New grants support partnerships between faculty and Rhode Island organizations

Our Community-Academic Research Partnership Fund is powering collaborative, community-centered projects that will positively impact public health and strengthen local partnerships.

The School of Public Health’s Community-Academic Research Partnership Fund supports collaborative efforts between Brown researchers and community organizations to develop public health interventions that address some of the most pressing public health issues facing Rhode Island today.

These privately funded awards stem from a strategic initiative by Jennifer Tidey, associate dean for research, and Sarah Bouchard, director of the School of Public Health’s Office of Community Engagement. The awards recognize the depth of expertise that community members bring to the field, with the intent of building relationships that benefit both academic research and local communities.

“With these grants, we’re able to support research projects centered in community partnership,” Bouchard said. “With each proposal, researchers and community members or organization representatives serve as co-principal investigators. This approach ensures that projects are relevant to local communities, and that community members inform, partner on, implement, and share research findings in meaningful ways that matter to community members.”

“ This approach ensures that projects are relevant to local communities, and that community members inform, partner on, implement, and share research findings in meaningful ways that matter to community members. ”

Sarah Bouchard Director of the School of Public Health’s Office of Community Engagement

This year’s grants have been awarded to the following partnerships:

  • Erin Fuse Brown, director of the Law Lab at the Center for Advancing Health Policy through Research and professor of health services, policy and practice, in collaboration with RIPIN: Founded in 1991 by a group of parents of children with special needs, RIPIN is a nonprofit organization that provides personal support to Rhode Islanders, helping them navigate health care, special education and healthy aging. Shamus Durac, Senior Attorney at RIPIN, will serve as a co-PI on this grant, along with collaborators from RIPIN and the Economic Progress Institute.Their project is titled, “A Health Care Consolidation and Private Equity Roadmap for Rhode Island.”
  • Alexandria Macmadu, assistant professor of epidemiology at Brown, and the Racial Equity Work Group ( REWG) of the Rhode Island Governor’s Overdose Task Force: REWG, which includes Michelle McKenzie as a member, is a statewide coalition of professionals and community members working to prevent overdoses and save lives. Their project is titled, “Racial equity in access to substance use treatment among people of color who use drugs in Rhode Island.”
  • David M. Williams, associate dean of faculty affairs, and professor of behavioral and social sciences and psychiatry and human behavior, and Omar Galárraga, director of the Center for Global Public Health and professor of health services policy and practice, are partnering with Karen A. Santilli, chief executive officer, and Stephanie Martinez-Greer, director of program evaluation and development at the YMCA of Greater Providence: The mission of the YMCA of Greater Providence is to build healthy spirit, mind, and body for all, through programs, services, and relationships that are based upon core values of caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility. Their project is titled, “Monetary Incentives for Physical Activity among Low-Income YMCA Members.”

RIPIN and Fuse Brown have identified health system consolidation and health systems acquisitions by private equity as a clear threat to access to care. “Without meaningful oversight,” they write in their proposal, “consolidation can lead to higher costs for patients and taxpayers, health system instability and other negative externalities.”

Their project will study the state’s oversight of health system consolidation from a consumer-advocacy perspective. By the end of the project, they will deliver strategic recommendations to strengthen the current governmental framework. These recommendations will be shared through a convening of community stakeholders, co-facilitated by the Protect Our Healthcare Coalition Rhode Island.

Professor Macmadu and the REWG are collaborating to address racial and ethnic disparities in overdose mortality and substance-use treatment access in Rhode Island. Their project will investigate barriers to treatment, discrimination in care settings and harm reduction service utilization among this population.

The research team, led by Macmadu and McKenzie, will conduct surveys with 100 participants to inform interventions and policies aimed at reducing health inequities. “The collaboration among academic researchers, state agency partners, leaders from community-based organizations, and persons with lived experience,” they write in their proposal, “exemplifies a community-empowered approach, ensuring insights from all stakeholders guide the study.”

Professors Williams and Galárraga, alongside Santilli and Martinez-Greer,  will conduct a randomized control trial that examines the effectiveness of monetary incentives promoting physical activity among YMCA members.

As part of their project, 60 participants will be randomly assigned to one of three incentive programs that offer rebates on membership fees for attending the YMCA 50 times over a six-month period. “The long-term goal,” they write in their proposal, “is to establish a ‘real-world’ incentive program to increase physical activity and thereby reduce risk of chronic disease among low-income GPYMCA members.” 

The three projects are expected to begin later this month.