Outreach Core

The US-Mexico border and the northwestern regions of New Mexico State (NM), as well as the Central region of Washington State (WA) are largely rural and medically impoverished. These geographical areas are the foci of the Outreach Core’s work. Long term, the Core aspires to increase the health knowledge in these regions. In the U54-IV cycle of the Partnership for Advancement of Cancer Research (PACR) the Outreach Core will begin to address this by better activating the voice of the communities we serve through community engaged research practices. Such research is described as “a transformative research paradigm that bridges the gap between science and practice through community engagement and social action to increase health”3. Early iterations (funding cycle U54-II through U54-III) of the Outreach Core focused on addressing cancer knowledge by engaging community members to become partners in the efforts around education and screening. Strategies included the creation of formal infrastructures, policies, and decision-making through Community Action Boards (CABs). This strategy resulted in Projects co-developed with community members to ensure appropriateness, acceptability, and potential sustainability of interventions. These strategies were successful in contributing to development of trusted community partnerships in both NM and WA states. They also have contributed to the Outreach Core’s ability to conduct community-focused capacity building in research methodology and centered the community voice in all Partnership research and cancer education delivery. Many academics remain unfamiliar with community engaged research practices and thus are limited in the involvement of representation and community voices in research. To address this, the Outreach Core will provide a range of training and engagement opportunities that promote bidirectional learning and capacity building for academics (faculty/staff/students/trainees), CAB members, and at-large community members. This community engaged lens frames all of the proposed Outreach Core activities and will support the shift needed for the PACR to comprehensively incorporate the Guiding Principles described in the Overall. The Partnership’s Guiding Principles were developed to increase the research enterprise. The Outreach Core is committed to enhancing knowledge to everyone experiencing cancer challenges.