Engaging Communities and Empowering Research: Lessons from a Network of Community Engagement Cores

Daniel F. Sarpong (), Corrine Yibing Liu, Tandeca King Gordon, Angela Sy, Bibiana Mancera, Mustapha Alhassan and for the RCMI Community Engagement Consortium
Additional contact information
Daniel F. Sarpong: Office of Health Equity Research, Yale School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06519, USA
Corrine Yibing Liu: Office of Health Equity Research, Yale School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06519, USA
Tandeca King Gordon: RCMI Coordinating Center, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30310, USA
Angela Sy: Department of Tropical Medicine, Medical Microbiology, and Pharmacology, John A Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96813, USA
Bibiana Mancera: Border Biomedical Research Center, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA
Mustapha Alhassan: Whitney M. Young, Jr. School of Social Work, Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta, GA 30310, USA
for the RCMI Community Engagement Consortium: Collaborators of the RCMI Community Engagement Consortium are provided in the Acknowledgements.

IJERPH, 2025, vol. 22, issue 11, 1-20

Abstract: As of the end of 2024, the NIH-funded Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Program supported 21 specialized centers at minority-serving institutions. Its goal is to strengthen biomedical research infrastructure and enhance the capacity of investigators focused on health disparities. Since 2017, the centers have operated under a unified framework that includes four core components, one of which is Community Engagement (CEC). In 2021, the RCMI Coordinating Center established the CEC consortium to unify expertise across minority-serving institutions, which include historically Black colleges and Hispanic-serving institutions. This consortium promotes cross-institutional collaboration and innovation in community-engaged research to advance health equity. This paper examines how RCMI CECs strategically enhance research relevance, advance public health outcomes, and address social determinants of health (SDOH) through inclusive, bidirectional partnerships that position communities as co-leaders in the research process. Drawing on data from NIH RePORTER, the 2024 Community Engagement Consortium Signature Programs Monograph, and RCMI Common Data Elements, we analyze the collective contributions of the Community Engagement Core (CECs) across 21 RCMI centers. Findings underscore the role of tailored strategies, cultural competence, and academic-community partnerships in mitigating health disparities and promoting equity in underserved communities.

Keywords: community engagement; health disparities; community-based participatory research (CBPR); minority health; underrepresented populations; academic–community partnerships; health equity; research translation; capacity building (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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