Issues: Inclusion of racial/ethnic minorities in public health research is essential to good science and achieving health equity. Academic researchers may work with community-based organizations (CBOs) to engage with and recruit these populations. However, research partnerships between universities and CBOs have a long and fraught history, the result of structural, racial/ethnic, and class-based disparities reflected in the processes, practices and products that connect universities and CBOs.

Description: The Diverse eCohorts project, a collaboration between the Chinese Community Health Resource Center, Instituto Familiar de la Raza, CARECEN SF, Rafiki Coalition for Health and Wellness, and University of California San Francisco, is an innovative pilot initiative to address the lack of minority participation in studies that use online/mobile technology as a way to recruit, collect data, and/or deliver interventions. The project has transformed into a platform for CBO members to lead in developing and institutionalizing best practices for community-based participatory research throughout the university and beyond. To evaluate these efforts, the project hired a qualitative consultant to conduct an ethnographic process evaluation through observation of monthly team meetings and semi-structured interviews with CBO members and academic researchers.

Lessons Learned: The emerging framework to develop and institutionalize an academic-community research collaborative is based on principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Integral steps included defining common goals and success, addressing institutional impediments, and rethinking the responsibilities of the university to surrounding communities.

Recommendations: The project will identify a road map to develop and disseminate a model for transforming research universities into community-responsive institutions.

Within an environmental justice frame, capacity building has been an important component of efforts to address health disparities at the policy, system, and environment levels. While the literature is replete with studies that discuss the necessity of collective action as a means to generate power to overcome inequities, limited attention has been given to the structure of these efforts to build capacity and challenge environmental injustices.

This study reports findings from a scoping review of community-academic partnerships and community-led efforts to address environmental inequities in the United States from 1986-2017; and applies the community engagement continuum as a framework for understanding the scope of capacity-building strategies and research orientation with the intended target community. Two independent reviewers screened N=8452 search results for relevance, selected N=163 records for content abstraction, and characterized N=73 relevant studies’ application of community capacity theory, capacity-building strategies, community engagement and policy related outcomes related to advocacy efforts. Most articles identified community capacity dimensions of empowerment (n=42), resources (n=44), partnership (n=40), and skills (n=40); and discussed community engagement as being collaborative (n=24). The most commonly used capacity-building strategies were mobilization and social action (n=47); and while few studies identified a direct policy change (n=23), more described success with increased environmental enforcement/compliance, prevention of industrial development, legislative resolution, or litigation (n=38).

This review provides an opportunity to synthesize three decades of efforts to reduce environmental inequities and allows for the identification of novel strategic approaches in strengthening community capacity and making transformative environmental change.

Background: While conceptual frameworks and measurement approaches exist for understanding and evaluating CBPR partnerships, most focus on new partnership development. The Measurement Approaches to Partnership Success (MAPS) project aims to develop a valid and reliable tool to assess success in long-standing CBPR partnerships (> 6 years). We conducted a community-engaged Delphi process using mixed methods with 8 community and 8 academic expert panelists to establish the face and content validity of MAPS questionnaire items.

Methods: A MAPS questionnaire was drafted based on a scoping review and key informant interviews. Three rounds of a Delphi process were conducted. During the first two rounds, panelists individually and anonymously ranked the appropriateness and clarity of MAPS items on a Likert-type scale and provided written suggestions for revisions. Summarized results were circulated to panelists after each round through email. We conducted the third round face-to-face, maximizing feedback to address variability and reach consensus on MAPS items.

Results: The Delphi process reduced questionnaire items from 96-79. Qualitative comments and face-to-face discussions helped to eliminate redundancies and ensure questionnaire items capture seven dimensions of partnership success: equitable relationships, partnership synergy, reciprocity, competence enhancement, sustainability, realization of benefits over time, and achievement of intermediate and long-term partnership goals/outcomes.

Conclusions: A Delphi process that engaged community and academic panelists established content and face validity for MAPS items and resulted in significant revisions of items. Next steps are to pilot-test (including cognitive interviews) and further revise the questionnaire, and administer it to 55 long-standing CBPR partnerships across the U.S.

Issue: Collaborative, multi-level interventions are key to creating sustainable, community-level impact towards obesity prevention; however, these interventions are complex so capturing and understanding their influence poses evaluation challenges. Community Coalitions for Change (C3) was a four-year obesity prevention effort funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in four rural Tennessee counties with adult obesity rates over 40%. At the closing of the project, the University of Tennessee (UT) Extension conducted Ripple Effects Mapping (REM), a participatory evaluation method, to assess the impacts of C3’s multi-level, local coalition-driven work. This presentation will discuss the REM method through four case studies. Description: REM used appreciative inquiry and mind mapping to help participants reflect upon intended and unintended C3 program results. Each coalition created a unique visual map reflecting their accomplishments. Following mapping sessions, evaluators coded qualitative data using the community capitals framework. Lessons Learned: REM had several benefits compared to other methods: REM fit well with the complex community work of C3; allowed coalitions to be actively involved in the evaluation process; and captured complex impacts. Outcome themes included community pride in accomplishments, partnership development and community empowerment. The capitals framework results revealed an increase in human, cultural and social capitals. Recommendations: Factors that contributed to the success of each REM session included: creating a safe space for coalitions to share and asking open-ended questions to encourage participant responses. It was also crucial that representatives from all scopes of the project were present.