299 Advancing community-engaged research through cross-institutional coordination and shared infrastructure

Objectives/Goals: At academic institutions, numerous programs aim to foster academic–community connections. We describe a collaborative infrastructure that streamlines and enhances community-engaged research, demonstrating how coordinated systems and shared expertise can reduce duplication, strengthen partnerships, and expand reach and impact. Methods/Study Population: At an academic medical center, community-facing programs of three major institutes – a Clinical and Translational Research Institute (CTSA), Cancer Institute, and Practice-based Research Network – unite to establish a collaborative infrastructure designed to leverage resources, minimize competition, enhance collaboration, and present a unified effort. Employing one platform to collect, track, and respond to technical assistance (TA) requests from academic and community partners, representatives from each institute meet weekly, using a group-developed standard operating procedure, to efficiently and collaboratively advance community-engaged research efforts. This unified approach is coordinated by the CSTA and supported by joint leadership across all three institutes. Results/Anticipated Results: Since 2021, we have reviewed and responded to numerous TA requests supporting academic and community partners. Academic partners sought support related to incorporating community perspectives into study design and implementation, participant recruitment, and grant development. Community partners requested assistance with data analysis and interpretation, program evaluation, and grant support. TA projects came from diverse regions, including rural and frontier counties outside of the metropolitan academic medical center. We collaborated with a variety of community organizations, and many projects involved cross-institute teams. Final analysis, including detailed breakdowns by partner type, service category, and geographic distribution, will be presented. Discussion/Significance of Impact: Backbone coordination, shared leadership, and centralized data systems sustain complex collaborations. In the future, we plan to assess partner satisfaction and expand to include additional academic institutes. This collaborative infrastructure coordination is a scalable model for enhancing community-engaged translational science.