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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Natalie Collins, MSW¹, Marj Plumb, DrPH(c)², Walter Price, DrPH¹, Janna Cordeiro, MPH¹, and Marion H.E. Kavanaugh-Lynch, MD, MPH¹. (1) California Breast Cancer Research Program, 300 Lakeside Drive, 6th Floor, Oakland, CA 94612-3550, (510) 987-0646, Natalie.Collins@ucop.edu, (2) Plumbline Coaching and Consulting, Inc., 2759 Park Street, Berkeey, CA 94702

The California Breast Cancer Research Program (CBCRP) awards $12 million for breast cancer research annually. The CBCRP started a Community Research Collaboration (CRC) Award program in 1997 to support research on issues of importance to California communities, utilizing a community-based participatory research (CBPR) model. The first two years saw significant interest from the community (11 applications in 1997 and 14 applications in 1999). CBCRP became concerned in subsequent years about a significant decline in applications and reduced quality of the applications. In response, an Outreach and Technical Assistance program was created to develop and hold workshops, provide one-on-one technical assistance, and promote the CRC Awards in other community activities. The results have been impressive. From application submission lows of 5 in 1999 and 2 in2000 application submissions rose to 16 in 2004 and 20 in 2005. Evaluative merit scores also increased. The highest CRC merit score of four criteria, on a ten-point scale, was 9.24 in 2005 compared to 7.98 in 2002. The average of all CRC merit scores was 6.72 in 2005 (averaging four criteria), compared to 6.27 for CBCRP's IDEA awards submitted by California's most seasoned investigators in the same year. Results from this analysis suggest the importance of these specialized support activities to facilitate proposal development by community organizations and research institutions thereby enabling a greater likelihood of securing funding and sustaining community research collaborations.

Learning Objectives:

• 1) To learn about the Breast Cancer Research Program Community Research Collaboration Awards program.
• 2) To understand the potential of community-based participatory research to be scientifically meritorious and rigorous, consistent with more traditional forms of research.
• 3) To discuss the role of technical assistance and outreach in capacity-building to raise submission rates and merit scores.

Keywords: Community Development, Funding

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered