JUSTResearch Community Engaged Research Resource Center (CERRC)

Yale University, New Haven CT

Investigators

Abstract

The full benefits of community engagement are yet to be realized in addiction sciences. Absent the perspectives and expertise of people with lived experience (PWLE) of substance use disorders and those who have been incarcerated, we miss the opportunity to bring rigor, relevance and reach to addiction science through the singular role that PWLE can serve in understanding the feasibility and acceptability of interventions that prevent and treat addiction and disseminating to their networks for sustainment. Our past work has shown that PWLE are critical contributors to health research, from study inception, implementation, analysis, and dissemination, yet few research institutions invest in building the capacity of PWLE to authentically contribute. Many have systematic barriers to hiring and retaining people with criminal records and addiction and to sustaining meaningful partnerships with community organizations. Built on 25 years of collective experience, the JUSTResearch Community Engaged Research Resource Center (CERRC) will offer unprecedented resources and infrastructure to build the bidirectional capacity of PWLE and academic researchers and institutions, and community stakeholders of NIDA’s Justice Community Overdose Innovation Network (JCOIN) to conduct community engaged research. JUSTResearch will be co-led by JustLeadershipUSA (JLUSA), a national organization focused on empowering formerly incarcerated individuals and Yale’s SEICHE Center for Health and Justice and Program in Addiction Medicine, which have 20+ year histories leading large community-engaged research projects in partnership with PWLE. JUSTResearch builds on our partnership co-leading health research grants and established track-record of changing policies on hiring people with criminal records and formalizing pipelines for employment in health research. The objective of JUSTResearch is to transform JCOIN research using a multi-level approach that enables authentic participation of PWLE. We will achieve this through five integrated cores: an Engagement and Support Core will convene a community advisory board to inform JCOIN science and conduct an iterative needs assessment of JCOIN hubs to maximize engagement of PWLE; a Research Capacity Building Core will build capacity of JCOIN investigators and institutions to reform hiring policies and practices and formalize hiring and faculty pipelines for PWLE; a Dissemination Core will create public resources with the Coordination and Translation Center with a focus on disseminating to broad audiences including incarcerated people; a Rapid Research Core will support research co-led by PWLE and employ systems science approaches; and an Evaluation Core will measure whether the CERRC is effective in achieving its aims. JUSTResearch will facilitate community engagement to improve the health of communities impacted by mass incarceration and addiction and build the science for future community-engaged research. This study is part of the NIH’s Helping to End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) initiative to speed scientific solutions to the national opioid public health crisis. The NIH HEAL Initiative bolsters research across NIH to improve treatment for opioid misuse and addiction.