Community Engagement and Research Program (CERP)
The Community Engagement and Research Program (CERP) unites existing academic community research partnerships, develops new bi-directional collaborations, and interfaces with other ACTSI programs. CERP provides the framework and training to disseminate and promote effective interventions and recruit participants for Clinical Interaction Network-based clinical studies as well as community intervention trials. Equally important, the program increases community capacity to participate in research (including the identification of research questions and topics for discovery) and works toward the improvement of its own health. CERP transforms research from a scientist-subject interaction that generates publishable data to a more equitable partnership - one in which the process of research, as well as the outcomes, benefit both the researchers and the community. This will lead to a reduction in health disparities.