# Community Engagement Core

> **NIH NIH U54** · UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO MED SCIENCES · 2024 · $277,434

## Abstract

Project Summary: Community Engagement Core
The goal of mitigating health disparities in Puerto Rico is a formidable task that cannot be achieved without
community engagement initiatives. These are based on promoting sustainable community-academic
partnerships that can improve researchers’ cultural competency, translate research findings to diverse
stakeholders, and promote changes at the local level. To achieve CEC’s main goal, the following key
activities will be conducted: (1) Establish and enhance sustainable community-academic partnerships
involved in translational research in Puerto Rico, to address health related concerns and promote
participation in the Center’s activities. The CEC will continue to foster relationships with local community
and health organizations through collaborations such as coordination of educational activities, development
of educational materials, need-assessment surveys and other community outreach activities that consider
their specific needs. (2) Increase RCMI investigators’ cultural competency and strengthen community
engagement approaches in research projects involving minority health and health disparities. The CEC will
organize a series of activities such as an annual retreat, symposiums, seminars and workshops aimed at
increasing investigators’ knowledge of community engagement strategies, along with having recurrent
meetings with the CCRHD-supported investigators. Also, the Core will develop an infrastructure to
implement the Community Engagement Studio, a strategy that allows researchers to obtain feedback from
community experts. (3) Coordinate a Community Coalition Team (CCT) that will advise RCMI investigators
on research areas of high interest to the community, strategies to improve the recruitment and retention of
study participants, and methods to disseminate research findings to a variety of audiences. The CCT will
support and collaborate with the CEC in the development and implementation of our strategic work plan.
(4) Evaluate the activities and strategies implemented by the Community Engagement Core (CEC) and the
extent to which the Core has achieved its goals each year. The CEC will use diverse methods to conduct
evaluations such as surveys, attendance lists, testimonies (writings, videos), social-media statistics and a
SWOT analysis. (5) Disseminate CEC and RCMI-wide activities and educational content to diverse
stakeholders, and translate research findings into sustainable community changes at the local level. The
Core will use existing CCRHD social-media accounts to create and share relevant content and also
promote health literacy among communities through research translation.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10879178
- **Project number:** 5U54MD007600-38
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO MED SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** Carmen M Velez Vega
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $277,434
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1997-09-01 → 2027-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10879178

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10879178, Community Engagement Core (5U54MD007600-38). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10879178. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*