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Creating and Implementing a Community Engagement Strategy for the 2022–2027 Illinois Comprehensive Cancer Control Plan Through an Academic–State Public Health Department Partnership
ORIGINAL RESEARCH — Volume 20 — August 10, 2023
PEER REVIEWED
Figure 1.
Timeline of activities for creating and implementing a community engagement strategy for the 2022–2027 Illinois Comprehensive Cancer Control Plan.
| Month/year | Activity |
|---|---|
| 2020 | |
| October | Initial partnership meeting between state health department and academic partner; initial meeting between academic partner and vice chancellor for health affairs |
| November | Developed and planned community engagement strategy; presented strategy to Illinois Cancer Partnership (ICP) Executive Committee (EC); solicited feedback; monthly updates provided to ICP EC |
| December | Approval of community engagement strategy as non–human subjects research obtained from institutional review board |
| 2021 | |
| January | Statewide town hall |
| March–April | Eight virtual focus groups with community members of Illinois |
| April–June | Analysis of town hall and focus groups |
| June | Preliminary findings and themes of the community engagement efforts presented to the ICP EC; solicited feedback |
| July | Draft of the cancer plan resolution presented to the ICP EC; feedback solicited |
| August–September | Database of quotes to be included in the plan document prepared |
| October–November | Community engagement report drafted |
| December | Draft of community engagement report presented to the ICP EC; solicited feedback; ICP EC edited and/or added goals, strategies, and objectives to reflect findings |
| 2022 | |
| January–February | Finalized community engagement report; finalized cancer plan resolution text |
| February | Cancer plan resolution introduced to Illinois General Assembly |
| March | Illinois General Assembly adopts House Resolution 0675: Illinois Cancer Plan; release of 2022–2027 Illinois Comprehensive Cancer Control Plan; town hall and focus group participants emailed link to the Cancer Control Plan; community engagement strategy final report presented at the ICP Annual Meeting |
This Venn diagram shows 2 overlapping circles. The circle on the left is titled “State health department partner (Comprehensive Cancer Control Program, Illinois Department of Public Health).” This circle has 3 bullet points: Develop communication plan with statewide partners; Solicit feedback on the community engagement strategy, resolution, and community engagement report; and Incorporate community feedback into statewide plan. The circle on the right is titled “Academic partner (Community Engagement Health Equity Office, University of Illinois Cancer Center).” It has 3 bullet points: Implement strategy via town hall and focus groups; Analyze and interpret strategy results; and Implement dissemination component, including integration of feedback in plan, awareness campaign among community-based organizations, and legislative resolution. Where circles overlap, the title is “Shared roles across partners.” The 3 bullet points are Co-develop community engagement strategy; Facilitate community participant recruitment; and Prepare community input for plan.
Figure 2.
Unique and shared roles and responsibilities of the state health department and academic partners for the community engagement strategy for the 2022–2027 Illinois Comprehensive Cancer Control Plan.
The opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors’ affiliated institutions.