Community Conversations – Washington, D.C.

The report below summarizes key insights and outcomes from the D.C. Community Conversation. This conversation aimed to gather perspectives from individual community members on barriers and opportunities for integrating meaningful community engagement into clinical research. The findings may be used to inform the ENGAGE Working Group and future efforts related to community engagement.

Final DC Community Report

The above figure was shared with attendees to get individual perspectives on the ease of understanding and usability of this potential public engagement model.  NIH invites all interested individuals to provide their thoughts on this model.  If you would like to add your voice to the conversation, please email your thoughts to [email protected].

Twenty-nine community members attended the Washington DC community conversation at Community of Hope. Individual community members highlighted the importance of community involvement in research decisions, that their priorities should influence what gets studied and how, and the need for diverse communication channels (e.g., flyers, radio, social media, collaboration with community organizations) to increase broad awareness of research initiatives. Individuals also emphasized that sustaining partnerships with communities requires ongoing support, clear communication, cultural sensitivity, and trust-building efforts to ensure everyone feels involved and valued in the process.

The illustration above is a graphical summary of comments from the attendees of the Washington, D.C. community conversation.