Community Engagement Core

PROJECT SUMMARY: COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT CORE (CEC) The Drexel Research Center on Extreme Weather Events and Urban Health (CCUH) seeks to build institutional capacity to support action-oriented, policy-relevant research on the impacts of extreme weather on population health in cities. The Center seeks to design and implement research and evidence translation to support the urban policies needed to reduce the health impacts of extreme weather in cities. The guiding principle of the Community Engagement Core (CEC) is that local communities, organizations, and policymakers in urban areas play a key role in promoting health and protecting urban populations from the health effects of extreme weather. Within the context of ever-increasing data volume, these actors need access to specific, actionable evidence and the capacity to apply this evidence to urban policies. The Drexel CCUH-CEC will lay the foundation for engagement across a network of community and policy actors who will inform timely and relevant research, engagement, and dissemination strategies that effectively respond to local needs. The Drexel CCUH-CEC will leverage existing strengths in our team in urban health, policy-translation and community-engaged research. The CEC will work closely with the other center cores and research project leadership, and with the Community and Policy Advisory Board. The Core-specific aims include: Aim 1: To ensure our research and engagement activities are guided by local needs and priorities, Aim 2: To create opportunities for transdisciplinary and multi-sector exchange and capacity building Aim 3: To develop, implement, and define dissemination strategies and best practices for reaching various audiences, , and supporting policymaking. Aim 4: To evaluate the impact of our activities, and identify best strategies for future engagement. Our team has an established track record of projects, partnerships, and engagement activities that will enable us to scale-up these efforts quickly and achieve our objectives. Importantly the CEC will support foundational work needed to ensure that meaningful community and policy engagement support solutions-oriented evidence generation and actions.