The overarching goal of the Community Engagement Core ?is to develop, enhance, and strengthen relationships and partnerships with our community-based organizations in the Gadsden and Leon County African American communities to create a sustainable research and outreach environment for eliminating cancer disparities. Over the years, the College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences has developed strong collaborative relationships with community organizations in Leon County and Gadsden County through various community-based participatory research projects. Previous partnerships established in both counties provided breast cancer screening through free mammograms for over 600 underserved women. The CEC core leaders and community advisors have additional partnerships on several racial disparity issues such as infant mortality, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and HIV/AIDS. For the Community Engagement Core, a community advisory council will be established to provide an active role in the recruitment of participants, planning of community events/activities, health education and research dissemination. As part of our community-based participatory approach, three community advisors and other stakeholders have been identified to participate actively in community outreach activities. Additionally, classroom lab experiments based on real-world applications will engage student interest in biomedical science through hands-on learning. In cooperation with three high schools, interested students will also be offered one-on-one mentoring opportunities with RCMI FAMU scientists. Relevance to Public Health Utilizing community-based outreach efforts to understand and address cancer risks as well as increase cancer screening among African American men and women can eliminate the disparities in cancer treatment and mortality for this high-risk population.
