Community Liaison and Recruitment Core

Community Liaison and Recruitment Core (CLRC): REVISED Abstract: CHECA’s Community Liaison and Recruitment Core (CLRC) will play a pivotal role in our ability to achieve authentic and impactful engagement with our local communities throughout Chicago. The overall goal of the CLRC will be to engage various communities as equal partners in research aiming to both reduce the risk of ADRD (i.e., through population science research leading to primary prevention) and minimize its negative impacts within these communities (i.e., health promotion research leading to secondary prevention). The CLRC will achieve this goal by providing CHECA mentors and mentees with training opportunities and resources focused on best practices for conducting community-engaged research (Aim #1), and by establishing and facilitating bi-directional collaborations and communication channels between CHECA scholars and our community partners (Aim #2). Key internal collaborators for the CLRC will be Senior Leaders from UIC’s Midwest Roybal Center for Health Promotion and Translation which has a strong track record of successful interventions with older adults, UIC’s Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) and the School of Public Health (SPH). Aim #1 of the CLRC will be achieved through a regular cycle of roundtable discussions between CLRC leadership, CHECA mentors/mentees, as well as community partners, with the explicit purpose of assessing the CHECA scholars’ unmet training and resource needs with regard to community engagement. CLRC leads will then work with CCTS, SPH, and the Leadership and Administrative Core (LAC) to locate or develop new opportunities and resources to meet these needs. Aim #2 of the CLRC will be achieved through a regular cycle of research seminars to be held at locations within key communities in our Chicago catchment areas. These seminars will give CHECA scholars systematic opportunities to share their research ideas or findings with community members and will give community members the opportunity to offer feedback. Built into these seminars will be opportunities for community members to receive training on the research process to aid in their engagement as equal partners.