The self-paced online module training introduces community members to the basics of community-engaged research (CEnR). The module was developed by Linda Sprague Martinez, PhD and Deborah Chassler, MSW. The content draws on the PCORI-funded Toolkit, Connecting Communities to Research (PI: Battaglia), the Community Tool Box, and our 20 years of community research partnership experience. To access the Partnering with Academic Researchers module, please visit https://thenetwork.bu.edu/offering/connecting-communities-to-research/. For more information, please contact The BU CTSI Community Engagement Program

The 3-hour (1-hour self-paced, 2-hours Zoom) is offered to community members and researchers to promote self-reflection to identify implicit bias, power structures in relationships, and strategies to improve communication with people representing diverse groups. The workshop is offered throughout the year. To request a CtE Workshop for your group, please contact the BU CTSI CE Program

The Building a Culture of Community Engagement Speaker Series is a monthly seminar held on the 3rd Thursday of every month, followed by an informal networking session with panelists. Each month, the BU CTSI CE Program facilitates a discussion with panelists representing a different topic related to community engagement and health equity.

The Speaker Series are recorded and available on our CE Program YouTube page. View our most recent sessions below:

November 2023 Resources:

• Behavioral Health Services Slides
• Boston Public Schools Department of Behavioral Health Services
• Boston Public Schools Behavioral Health Services: Comprehensive Behavioral Health Model
• Building a Culture of Community Engagement Speaker Series Recording Archive

 

October 2023 – Building a successful long-term community academic partnership: the Ramah Navajo-UNM Family Listening Program
Panelists discuss their successful implementation of community based participatory research (CBPR). They share how communities should be given priority in the research process and how to address any power imbalances to promote health equity (Engage for Equity Project).
Speakers: Nina Wallerstein, PhD, University of New Mexico Center for Participatory Research; Kayetrina Raphaelito, Ramah Navajo Family Listening Program

October 2023 Resources:

• Dissemination of an American Indian Culturally Centered Community-Based Participatory Research Family Listening Program- Implications for Global Indigenous Well-Being
• Engage for Equity- A Long-Term Study of Community-Based Participatory Research and Community-Engaged Research Practices and Outcomes
• Using Participatory Research to Address Substance Use in an American-Indian Community
• Engage for Equity model and resources  
• UNM Center for Participatory Research website
• Building a Culture of Community Engagement Speaker Series Recording Archive

 

September 2023 – Community Engagement Across Campus: Resources to Advance Health Equity
Panelists share the importance of relationship- and trust-building with communities for sustainable and successful community engagement. They acknowledge that communities are experts of their own experiences and researchers should be willing to listen.
Speakers: Gloria Waters, Boston University; Petrina Martin Cherry, Boston Medical Center; Tracy Battaglia, BU CTSI; Margaret Lombe, BU School of Social Work; Madison Kitchen, BU School of Social Work

September 2023 Resources:

• BMC Health Equity Accelerator Website, Economic Mobility video 
• BU CTSI Community Engagement Website
• CTSI CE Consultation Request Form
• Health Equity in Research Rubric
• Boston HealthNet Research Collaborative
• Mass Reconnect Scholarship Grant 
• Integrated Pilot Award Program
• 2024 Research Partnership Scholarship Grant: support for foundational partnership activities that lead to successful collaboration on larger funding opportunities. RFA opens next spring! Click here for more information.

 

June 2023 – Building a Culture of Community Engagement Speaker Series –A Strengths-Based Approach to Developing Academic-Community Partnerships
Panelists discuss their CTSI Research Partnership Scholars Grant project seeking to improve the mental health and economic wellbeing of refugees, immigrants, and asylum-seekers in Boston. They share participatory technique and tools that empower decision-making, as well as an asset-based strategy for building academic-community partnership.
Speakers: Margaret Lombe, Boston University; Emilia Bianco, Boston University; Mojdeh Rohani, De Novo; Lauren Shebairo, De Novo; Lisa Laurel Weinberg, De Nova; Lea Vugic, Boston University

 

May 2023 – Building a Culture of Community Engagement Speaker Series – Community Engaged Substance Use Research in Ghana
Panelists join for a moderated discussion on their CTSI Research Partnership Scholars Grant project. Their project seeks to improve interventions and community-based care for substance use disorder (SUD) in Ghana, primarily for women and girls in the country. They discuss key elements of partnership building and how to implement qualitative research methods.
Speakers: Judith Kokui Azumah, Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Center at Pantang Hospital; Wisdom Avor, Pantang Hospital; Harriet Addo, Pantang Hospital; Yaw Obeng Nsiah, Pantang Hospital; Nii Abbey Boye, Pantang Hospital; Kaku So-Armah, PhD, BU Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine; Alex Werekuu BU Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

