PROGRAM OVERVIEW
This competitive funding opportunity seeks to foster, develop, and amplify existing as well as new infrastructure to support the education, mentorship, and scholarly productivity of collaborative and interprofessional research efforts, and that have the best potential for future growth and external funding. Projects supported by this funding will center communities in meaningful, community-driven, community-led and anchored research, educational, and service opportunities which engages learners, faculty, staff, and community stakeholders; with focused attention on employing community-based participatory research principles throughout. To this end we are seeking proposals that utilize a community-based research framework that exemplifies the following principles:

• Having both a faculty member and a community member as Co-Principal Investigators (Co-PIs): Proposals must include a co-PI structure, with representation from academia and the community, to ensure a balanced and inclusive leadership approach.
• Challenging typical models of academic research: We encourage innovative approaches that go beyond traditional research methods and methodologies, allowing for genuine collaboration and knowledge co-creation throughout all phases of the project, specifically the conceptualization, submission, project period implementation, interpretation and reporting of findings, as well as dissemination (e.g. presentations/publications/community data walks, etc.).
• Equalizing power dynamics between academia and surrounding communities: We value projects that prioritize equity in partnerships, where the voices and perspectives of community members are respected and valued.
• Recognizing the history of extracting knowledge from communities: We acknowledge historical imbalances in academic research and expect proposals to demonstrate a commitment to addressing this by centering the knowledge and lived experiences of communities impacted by the research topic. 
• Demonstrating how the project will strengthen the relationship between the university and the surrounding community: We are interested in projects that foster long-term partnerships and create mutually beneficial relationships between the university and the community.