Combining science and community benefit: The community engagement coordinating council pilot grant review process

While a growing number of communities are being engaged in health research, community partners are often left out of the review process to award grant applications. Community involvement and decision-making during the review process is essential to ensuring that research conduct is fair, equitable, and results in tangible benefits to community health. At the University of Michigan's (UM) Clinical and Translational Science Award, an innovative review process has been developed to improve the quality of pilot proposals and strengthen community leadership in funding decisions. The Community Engagement Coordinating Council (CECC), a group of community partner organizations and researchers, reviews pilot studies funded through the Community-University Research Partnership Award (CURES). CECC community peer reviewers evaluate and score applications based on specific criteria, including shared responsibility of research activities, equitable distribution of budget, relevance of research topic to the community, and translation for improved health outcomes. In the past four years, the CECC has reviewed 42 CURES pilot applications and funded 16 projects totaling $431,482 in various communities. Community and academic partners have worked together to establish a detailed review process and scoring guidelines modeled after standards recommended by the National Institutes of Health. Throughout its history, the CECC has incorporated many lessons learned and adapted the process to enhance community decision-making. The CECC model for pilot grant review represents a promising approach to developing community leadership on grant review boards and sustaining meaningful community involvement in research that is relevant, reliable, and responsive to community health priorities.