Key Dates

Related Announcements

• October 12, 2021 - Cancer Center Support Grants (CCSGs) for NCI-designated Cancer Centers (P30 Clinical Trial Optional), See PAR-21-321

Issued by

National Cancer Institute (NCI)

Purpose

In anticipation of reissuing the Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) P30 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) after September 25^th, 2025, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) is seeking input on the Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) component required for clinical and comprehensive cancer centers. Interested parties may include cancer center leadership; COE associate, deputy, and assistant directors; COE team members; cancer center community advisory board members; cancer center community partners and constituents; patient and research advocates; and other individuals and organizations vested in the COE component of an NCI-Designated Cancer Center.

Background

COE has been a fundamental activity of NCI-Designated Cancer Centers since the initiation of the Cancer Centers program in 1971. Notably, with the 2016, 2019, and 2021 reissuances of the P30 CCSG guidelines, COE is expected to now span all aspects of the cancer center, particularly the center’s basic, clinical, translational, and population research programs. At a minimum, cancer centers are expected to perform research of relevance to their self-defined geographic catchment area and engage communities in their research and outreach activities. To facilitate these activities, centers establish community advisory board(s) and partnerships with other healthcare delivery systems, state and community agencies, and coalitions for dissemination of evidence-based findings. Centers are encouraged to describe knowledge, best practices, and tools developed by COE activities and to share these with other NCI-Designated Cancer Centers. Additionally, centers are encouraged to adopt, adapt, implement, and/or evaluate others’ best practices in order to advance progress against the burden of cancer in their catchment areas. The primary metric in evaluating the strength of COE is the scope, quality, and impact of the center’s COE activities on the burden of cancer in the center’s catchment area.

Information Requested

NCI seeks feedback on the following aspects of the COE component to help shape its future scope. Please note that each listed aspect is an example; it is not necessarily intended for NCI to expand the existing COE scope to address all aspects.

Best strategies for designing and conducting COE activities:

• Defining the unique geographic area that the center serves or intends to serve in the cancer research it conducts, the communities it engages, and the community-based outreach it performs
• Identifying and measuring the major factors that characterize and influence the cancer burden in the cancer center’s catchment area, including types and sources of data, frequency of data collection, and assessing changes in the major factors due to cancer center activities
• The science of engaging with a diversity of community members and organizations to inform bidirectional cancer research and control efforts
• Addressing health disparities among racial and ethnic minority groups, people with lower socioeconomic status, persons with disabilities, sexual and gender minority persons, and individuals residing in diverse geographic communities, including rural areas
• Communication of community needs and assets to cancer center members to catalyze research in all areas of science (basic, clinical, translational, and population sciences)
• The role of COE in supporting accrual to therapeutic and non-therapeutic clinical trials
• The role of COE in supporting and/or providing delivery of clinical services (e.g., cancer screening, cancer prevention vaccines)
• Describing cancer control efforts undertaken by the center to reduce the burden of cancer in its catchment area, including dissemination and implementation of evidence-based culturally tailored interventions, public education, health policy recommendations, influence on health policy at multiple levels, etc.
• Describing how the cancer center has expanded its reach within and beyond its catchment area
• Recommendations on the inclusion of global health initiatives and activities within the COE component
• Describing partnerships between NCI-Designated Cancer Centers with overlapping catchment areas
• Describing approaches for developing sustainable relationships and engaging community organizations long-term for greater impact
• Developing and maintaining strategies that promote greater research and programmatic interactions between cancer centers and clinical entities serving lower socioeconomic status and medically underserved populations (e.g., federally qualified health centers, community health clinics, rural health clinics, safety-net hospitals, local health departments) to ensure these populations benefit from cancer center research and services
• COE leadership of and/or partnership with cancer control coalitions serving states, tribes, and territories

Core metrics to measure a center’s impact on reducing the cancer burden in its catchment area:

• Best practices for the short- and long-term evaluation of COE activities and demonstration of catchment area impact, including logic models, metrics, and outcomes
  • For example, number of publications, receipt of research / service delivery / community partnership grants, impact on the catchment area’s cancer burden, accrual to therapeutic and non-therapeutic clinical trials, cancer screening rates, health policy development, number of participants recruited to programmatic activities, collaborations with other NCI-Designated Cancer Centers, etc.
• Common or uniform metrics to evaluate the scope, quality, and impact of the COE component across the cancer centers program
• Criteria aimed at evaluating the integration of COE into other components of the CCSG (e.g., merit descriptors within the Research Program component)
• In addition to those with expertise in COE, consideration of other individuals / subject matter experts for the peer review process, such as Directors of Cancer Centers, Associate Directors for Population Science, Associate Directors for COE, patient advocates, or others
• Recognition of both commonalities and differences across cancer centers and their catchment areas in review of COE

