. This application seeks support to add a Minority Engagement Core (MEC), to the Emory University Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC). The MEC will expand the activities and capacities of the ADRC to develop and strengthen enduring partnerships with groups and organizations in minority communities in the metropolitan Atlanta area, particularly the African American (AA) community. The MEC is consistent with our ADRC's overall aims (?to understand the causes, investigate novel interventions toward prevention, and improve the treatment of affected individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and the well-being of their family caregivers . . . with special attention to inter-individual and racial differences and to nurture community partnerships, particularly with AA leaders, to increase participation in ADRC activities). It is aligned with and will augment the aims and activities of other ADRC Cores (particularly the Clinical and Outreach, Recruitment, and Education Cores). The proposed MEC responds to the continued growth of the AA community in the Atlanta metro area and in the US. In the face of the continued growth of this population and its greater contribution to the population of those living with dementing illnesses (given the apparently higher prevalence among AAs), there is a clear need for research focused on causes of and interventions for AD among AAs. This need, however, plays out against a backdrop of continued difficulties in engaging AA individuals in AD research. The MEC proposes to expand community-ADRC partnerships built on a principal of reciprocal engagement to strengthen confidence and trust in the ADRC and successfully recruit community members into existing/future ADRC research. In parallel, the MEC will enhance the capacity of AA community groups and organizations to promote brain health and cognitive improvement activities among their members. The MEC builds on an expanding local, state, and national network of organizations and institutions in partnership with whom we have implemented outreach and recruitment programs that are yielding an increasing number of AA participants in our UDS cohort and the projects of ADRC researchers, most of which have specific AA recruitment targets. The success of these activities has produced a cycle of expanding demands from the AA community ? for additional programming, technical assistance in building capacity to support the healthy aging of local constituents, and training to empower partners to provide such programming. Addressing these demands is key to sustaining and strengthening the trust relationships that will foster the needed increase in the number of AA individuals engaged in ADRC research and brain donation. Addressing these demand will require administrative, coordinating, and technical resources to support effective programs and successful recruiting; the needed resources exceed the capacity of our existing cores. The MEC aims will increase AA recruits into research and will build stronger communities for healthy aging, and the evaluation of its implementation will provide guidance for recruiting in other minority groups and for other ADRCs.
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