Table 1.

A Prevention Research Center Community Coalition Board Values and Priorities for Community-based Research

Community Research Values
1.	Policies and programs should be based on mutual respect and justice for all people, free from any form of discrimination or bias.
2.	All people have a right to political, economic, cultural, and environmental self-determination.
3.	The community has the right to participate as an equal partner at every level of decision making, including needs assessment, planning, implementation, enforcement, and evaluation.
4.	Principles of individual and community informed consent should be strictly enforced.
5.	The community repudiates the targeting of people of color and lower socioeconomic status for the purpose of testing reproductive and medical procedures and vaccinations.
6.	Present and future generations should be provided an education that emphasizes social and environmental issues, based on our experience and an appreciation of our diverse cultural perspectives.
7.	Research processes and outcomes should benefit the community. Community members should be hired and trained whenever possible and appropriate, and the research should help build and enhance community assets.
8.	Community members should be part of the analysis and interpretation of data and should have input into how the results are distributed. This does not imply censorship of data or of publication, but rather the opportunity to make clear the community’s views about the interpretation prior to final publication.
9.	Productive partnerships between researchers and community members should be encouraged to last beyond the life of the project. This will make it more likely that research findings will be incorporated into ongoing community programs and therefore provide the greatest possible benefit to the community from research.
10.	Community members should be empowered to initiate their own research projects that address needs they identify themselves.
Community Research Priorities
	The community coalition board is cognizant of the disparities in health status between the African American population and the white population in the US, as reflected both in mortality rates and in other indicators of health status. These disparities indicate the extent to which the African American population has not reached its health potential. The board is aware of the particularly disadvantaged status of African American males.
1.	Projects, if successful, will contribute to a reduction in the disparity in health status between the white population and the African American population or other minority populations.
2.	Projects, if successful, will contribute to improving the health status of African American males.
3.	Projects, if successful, will reduce injustice, including environmental injustice.
Projects being considered by the PRC should also be evaluated on the following criteria:
1.	They should not violate community values or standards.
2.	They should have the potential to benefit the community through a health promotion intervention. Projects that propose simply to gather data should include in the proposal information on how the data-gathering process will lead to an intervention or otherwise improve the health of the community.
3.	Their effectiveness should be subject to evaluation and, if effectiveness can be demonstrated, they should be replicable in another setting.