UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center

The primary objective of these awards is to support the development of clinical and translational cancer research. Eligible research projects include studies using human subjects or human materials (blood, tissue, x-rays, etc) with direct application to cancer diagnosis, treatment, or survivorship (including quality of life issues). Projects that feature collaborations between basic scientists and clinical researchers or that clearly demonstrate basic and clinical expertise are especially encouraged. These awards are intended to provide funding for innovative pilot studies and/or small efficacy studies. Funds may not be used to support ongoing research projects.

30% with less than a college education, according to data

Public Health Focus
The vision of the UNC LCCC Center of Outreach and Engagement (COE) office is to develop and sustain a community that actively partners with our cancer center to reduce the burden of cancer and eliminate cancer disparities in North Carolina and beyond. One approach that the COE office uses to pursue this vision is to engage communities throughout the research life cycle to translate research evidence into practice and policy. The best and most impactful research translation ideas are those generated directly from the communities targeted.
The focus of this COE supplement award, therefore, was to support community-driven evidence translation by building capacity for assessing and addressing cancer needs in diverse, nonacademic communities through training, technical assistance, funding, and evaluation.

Community Grant Request for Applications
The community grant request for applications was released at the conclusion of the training, and applicants had six weeks to prepare applications. With feedback from LCCC's CAB, we tailored the application template to the community with the goal of reducing barriers to applying and specified a five-page maximum page limit. We also provided technical assistance sessions to support application development. Two tiers of funding were available: planning awards (with funding up to $10,000) and implementation awards (with funding up to $20,000).
Planning awards were intended for organizations to engage partners and stakeholders in collecting data to assess community cancer health needs and selecting an EBI and planning for its implementation.
The implementation awards were available to organizations that demonstrated clear planning and selection of an EBI and proposed to use the award to implement and evaluate one or more EBIs.
Outcomes: Six applications were received, and two sessions of pre-award technical assistance were provided.

Post-Training
To collect data to assess community cancer needs 38% 100% To assess EBI on its effectiveness 30% 80%

Evaluation of Training and Application Process
Evaluation included a pre-/post-training survey completed by all trainees and a content analysis of all community grant applications. Pre-/post-training surveys revealed increased confidence among participants in collecting community cancer health assessment data and prioritizing cancer health needs, assessing EBI effectiveness, selecting an appropriate EBI to address community health needs, collecting reliable and valid performance data, and evaluating implementation (table 1). Two supplement team members analyzed each of the application's content to determine how well they addressed each of the following expectations: (1) used local data, (2) selected an appropriate EBI to fit community problem/context,  (4) proposed reliable/feasible methods to assess relevant processes/outcomes (table 2).

Outcomes:
Analyses of application quality assessments revealed that although most community applicants were able to successfully describe data-driven cancer health needs in their communities and relevant EBIs to address those needs, problem areas were writing SMART objectives and using reliable and feasible methods to assess relevant outcomes.

Cancer Center Supplement to Partner with Comprehensive Cancer Control Coalitions to Study Implementation of Evidence-based Interventions
National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Designated Cancer Centers' community outreach and engagement (COE) efforts should span all cancer center programs, including basic, clinical, translational, and population research. The FY21 COE supplement is designed to increase COE activities and partnerships among center staff and comprehensive cancer control coalitions. The long-term goal is to build greater connections between cancer centers and state, Tribe, territory, and Pacific Island Jurisdiction-level coalitions that will lead to smoother translation of center research findings and products into use in clinical and community settings.