The overarching goal of the Community Engagement Core is to improve the health of the Puerto Rican population through community-academic partnerships that provide advice on the development and application of basic, behavioral and clinical/health services research aimed at mitigating chronic diseases. To achieve this goal the following specific aims have been identified:

•Establish and enhance sustainable community-academic partnerships involved in translational research in Puerto Rico, to address health-related concerns and promote participation in the Center’s activities.

•Increase RCMI investigators’ cultural competency and strengthen community engagement approaches in research projects involving health-related issues affecting the Puerto Rican population.

•Coordinate a Community Coalition Team (CCT) that will advise RCMI investigators on research areas of high interest to the community, strategies to improve the recruitment and retention of study participants, and methods to disseminate research findings to a variety of audiences.

•Evaluate the activities and strategies implemented by the Community Engagement Core (CEC) and the extent to which the Core has achieved its goals each year

•Disseminate CEC and RCMI-wide activities and educational content to diverse stakeholders and translate research findings into sustainable community changes at the local level.

Stakeholders of the Community Coalition Team