with exciting potential to incorporate "real-life" community health priorities into basic research, resulting in a new full-spectrum translational research model.

Trends in Racial/Ethnic and Nativity Disparities in Cardiovascular Health Among Adults Without Prevalent Cardiovascular Disease in the United States, 1988 to 2014.

Background: Trends in cardiovascular disparities are poorly understood, even as diversity increases in the United States. Objective: To examine U.S. trends in racial/ethnic and nativity disparities in cardiovascular health. Design: Repeated cross-sectional study. Setting: NHANES (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey), 1988 to 2014. Participants: Adults aged 25 years or older who did not report cardiovascular disease. Measurements: Racial/ethnic, nativity, and period differences in Life's Simple 7 (LS7) health factors and behaviors (blood pressure, cholesterol, hemoglobin A1c, body mass index, physical activity, diet, and smoking) and optimal composite scores for cardiovascular health (LS7 score ≥10). Results: Rates of optimal cardiovascular health remain below 40% among whites, 25% among Mexican Americans, and 15% among African Americans. Disparities in optimal cardiovascular health between whites and African Americans persisted but decreased over time. In 1988 to 1994, the percentage of African Americans with optimal LS7 scores was 22.8 percentage points (95% CI, 19.3 to 26.4 percentage points) lower than that of whites in persons aged 25 to 44 years and 8.0 percentage points (CI, 6.4 to 9.7 percentage points) lower in those aged 65 years or older. By 2011 to 2014, differences decreased to 10.6 percentage points (CI, 7.4 to 13.9 percentage points) and 3.8 percentage points (CI, 2.5 to 5.0 percentage points), respectively. Disparities in optimal LS7 scores between whites and Mexican Americans were smaller but also decreased. These decreases were due to reductions in optimal cardiovascular health among whites over all age groups and periods: Between 1988 to 1994 and 2011 to 2014, the percentage of whites with optimal cardiovascular health decreased 15.3 percentage points (CI, 11.1 to 19.4 percentage points) for those aged 25 to 44 years and 4.6 percentage points (CI, 2.7 to 6.5 percentage points) for those aged 65 years or older. Limitation: Only whites, African Americans, and Mexican Americans were studied. Conclusion: Cardiovascular health has declined in the United States, racial/ethnic and nativity disparities persist, and decreased disparities seem to be due to worsening cardiovascular health among whites rather than gains among African Americans and Mexican Americans. Multifaceted interventions are needed to address declining population health and persistent health disparities. Primary Funding Source: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health.

A Community Engagement Symposium to Prevent and Improve Stroke Outcomes in Diverse Communities.

BACKGROUND: Racial/ethnic minorities have a higher burden of stroke, but lower awareness and understanding of stroke and its risk factors. Our community-academic collaborative hosted a symposium in South Los Angeles to increase awareness about stroke, provide information on the Los Angeles Stroke Intervention and Research Program (SPIRP), and facilitate bidirectional communication between researchers and community stakeholders. OBJECTIVES: We discuss our partnered approach to increase stroke awareness, elicit community perspectives and perceptions about stroke prevention and research participation, and increase community involvement in research using a community engagement symposium (CES). METHODS: We used a community-partnered participatory research (CPPR) conference framework to guide symposium planning, implementation and analysis. The morning session included clinical lectures, a panel of researchers describing LA SPIRP, and a panel presentation by stroke caregivers and survivors. In afternoon breakout sessions, attendees identified 1) community-based strategies to prevent stroke and 2) methods to increase recruitment of diverse populations in stroke research studies. Attendees were surveyed about stroke knowledge before and after the morning session. Data from breakout sessions were analyzed using content analysis and pile sorting to identify themes. CONCLUSIONS: We found that the CES based on CPPR principles was effective method to increase short-term stroke awareness and stimulate discussion about stroke research among community members and community stakeholders who serve racial/ethnic minorities.

The Healthy Community Neighborhood Initiative: Rationale and Design.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the design and rationale of the Healthy Community Neighborhood Initiative (HCNI), a multi-component study to understand and document health risk and resources in a low-income and minority community. DESIGN: A community-partnered participatory research project. SETTING: A low-income, biethnic African American and Latino neighborhood in South Los Angeles. PARTICIPANTS: Adult community residents aged >18 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Household survey and clinical data collection; neighborhood characteristics; neighborhood observations; and community resources asset mapping. RESULTS: We enrolled 206 participants (90% of those eligible), of whom 205 completed the household interview and examination, and 199 provided laboratory samples. Among enrollees, 82 (40%) were aged >50 years and participated in functional status measurement. We completed neighborhood observations on 93 street segments; an average of 2.2 (SD=1.6) study participants resided on each street segment observed. The community asset map identified 290 resources summarized in a Community Resource Guide given to all participants. CONCLUSIONS: The HCNI community-academic partnership has built a framework to assess and document the individual, social, and community factors that may influence clinical and social outcomes in a community at high-risk for preventable chronic disease. Our project suggests that a community collaborative can use culturally and scientifically sound strategies to identify community-centered health and social needs. Additional work is needed to understand strategies for developing and implementing interventions to mitigate these disparities.

Enhancing Dissemination, Implementation, and Improvement Science in CTSAs through Regional Partnerships.

BACKGROUND AND IMPORTANCE: Challenges in healthcare policy and practice have stimulated interest in dissemination and implementation science. The Institute of Medicine Committee on the Clinical Translational Science Award (CTSA) program recommended expanding the CTSA program's investment and activity in this domain. Guidance is needed to facilitate successful growth of DII science infrastructure, activity and impacts. OBJECTIVES: Several CTSAs in Southern California collaborated to identify and respond to local challenges and opportunities to expand dissemination, implementation and improvement research by strengthening capacity and relationships between DII researchers and community, health system, and population health partners. MAIN OUTCOMES: Planning and outreach by the Southern California CTSAs increased awareness and interest in DII research and generated recommendations for growth. Recommendations include: increasing strong partnerships with healthcare and population health systems to guide policy research agendas and collaborative DII science; promoting multi-sector partnerships that involve researchers and delivery systems throughout DII processes; bringing together multiple disciplines; and addressing national and international barriers as well as opportunities in DII science. IMPLICATIONS: CTSAs through regional collaboration can increase their contributions to improved community health via skill-building, partnership development and enhanced outreach to local healthcare and public health agencies and delivery systems.

A Community-Academic Partnered Grant Writing Series to Build Infrastructure for Partnered Research.

Grant writing is an essential skill necessary to secure financial support for community programs and research projects. Increasingly, funding opportunities for translational biomedical research require studies to engage community partners, patients, or other stakeholders in the research process to address their concerns. However, there is little evidence on strategies to prepare teams of academic and community partners to collaborate on grants. This paper presents the description and formative evaluation of a two-part community-academic partnered grant writing series designed to help community organizations and academic institutions build infrastructure for collaborative research projects using a partnered approach. The first phase of the series was a half-day workshop on grant readiness, which was open to all interested community partners. The second phase, open only to community-academic teams that met eligibility criteria, was a 12-week session that covered partnered grant writing for foundation grants and National Institutes of Health grants. Participants in both phases reported an increase in knowledge and self-efficacy for writing partnered proposals. At 1-year follow-up, participants in Phase 2 had secured approximately $1.87 million in funding. This community-academic partnered grant writing series helped participants obtain proposal development skills and helped community-academic teams successfully compete for funding.