 

 

April 2023 – Building a Culture of Community Engagement Speaker Series – Relationship Development with Community Partners: Lessons Learned from “A Collaboration to Address Youth Overdose”
Recipients of the Research Partnership Scholars Grant share how the funding opportunity supported their partnership development as well as specific barriers, challenges and strategies to relationship building. They explain their project goals, which include convening an advisory board of stakeholders to develop strategies to address youth overdose, as well as develop a proposal focused on a youth overdose intervention.
Speakers: Sarah Bagley, MD, MSc, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center; Abita Raj, MD, UMass Memorial Health; Deb Schmill, Becca Schmill Foundation

 

March 2023 – Building a Culture of Community Engagement Speaker Series – Evaluating Community Engagement: Defining and Demonstrating Impact
Panelists discuss the concept of impact as it relates to community engagement, as well as strategies for evaluating the CE’s impact on research and in communities.
Speakers: Melody Goodman, PhD, Center for Anti-Racism, Social Justice & Public Health, School of Global Public Health NYU; Shoba Ramanadhan, ScD, MPH, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health

 

February 2023 – Building a Culture of Community Engagement Speaker Series – The Heath Equity in Research Community Advisory Board (CAB)
This month’s session features Community Advisory Board members to share their experiences developing partnership agreements and the resources they have developed to support researchers.
Speakers: Dieufort “Pastor Keke” Fleurissant, True Alliance Center, Haitian American Chamber of Commerce of Massachusetts; Dora Green, Beyond Patient Health Equity; Brandon Tilghman, Greater Boston National Pan-Hellenic Council

 

January 2023 – Building a Culture of Community Engagement Speaker Series – Behavioral Health Equity & The Role of Community Engagement
Miriam Komaromy from the Grayken Center for Addiction and Micaurys Guzman from Casa Esperanza join Jordana Muroff  from the BU School of Social Work to discuss initiatives to advance behavioral health equity. The Grayken Center engages with communities who have lived experience of substance use disorder while Casa Esperanza provides community intervention for the Latinx community.
Speakers: Miriam Komaromy, BMC Grayken Center for Addiction; Micaurys Guzman, Casa Esperanza; Jordana Muroff, BU School of Social Work

 

December 2022 – Building a Culture of Community Engagement Speaker Series – Redefining the Relationship Between Community & Academia in Research: BU Center for Antiracist Research
Leaders from the Boston University Center for Anti-Racist Research describe the work of the center and share their experiences with antiracist advocacy and developing community partnerships.
Speakers: Rachael DeCruz, Grace Gámez, Caitlin Glass, Sonya Soni

 

November 2022 – Building a Culture of Community Engagement Speaker Series – Changing Systems, Engaging Communities: BMC Health Equity Accelerator
BMC Health Equity Accelerator leaders share their work on addressing systems change at Boston Medical Center to advance health equity and how they engage with communities to ensure access to equitable care at BMC.
Speakers: Elena Mendez-Escobar, Thea James, Petrina Martin Cherry

 

October 2022 – Building a Culture of Community Engagement Speaker Series – Equity, Engagement & Vaccines
In this month’s Speaker Series session, panelists discuss community engagement strategies for advancing vaccine equity.
Speakers: Lenita Reason, Brazilian Worker Center; Cristina Araujo Brinkerhoff, BU School of Social Work; Rebecca Perkins, BU School of Medicine, BMC; Katherine Gergen-Barnett, BU School of Medicine, BMC

 

September 2022 – Building a Culture of Community Engagement Speaker Series – Shifting Power to Community: What Does It Take? Insight and Experiences from CEnR Researchers
This session features a conversation with BU CTSI’s co-directors of the CE program. They identify institutional and societal structures that are barriers to community engagement, including racial capitalism and systems that prioritize colonial forms of knowing, and how they have developed strategies to create culture shifts to empower communities.
Speakers: Tracy Battaglia, MPH; Linda Sprague Martinez, PhD

This graduate-level course taught by Linda Sprague Martinez is offered annually in the Spring Semester at the BU School of Social Work. This course familiarizes students with the history of community-engaged research, positionality and racial justice, partnership development and implementation, translating research into action, ethical considerations, and partnership evaluation. Access the course registration page here.

The Community Engagement Program offers a CITI module for community-engaged research. Instructions for accessing the module can be found here. A certificate and transcript of the training are provided upon completion. The module is available to any CITI user. Instructions for accessing the module can be found here.