In 2022, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation announced ten grants to support community-led research projects that sought to elevate community voices and make the priorities of communities the primary goal of local health system transformation efforts. Since then, these grantees have demonstrated that community-led research is essential, how it can work in practice, and what changes when communities lead research.
This program awarded community-based organizations with resources to lead their own research as project directors and leaders. With a deep knowledge of and connection to their community, these research teams were able to address local needs with health equity and justice as a shared goal.
For this program, AcademyHealth, in partnership with the social innovation firm Design Impact, provided technical assistance and capacity building support for grantees to conduct their studies and disseminate their findings. Additionally, AcademyHealth collaborated with evaluation partner Change Matrix to evaluate the program.