The Community Engagement Alliance Consultative Resource (CEACR) offers personalized consultations for NIH-funded research teams on ways to work with the community impacted by their research. When participating in a CEACR consultation, research teams get the opportunity to speak directly with experts from the communities they hope to work with.

CEACR also holds a Speaker Series focused on inclusive participation and community engagement best practices in research. Some topics covered in the Speaker Series include community-centered research design, including community perspectives in the Institutional Review Board process, and ethical research with community-based organizations.

Stage(s) of Research Process:

• Study Planning: CEACR consultations about study planning discuss ways to start and maintain good partnerships with communities. Some examples of topics include ways to build relationships with community partners, and strategies for community outreach.
• Study Conduct: CEACR consultations about study conduct focus on making sure study methods are inclusive of groups that have been historically underrepresented in clinical research. Some examples of topics include creating recruitment materials that are culturally appropriate and editing recruitment materials to increase their appeal and usefulness (e.g., using terms more familiar to community members, using images that better represent the community or videos).

Who Might Benefit:

• Researchers Funded by NIH
  • Can request CEACR consultations to learn about strategies for improving community engagement.
  • Can have targeted conversations with expert panelists with experience working in diverse communities, including American Indians/Alaska Natives, Hispanics/Latinos, African Americans, rural communities, and pregnant women.
• Researchers and Community Members
  • Can access toolkits and fact sheets on growing and maintaining community partnerships on the CEACR website.
  • Can attend a Speaker Series that highlights ways to make sure all groups can participate in research relevant to them.

Key Takeaways and Examples in Practice:

• Research is more relevant and meaningful to communities when researchers value community members as equal partners of the team.
• Meaningfully engaging communities early and throughout the research process builds trust and sustains benefit and impact for communities.
• Acknowledging participants for their time and effort in clinical research studies is fundamental to the research process.
• When working with community partners to design and conduct research studies, community partners should receive equitable compensation that is included in the study budget from the beginning.

This work was done with the direct support by each of the following partners who advance this work:

• Maliha Ilias, Ph.D., Scientific Program Lead, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute
• Al Richmond, M.S.W., Multiple Principal Investigator (MPI)
• Mylynda Massart , M.D., Ph.D., Multiple Principal Investigator (MPI)
• Elizabeth Miller, M.D., Ph.D., Co-Investigator
• Mary Goldberg, Ph.D., M.Ed., Co-Investigator

Keywords: Methods of Engagement; Collaborative Decision-Making; Equitable Engagement; Sustainable Engagement & Capacity Building; Return of Research Value; Researchers

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Links to Relevant Resources:

• The Community Engagement Alliance Consultative Resource
• The Community Engagement Alliance Consultative Resource, Fact Sheet
• CEACR Consult Request Form
• Publication Describing the Establishment of CEACR
• Fact Sheet on Growing and Sustaining Community Partnerships
• Full Playlist of CEACR Speaker Series Videos on YouTube
• CEACR Resources Including Fact Sheets, Toolkits, and Infographics

Definitions for each engagement objective can be found in the glossary.