Highlights the infrastructure, relationships and scholarship of community engagement to promote health equity

One of the most important aspects of the RADx-UP initiative is that projects represent a partnership between health researchers and community leaders to address COVID-19 health inequities. RADx-UP provides an important example of what can be achieved using a “community-engaged research” approach.

The RADx-UP team has published a brief summarizing its community-engaged research practices from internal coordination and building trust and relationships with community partners, to creating communities of practice. The intent is to provide a guide for successful community-engaged interventions to reduce illness and raise rates of COVID-19 testing and vaccination within underserved communities.

The brief’s insights can inform the actions of policymakers, researchers, and community leaders around the nation – whether to help navigate future public health crises, or even to initiate near-term community health practices that address inequities.

The six-page, highly visual, and easy-to-read brief discusses how RADx-UP projects:

• Established community trust
• Nurtured strong relationships with community leaders
• Prioritized the role of community health workers in delivering care
• Established a core infrastructure to involve communities in their work throughout the project lifecycle.

The brief also shares information about a wide range of RADx-UP publications, policy recommendations, advisory board and working group achievements, knowledge-sharing events, and resources created, all with a focus on community engagement and prioritizing researcher/community partnerships.
As the brief states, “By working with and within communities, RADx-UP projects from around the country were able to lessen barriers to education, testing and vaccination to promote health equity.”

Read and download the brief for more details.