**Forthcoming in Progress in Community Health Partnerships (PCHP) 20.1. All rights reserved.**
ABSTRACT
Background. New York City (NYC) Cancer Outreach Network in Neighborhoods for Equity and Community Translation (CONNECT) aims to address determinants of cancer screening and access disparities in low-income NYC neighborhoods with high cancer burden.
Objectives. NYC CONNECT community partners formed neighborhood action councils (NACs) and engaged in mixed-method formative research and an iterative consensus-building process to co-identify structural and social determinants of cancer screening. The NACs co-developed with health and academic partners community-level strategies to address structural determinants of health. The objective of this manuscript is to describe participatory processes to engage and support community partners in low-income and high poverty communities and the evaluation of their functioning within the context of a community-academic research partnership.
Methods. NYC CONNECT partnership development is informed by trauma-informed community building (TICB) and community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles. Our mixed-methods partnership evaluation included surveys, qualitative interviews, and speaking time in meetings as a proxy for engagement.
Lessons Learned. TICB and CBPR informed co-learning and consensus-building activities among the NACs. Identifying and prioritizing structural and social determinants of health strategies was a non-linear, iterative process that required multiple interactive activities (e.g., asset mapping, impact to effort matrix, voting).
NYC CONNECT 4
Conclusion. Community engagement is a dynamic process that requires adapting to community partners’ goals and sharing decision-making power.