Community-Partnered Research
Beginning with the Community and Academic Research Award (CARA) and School Academic Research Award (SARA) grant mechanisms, TRDRP has led research grant funders in supporting community-academic partnerships.
In 2016, TRDRP began investing in the Community Practice-Based Research initiative (CPBRI). This program funded collaborative health service research projects aimed at identifying clinical, structural, and organizational factors that contribute to or create barriers to the delivery of evidence-based tobacco cessation treatments for lower-income people enrolled in Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program.
Our current Community Partnered Participatory Research Awards (CPPRAs), launched in 2020, support research on community- or school-based commercial tobacco prevention and cessation interventions. CPPRAs involve a collaborative, equitable research partnership comprised of a Community Co-PI and an Academic Co-PI with guidance from a Community Advisory Board (CAB). These awards emphasize the importance of community benefit in tobacco research, cultural humility, and mutual (community and academic) capacity building for a sustained, equitable partnership beyond the life of the grant. Our firm commitment to funding partnered research stems from a belief that integrating rigorous scientific methodology with community expertise at each phase of the research process leads to more sustainable and effective commercial tobacco prevention and cessation interventions that can improve the health of Californians.