Table 1.

Quotations from grant applications of 12 institutions receiving CTSA funding in 2006, analyzed in 2011

Capacity building
Education and training	Academic capacity building: “To enhance the capacity of academic investigators to conduct research collaboratively with stakeholders from community‐based organizations, we have also developed workshops on community engagement for academic investigators, staff, and community partners.” #8‡
	Community capacity building: “Central to having effective community‐partnered research projects is building the capacity of our community partners to engage in and use community research. The <Program> has provided training for our community partners in research design, data collection and analysis, and scientific and policy report writing” #12
Pilot grant funding	“At least six planning grants of $50,000 each will be awarded in the final year of the current CTSI funding cycle (FY5) through a competitive process. Successful planning grants, of 6–12 months duration, will support a community‐engaged process.” #7
Resources for connecting	Consultation service: “The <Site> PBRN consultation service will help researchers and practitioners evaluate ongoing studies, assess performance and fatigue of practices, evaluate the overall portfolio to ensure both diversity and focus on [quality improvement] and [cost effectiveness] studies, and assess impact of studies on the <Site> community.” #10
	Community liaison: “For studies of potentially great importance or high impact in the local community, a specific member of the <Site CAB> will serve as a liaison throughout the life of the study to particularly assist in the project's dissemination efforts.” #6
Research engagement
Some input	PBRN: “Practice‐based research networks have been formed to provide “real‐world conditions” for research evaluating the benefits of seemingly successful preventive interventions, diagnostic procedures, and therapies initially tested in more highly controlled environments.” #6
Considerable input	Community members on boards, CABs: “The Community Advisory Board (CAB), with broad community representation, will provide oversight of the activities of the community engagement core of the <CTSA>, and community input into research priorities, design and implementation strategies for research performed in the <CTSA>.#8
	Community members on boards, Expert Panel: “The <Site> has formed this group, comprised of nine leading academic institutions from throughout the nation, to address best practices, tools, curricula and innovative strategies regarding outreach, care and recruitment of underrepresented populations in clinical research.” #3
	Feedback: “…we have begun conducting surveys and focus groups to determine community attitudes toward research, potential research priorities, and community needs. This provides excellent baseline data in a qualitative and semiquantitative format. We will repeat these surveys and focus groups on at least a semiannual basis to evaluate both specific <Site> outreach activities and changes in attitudes and needs in general.” #3
High input	Community‐researcher teams, hiring community members: “This success was attributed to hiring and training 32 community residents to collect the data, providing a community‐engaged process that was scientifically rigorous, efficient, and action‐oriented.” #12
	Community‐researcher teams, community co‐investigator: “Ideally, our community participants are active partners—in the formulation of research questions; selection of methods; and analysis, interpretation, and application and dissemination of our findings. Such partnerships need to be sustained over time and must be predicated on the values of respect, trust, mutuality of interests, reciprocity, collective benefit, and long‐term commitment.” #6
Comparison from original to renewal
Pilot funding for engagement	“As previously discussed, truly community‐engaged research was rare at <Site> before formation of the CTSA. The Community Engagement Program has provided financial support to investigator and community groups to build their capacity to conduct such research.” #3

^‡Numbers indicate the institution from which the quotation was generated, which have been deidentified.