Key qualifications of COE leadership and program infrastructure:

• Qualifications, academic training, community relationships, and/or subject matter expertise required for leading COE activities at NCI-Designated Cancer Centers
• Building and maintaining cancer center leadership and institutional support for COE, including inclusion of COE in the cancer center strategic plan and overall cancer center mission
• Integration and maintenance of COE into the larger cancer center ecosystem (e.g., Leadership, Cancer Research Training and Education Coordination, Research Programs, Shared Resources, Clinical Trials), thereby showcasing authentic engagement and bidirectional communication across the entirety of the cancer center
• Prioritizing cancer center leadership investment in and collaboration with the center’s community advisory board(s)
• Reach and scope of the COE program infrastructure (institutional- and community-based), including offices/centers, community advisory boards, regional offices/field staff, research programs liaisons, COE membership on protocol review and monitoring committees, etc.
• Collaboration and sharing of COE best practices across the NCI-Designated Cancer Center community beyond annual conferences to include the development of a national organizational entity
• COE staff training and competencies, including hiring new staff, continuing education, professional development, and retention
• Recruitment and retention, cultivation and promotion of COE scientists from diverse backgrounds and geographical areas
• Influence of local, state and/or federal policies on COE-related program implementation

Approaches to develop a sustainable model of COE funding:

• Budgetary support for the scope of COE, including personnel (associate director, assistant director, coordinator, patient navigators, health educators, etc.) and programmatic resources
• Securing and maintaining extramural, institutional, and philanthropic funding of COE initiatives
• Funding to support routine catchment area assessments
• Funding to support the formation and operation of community advisory board(s)
• Funding for pilot projects that support COE collaborations across the cancer center and/or catchment area specific research
• Funding for COE staff to attend conferences and professional development opportunities
• If CCSG funds could be redirected toward COE-focused pilot projects,  what activities and collaborations should be prioritized?

In addition to the issues described above, NCI would like to receive feedback on the following:

• The term "catchment area" may not resonate well with the public, as it could be perceived as overly assertive. Consideration of whether this term should be replaced with an alternative, and if so, provide recommendations for appropriate phrasing
• Consideration of how COE can facilitate communities’ understanding of changes in science and clinical practice guidelines related to cancer
• Consideration of investments that NCI can make to support efforts that build and foster trust in NCI-sponsored research so that all people may benefit
  • Specifically, consideration of how cancer centers’ COE activities and partnerships can be leveraged to build and foster trust in NCI-sponsored research

Comments on any additional issues relevant to this RFI that are not specifically mentioned above are also encouraged.

How to Submit a Response

Responses will be accepted through  February 16, 2025. Please limit your response to three (3) pages or less. We encourage cancer centers to submit multiple RFI responses from various constituencies, but request that the number of submissions be reasonable. Responses in electronic format are preferred and can be e-mailed to [email protected]. Please include the Notice number (NOT-CA-25-031) in the subject line. Responders are free to address any or all of the categories listed above. The submitted information will be reviewed by NIH staff. Every respondent will receive an automated e-mail confirmation acknowledging receipt of a successfully submitted response but will not receive any individualized feedback.

Responses are entirely voluntary and can be anonymous. If willing, you may indicate the environment to which your perspective pertains (e.g., academia, clinical research, clinical practice, community organization, patient advocacy). No proprietary, classified, confidential, or sensitive information should be included in your response. All individual responses will remain confidential. Any identifiers (e.g., names, institutions, e-mail addresses) will be removed when responses are compiled. Processed, anonymized results will be shared internally with NIH staff members, any member of scientific working groups convened by the NCI, as appropriate, and leaders of the NCI-Designated Cancer Centers.

This request is for information and planning purposes only and should not be construed as a solicitation or as an obligation on the part of the Federal Government. The NIH does not intend to make any awards based on responses to this RFI or to otherwise pay for the preparation of any information submitted or for the Government's use of such information.

The NIH will use the information submitted in response to this RFI at its discretion and will not provide comments to any responder's submission. However, responses to the RFI may be reflected in future Notices of Funding Opportunities. The information provided will be analyzed and may be aggregated in presentations and reports. Respondents are advised that the Government is under no obligation to acknowledge receipt of the information received or provide feedback to respondents with respect to any information submitted. The Government reserves the right to use any non-proprietary technical information in any resultant solicitation(s).

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

Krzysztof Ptak, PhD
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Telephone: 240-276-5600
Email:  [email protected]

Robin Vanderpool, DrPH
National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Telephone: 240-276-6558
Email:  [email protected]