The California Endowment Award for Community Research
Walter Price, Dr.P.H., CBCRP Public Health Research Administrator
Cathyn Fan, M.P.H., CBCRP Outreach and Technical Assistance Coordinator
In November 2003 the CBCRP was awarded a two-year, $220,000 grant from the California Endowment to provide technical assistance that helps community-based organiza- tions develop and carry out research that improves program planning and interventions for underserved women affected by breast cancer. This grant will enable the CBCRP to widen its outreach efforts to reach community organizations throughout the entire state.
Another important aspect of this grant will enable the CBCRP to offer more hands-on technical (grant writing) support to community groups throughout the entire application process. Our past experience with community organizations applying for research funds has shown that the competitive grant application process is daunting to many community groups due in part to its unfamiliarity and to the demand made for quality science instead of more familiar service delivery.
Under this grant, the CBCRP conducted two technical assistance workshops in January 2004, one in Los Angeles and one in Oakland. These were done with the director of the Program, Dr. Marion Kavanaugh-Lynch; research administrator Dr. Walter Price; and our long-time community consultant, Ms. Marj Plumb. We believe these workshops were responsible for the largest submission of Community Research Collaboration (CRC) applications in the history of the program (16), a total that exceeded the previous two years combined.
With the California Endowment support, the CBCRP created a full-time position (with the imposing title of Community Outreach and Technical Assistance Coordinator), and Ms. Cathyn Fan was hired in April 2004 to fi ll this position. Ms. Fan completed her M.P.H. in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1995 with a thesis on the relationship of alcohol consumption and breast cancer. She comes to the CBCRP from the California State Department of Health Services, where she was lead researcher in projects that targeted immigrant, homeless, and prison patient populations among other duties. With Ms. Fan we will have the capacity to do more on-site consultation and intensify our outreach efforts.
Although the Endowment grant is for two years, it is the intention of the CBCRP to continue this intensive outreach and support effort, and we will be looking for other sources of support for its continuance.
An announcement for the upcoming funding cycle for the Community Research Collaboration Awards (commencing with a required concept paper due Thursday November 4, 2004) is in press and will be released by the time of this newsletter. For further information please contact Walter Price at 510 987-9886 or Cathyn Fan at 510 987-0646 (toll free for both at 888 313-2277).
