# Community Partnership and Engagement

> **NIH NIH U54** · UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA HLTH SCIENCES CTR · 2024 · $495,581

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
The Community Partnerships and Engagement (CPE) component supports CIRCLE’s main themes of
commitment to a multi-system, multi-disciplinary, and bi-directional approach to translational science between
academia and Indigenous communities. The CIRCLE approach to community partnership and engagement
recognizes the unique experiences and legal status of Oklahoma’s Indigenous communities and builds directly
on our PCORI-funded engagement work through the Southern Plains Tribal Health Board. It also draws on the
broader community engagement resources of the Oklahoma Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute
(OCTSI). The CPE component’s primary goal is to directly connect the careers of researchers at our
institutions with the needs of Oklahoma’s Indigenous communities around the general theme of maternal
health and health equity. CIRCLE remains committed to the principle that research is most effective when
community partners are fully involved with all aspects of the work – from initially selecting and prioritizing
questions (as in those proposed here), to conducting the research, to disseminating and implementing findings.
Our approach to community engagement will enable CIRCLE to continue advancing its mission to build
authentic Indigenous community and tribal capacity for maternal health research. The CPE component is
responsible for achieving aim 1 of CIRCLE: Leverage existing partnerships with tribes and tribal health
stakeholders on patient-centered outcomes research and interventions to improve maternal outcomes.
The academic-community-tribal partnerships supported by this grant are designed to enable improved
maternal health and health care for Indigenous communities statewide and to grow the science of community
and tribal engagement nationwide. To achieve CIRCLE’s aim, the CPE component has three specific aims: 1)
Strengthen and expand our research partnerships with tribal community partners and health systems to
improve maternal health outcomes; 2) Grow effective capacity for community engagement for students,
postdoctoral scholars, faculty, and staff; and 3) Identify opportunities to align institutional policies and practices
with community priorities. The long-term sustainability of this effort will require durable structures for identifying
and responding to the needs of tribal and community partners working toward Indigenous maternal health
equity. By combining investments in bi-directional dialogues in maternal health, with specific support for
protocol development for CIRCLE investigators, and institutionalizing that in the operations of our institutions,
we see the current effort as an essential investment in a sustainable center of excellence in Indigenous
maternal health in the Southern Plains.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10908633
- **Project number:** 5U54HD113173-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA HLTH SCIENCES CTR
- **Principal Investigator:** PAUL G SPICER
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $495,581
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-08-17 → 2030-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10908633

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10908633, Community Partnership and Engagement (5U54HD113173-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10908633. Licensed CC0.

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