The purpose of the Community Engagement and Dissemination Core (CEDC) is to work with both academic and community/tribal behavioral health stakeholders to implement timely and appropriate dissemination information that emerges from the TREE Center’s research and pilot projects.
In 2018, the CEDC Team focused on the development of regional “Communities of Practice (COP)” for dissemination (COP4D). A COP approach facilitates stakeholders to come together and share information, develop knowledge, and supports personal/professional development (Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-Trayner, 2015).
The first COP4D meetings were held in the following locations throughout the state: Northeast (Chimayo - April), Northwest (Gallup - May), Southeast (Hobbs - June) and Southwest (Las Cruces - August), with the purpose of introducing the TREE Center, the CEDC and its role in dissemination of information, and to begin conversations on behavioral health issues specific to each region.
A COP4D executive summary has been written in which we share each region’s behavior health discussion, concerns, reflections, and recommendations of research. In the recently released TREE RFA for pilot project proposals, the COP4D’s research topics of interest were included, reflecting an immediate impact on the direction of behavioral health research in the state.
In 2019, the CEDC Team will hold a second round of regional meetings but in new locations in the hope of building upon the dialogue initiated in 2018. The CEDC will also work with key individuals from the COP4Ds in proposal review training so that there is active review by community members of YR03 funded pilot projects.
