University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

CO-CEAL: Colorado Community Engagement Alliance Against Health Disparities

What is CEAL?

NIH

In the United States, chronic diseases and other health disparities have taken their toll on almost every community. But some groups — especially African Americans, Hispanic/Latinos, immigrants and Native Americans — have suffered more than others. The Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL) Against Health Disparities is a national network of community-engaged researchers, community-based organizations, government officials and public health experts funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Originally launched to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, CEAL teams now work to address a broader range of health disparities in communities who experience them the most.

CO-CEAL: Colorado Community Engagement Alliance Against Health Disparities

The Colorado Community Engagement Alliance Against Health Disparities (CO-CEAL) is a partnership between the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, several community-based organizations, and dozens of trusted local community members. We currently work with the following communities: Urban Latina/o/x community in Metro Denver and Pueblo, Rural Latina/o/x community in the San Luis Valley, Urban Black/African American community in Metro Denver, Rural African Immigrant community in Ft. Morgan and Greeley, and the American Indian/Alaska Native community in Metro Denver, Front Range, and southwest Colorado.

iHeard

As part of CO-CEAL, we launched the iHeard initiative to understand and address the spread of health information in communities by conducting weekly surveys of community members in participating regions. This initiative, iHeard Colorado, helped to build knowledge in communities about the health-related topics being surveyed. This project ended in September 2024.

Mission: To impact health disparities through active community engagement and outreach, capacity building, and long-lasting community partnerships to improve diversity and inclusion in health research.

Specific Objectives:

Identify systemic factors driving key identified health disparities in participating CO-CEAL communities using Group Model Building.
Identify leverage points of intervention to positively influence the identified driving factors using Group Model Building.
Design interventions to address the leverage points using Community/Boot Camp Translation.
Understand the extent to which interventions impact individual and community outcomes in each community using community surveys (e.g., Common Survey, Ecological Momentary Analysis) and interviews.

Build trust

in science and research

Ensure inclusion

across the research continuum

Advance community-driven solutions

addressing health inequities

Strengthen community-engaged research

CO-CEAL Focus Communities

Community	Location
Rural Latina/o/x	San Luis Valley
Urban Latina/o/x	Denver/Pueblo
Urban Black/African American	Denver Metro
Rural African Immigrant	Morgan/Weld Counties
American Indian/Alaska Native	Denver Metro, Front Range, Southwest Colorado

CO-CEAL

The Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL) Against COVID-19 Disparities is a national network of community-engaged researchers, community-based organizations, government officials and public health experts working to reduce the burden of the disease on those who are hardest hit by it. Funding for CEAL comes from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Who We Are

The Community Clinical Trials Advisory Board (CCTAB) is composed of researchers, community members, and academicians.

Mission Statement

Through authentic, equitable, and informed engagement, we strive to create an experience between communities and researchers that increases the diversity of participants in clinical research with the ultimate goal of improving research relevance for all communities.

Vision

We envision a research community that is inclusive of diverse participants, staff, investigators and partners that reflect the needs and disparities of the State of Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region.

Objectives

To advance health literacy related to community participation in clinical trials by providing education to community and cultural competence to researchers.
To strengthen the protection of, respect for, and empowerment of participants in clinical trials
To improve the relevance and quality of clinical research and its usefulness to communities
To ensure that research questions reflect a major concern of community members as well as offering realistic solutions to these questions
To enhance the relevance and application of research data by all participants
To value the different skills, knowledge and experience of community members and researchers to address complex problems

The CCTAB is composed of researchers, community members, and academicians. Through authentic, equitable, and informed engagement, we strive to create an experience between communities and researchers that increases the diversity of participants in clinical research with the ultimate goal of improving research relevance for all communities. We envision a research community that is inclusive of diverse participants, staff, investigators and partners that reflect the needs and disparities of the State of Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region.

Objectives of the CCTAB

To advance health literacy related to community participation in clinical trials by providing education to community and cultural competence to researchers.
To strengthen the protection of, respect for, and empowerment of participants in clinical trials.
To improve the relevance and quality of clinical research and its usefulness to communities.
To ensure that research questions reflect a major concern of community members as well as offering realistic solutions to these questions.
To enhance the relevance and application of research data by all participants.
To value the different skills, knowledge and experience of community members and researchers to address complex problems

You and your fellow community members have the power to make a significant impact on medical research. By participating in a clinical trial, you can ensure that your community is included in the conversation and has a voice in designing future studies.

Clinical Trials at CU Anschutz

Additional Resources

Boot Camp Translation (BCT), or sometimes called “Community Translation,” leverages the expertise of community members to translate dense scientific evidence and guidelines into messages, campaigns and materials that are locally relevant. Groups create materials that call local community members to action to promote a specific topic, and in the case of CO-CEAL, specifically with COVID-19 vaccination.

Generally, BCT has evolved from its beginning as an effort to include the High Plains Research Network’s Community Advisory Council in a project to increase screening rates for colon cancer, into what is now a standardized, proven process that has been replicated within many communities and throughout many projects in Colorado and across the country.

The BCT process typically lasts between six and nine months, and includes a series of in-person and phone meetings. With the need to get relevant and accurate COVID-19 vaccine information out to communities across Colorado that are disproportionately affected by COVID-19, this CO-CEAL effort is using a “rapid” BCT (rBCT) model. The rBCT model will take place in five communities and will guide participants through the entire BCT process in an eight-week period, completely virtually. Groups will work with trained BCT facilitators, community connectors, medical experts and graphic designers to produce high quality materials that present the messages and information to the particular communities and are distributed in local venues.

Boot Camp Translation: A Method for Building a Community of Solution

Testing to Prevent Colon Cancer: How Rural Community Members Took on a Community-Based Intervention

Reinventing The Wheel Of Medical Evidence: How The Boot Camp Translation Process Is Making Gains

A Community Engagement Method to Design Patient Engagement Materials for Cardiovascular Health