Vol. 2, No. 16
Action Items:
  • Still on the third Thursday, the September Project-wide meeting will be held on Sept. 15 at 2 p.m. ET 
  • Community partners: plan to attend the Community Connections meeting on Sept. 22 from 2–3 p.m. The topic will be Service to Improve Community Health with Pastors Donald Wright and Franklin Lance from Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church in West Baltimore
  • Register for the Evidence Academy taking place on Sept. 28 & 29 from 12–3:30 p.m. ET  
Dear RADx-UP partners,

The RADx-UP CDCC offers two grant programs that provide funding for short-term testing initiatives and for community outreach and education. The next application deadline for both programs is September 16
 
One of these programs is Community Collaboration Grants (C2G), which are awards of up to $50,000 for education and outreach to increase capacity for COVID-19 testing and vaccination in local communities with hard-to- reach populations. 

So far, we have awarded 39 of these grants to community organizations across the country. Of the 27 states with an organization receiving C2G funding, five states were not previously participating in NIH-funded RADx-UP projects, and 11 states had less than two funded RADx-UP projects. In the most recent funding cycle, the CDCC awarded 16 C2G awards

The RADx-UP Tracking and Evaluation team recently surveyed the C2G awardees to evaluate the support services and technical assistance provided to these projects, as well as to learn about the external challenges such as collaborations, social distancing, staffing, and testing supplies. The team survey indicated that weather-related events were often a common challenge. 
 
That finding came to light last month just as flood waters in Mississippi interrupted the work of at least one of the RADx-UP C2G teams, the Reaching and Education for Community Hope (RECH Foundation). The RECH Foundation works with previously incarcerated people in five counties to increase COVID-19 testing and vaccination while helping with housing, healthcare, counseling, food, jobs, and now clean drinking water. 
 
Meanwhile, another C2G partner has been recognized for the work they do in their community. King of Glory Tabernacle in the Bronx was recognized by the New York Department of Public Health for providing self-testing and groceries to the elderly members of the community and their families during the pandemic. 
 
We are grateful to all our C2G and RADx-UP project teams for your work to keep our communities safe. Please help us broaden this impact to other hard-working groups in your communities – let them know about the CDCC funding opportunities
Register for the upcoming Evidence Academy
 
The 2022 Evidence Academy will take place on Sept. 28 & 29 from 12 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET. You will be sent information in mid-September directing you to sign into the platform and create your profile and spend some time exploring the pre-event reading materials. 

Save the date for 2023 Scientific Meeting 

The next RADx-UP Scientific Meeting will be May 3, 2023. This meeting is a showcase for RADx-UP projects to share your data results, insights, community engagement, and solutions to challenges faced while combating COVID-19. We will send a call for presentations later this fall. In the meantime, view the May 2022 Scientific Meeting Report for data, takeaways, and recordings from the six presentations. 
Long COVID CDEs 

CDCC will be looking for volunteers for a focus group to identify long COVID CDEs. Watch your inbox for a standalone message.
Project-wide Meeting breakout room feedback 

Thank you for your participation in the breakout rooms during the August Project-wide Meeting. We received positive feedback on the conversations, which were held without facilitators to enable you to speak directly with one another. The CDCC is planning more breakout rooms and opportunities for you to connect directly with other project teams. 
As we go into the Fall, there are five writing teams working to refine their analysis proposals. Please continue to submit your ideas for analysis concepts and proposals for publications to help our communities learn from the aggregated RADx-UP consortium data. 
Writing workshop recordings
 
The CDCC is hosting a series of writing workshops through October for community partners and early career researchers to build and strengthen their manuscript writing skills. Visit the Partnering for Impact Video Library to view recordings of past workshops. 
New RADx-UP Research Brief 

Census Tract Patterns and Contextual Social Determinants of Health Associated With COVID-19 in a Hispanic Population from South Texas: A Spatiotemporal Perspective 

The latest research brief summarizes the findings of a study from the RADx-UP team at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. They examined patterns, at the census tract level, of COVID-19 infection among Mexican-Americans living in Texas on the US-Mexico border. They studied how infection was associated with various contextual social determinants of health.  

They found a higher risk of COVID-19 for census tracts with a higher percentage of single-parent households and residents with limited English proficiency. Lower risk was associated with lower income and the percentage of the population younger than 18 years. Findings from the study provided key knowledge to design efficient testing strategies and assist local public health departments with COVID-19 control, mitigation and implementation of vaccine strategies. 
Join the SEBI Working Group 

The Social, Ethical, and Behavioral Implications (SEBI) working group brings together RADx-UP project teams and community partners interested in empirical research on SEBIs of COVID-19 testing and vaccination in underserved populations. The group will explore distrust of medical research, privacy, consent, transparency, bias, and stigma, among others, as well as the design of interventions to address them in COVID-19 response efforts. Use this Asana form to join. 
Explore the RADx-UP.org Resource Library 

Check out this video and article that provides an overview of the many resources for community engagement available to RADx-UP researchers, community partners, and the public. As of September 2022, there are over 130 resources.
AJPH supplement: Health Emergency Preparedness in Latin America and the Caribbean
 
This special issue of the American Journal of Public Health features research and perspectives involving COVID-19 in Latin America. Topics include: COVID-19 challenges in Venezuela and Colombia, cancer care access in Chile, mental health of health care workers in Guatemala, health insurance, and more. Check it out to learn more about the impact of COVID-19 internationally.
RP2 and C2G call for applications 

The next deadline for applications to the RADx-UP Rapid Research Pilot Program and Community Collaboration Grant Program is Sept. 16, 2022. We followed one RP2 project to find out what they learned from their pilot project. Both grant programs have webinars on the funding page to learn more about how to apply and what the funding can be used for. Please share this opportunity with your partner institutions.
NIH ComPASS funding opportunities 

The NIH program Community Partnerships to Advance Science for Society (ComPASS) has announced new upcoming funding opportunities for projects and institutions studying health disparities and promoting health equity.  
Data Walks: An Innovative Way to Share Data with Communities 

The Urban Institute HOST team developed Data Walks to share data and research findings with stakeholders. A Data Walk focuses on data sharing as the platform for collaboration and can be used whether or not the community has been engaged from the beginning. Data Walks allow community members to physically see and interpret research data. Read more about this innovative way of sharing results! 
Community Immunity music videos  

Hip Hop Public Health is addressing mistrust of COVID-19 vaccines and debunking myths by offering a series of free, engaging, evidence-based music videos designed to increase vaccine literacy through the transformative power of art, music, and science with “Community Immunity: A Rap Anthology About Vaccines.” Check the videos out and share as needed! 
JWST captures Jupiter 

NASA shared new photos of Jupiter captured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). By combining several images and using filters to make light more visible, we are able to see galaxies, auroras, rings, and hazes around the solar system's largest planet. This article also contains fascinating information about how JWST photos are developed with the help of citizen scientists like Judy Schmidt, who developed these photos of Jupiter. 
Please contact us at RADx-UP-CDCC@duke.edu or through your assigned CDCC EIT.

Use this form to alert the CDCC to resources like the item above or other information coming out of your project or community, and please let your EIT know if you need anything translated into another language.