# Community Engagement Core > **NIH NIH U54** · NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $533,148 ## Abstract PROJECT SUMMARY Over the last decade, as evidenced by the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH’s) Unite to End Structural Racism, the shift from health disparities to social determinants of health (SDoH) and an intentional commitment to health equity-focused research signals a paradigm shift rooted in a critical understanding of the impact of justice and fairness on both the biomedical enterprise and population health. Using this same level of commitment and an SDoH focus, the overall goal of the Southwest Health Equity Research Collaborative’s (SHERC’s) Community Engagement Core (CEC) is to sustain existing successful initiatives and to engage new relationships with multi-sectoral organizational stakeholders and community leaders representing urban, rural, tribal, and United States (US)-Mexico border populations of the southwestern US to address health equity. Aim 1 focuses on accountability, by cultivating and maintaining an active Community Expert Board (CEB) of multi- sectoral community stakeholders to advise SHERC operational activities. CEB will: (1) inform CEC’s focus and serve as reviewers for the Pilot Project Program and the Community Campus Partnership and Dissemination Support program; (2) strengthen sustainable community and system-level changes through the Fairness First Network; and (3) assist with identifying Community Engagement Studios expert panels. Aim 2 focuses on relationships through a shared vision of health equity, by strengthening university and community capacity to translate research findings into action. CEC’s Fairness First Network, a geographically diverse network of multi-sectoral stakeholders representing rural, tribal, and US-Mexico border interests, will engage in multimodal community efforts to facilitate: (1) community-based strategic planning through Community Health Equity Consensus Models; (2) timely and appropriate dissemination of information from the Center’s research and pilot projects; and (3) other activities for diverse and lay community audiences. Aim 3 focuses on action, by building on the CEC’s Community-Campus Partnership Support program, which supports emerging university- community partnerships to conceptualize community engaged research projects. CEC will enhance SHERC translation and dissemination activities through the Community Campus Partnership Development and Dissemination Support program and Community Engagement Studios, and will stimulate mentoring teams’ effective dissemination of research results to inform intervention and policy. CEC’s approach will yield sustainable relationships through targeted strategic planning with small groups of community experts, large- scale coalition building among geographically diverse, multi-sectoral health equity stakeholders, and preparing early-stage investigators (ESIs). Ultimately, CEC efforts will contribute to strong academic and community foundations for transformational biomedical, clinical, and social behavioral health research initiatives wh... ## Key facts - **NIH application ID:** 10862630 - **Project number:** 5U54MD012388-08 - **Recipient organization:** NORTHERN ARIZONA UNIVERSITY - **Principal Investigator:** Samantha Jane Sabo - **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.) - **Funding institute:** NIH - **Fiscal year:** 2024 - **Award amount:** $533,148 - **Award type:** 5 - **Project period:** 2017-09-20 → 2027-05-31 ## Primary source NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10862630 ## Citation > US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10862630, Community Engagement Core (5U54MD012388-08). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10862630. Licensed CC0. --- *[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*