Community Project Assistance Program

Project Partnership Request

The OHSU Community Research Hub (the Hub) seeks opportunities to partner with community organizations on public-health related projects where we can provide research technical assistance, training, and expertise to support projects and improve health outcomes.  Our Community Project Assistance Program is available to organizations across Oregon.

About Us 

The Community Research Hub connects and supports researchers, community members and organizations to facilitate, grow and strengthen Community Engaged Research*.  The Hub, including a team of Community Research Liaisons, work together to assure the community voice is included throughout the research process in order to improve the health and wellness of all Oregonians.  

Guided by the principles of community engagement, we connect investigators and community partners with appropriate research and evaluation resources.   

Whether your project is in an early idea stage, you are developing research with community needs in mind, planning for program evaluation, ready to report results or somewhere in between, the Community Research Hub and Liaison team have a strong track record of collaboration in support of projects that have had positive impacts in communities across Oregon.

  • Advisory board and coalition development 
  • Community assessments (i.e. needs assessments, health assessments) 
  • Focus groups 
  • Identification and implementation of evidence-based approaches 
  • Program evaluation 
  • Quantitative data collection, analysis and interpretation 
  • Qualitative data collection and analysis 
  • Research study design 
  • Survey design 

  • Access to academic and community research expertise and experience 
  • Increase knowledge about evidence-based practices 
  • Learn more about similar health issues or programs beyond your local community, leveraging successes from around the state 
  • Receive expertise in areas such as: study design, data analysis, program evaluation 
  • Build capacity at your organization for research, data-drive decision making, and evidence-based approaches 

For FREE, every project is eligible for a 1-hour consult with a local Community Research Liaison who lives and works in your region and up to 10 hours of the Hub team’s time.  We may use this time to learn more about your needs, make connections to resources and experts, provide technical assistance, and/or work with you to refine project plan for more in depth work with our team. For work beyond this initial free consultation period, we evaluate projects based on the criteria below and enter into a contract where we are compensated for our work.  We have a sliding scale option for those who need it where a discount is applied based on the priority areas evaluated. 

We are primarily grant funded, which means that to an extent our funders dictate our priorities and capacity.  In addition, each liaison supports a regional research coalition that works to develop opportunities that support locally-relevant data-driven decision-making and research-based practices to improve overall community health.  The Coalitions, regional health priorities, and our own internal capacity also guide our project selection. We have developed priority areas to help us identify the project assistance requests that have the greatest likelihood for success for you and for our overall program goals.  

  • Your organization’s commitment to partnership, collaboration, learning, and application of results 
  • Project design - how it addresses community priorities and priority populations, what stage it is in, and whether it has dedicated funding and clear outcomes 
  • Our own team’s expertise, resources, capacity, and priorities 
  • Potential for impact on community health, policy, research, and capacity building 

  • Access to care 
  • Behavioral health and substance use 
  • Cancer prevention, control, and survivorship 
  • Health equity and social determinants of health 
  • Maternal and child health 
  • Physical activity and nutrition 
  • Poverty 
  • Trauma and resilience 
Five people putting/stacking their hands together shot from below them in the sun
food partners
Graphic icon of a man with glasses and a woman with long hair.

Requesting a Project Partnership

To initiate the process and meet with a Community Research Liaison please complete this form and someone from our team will reach out with next steps. You can also reach out to your local Community Research Liaison to schedule a consult.  

“Community-engaged research centers around fostering collaborations with and among groups of people affiliated by geographic proximity, special interest, or similar situations with the goal of addressing issues that affect the wellbeing of the people within the group. It often involves partnerships and coalitions that help mobilize resources and influence systems, change relationships among partners, and serve as catalysts for changing policies, programs, and practices1”.

Harvard Catalyst, Regulatory Foundations, Ethics, and Law Program. Retrieved March 3, 2021 

Blue magnifying glass with orange stripes icon

Community Research Terms

Click here to learn community research terms and how they fit in with our programs.

Tools, screwdriver and hammer icon in blues and orange

SMART Objectives can help you achieve your project goals.  They identify who should do what, under what conditions, according to which standards:

SMART OBJECTIVES