Racial and ethnic marginalized communities face complex challenges leading to health inequities, including historical and present-day racism and lack of access to quality care. These communities often experience barriers to treatment, mistrust of healthcare systems, and disruptions in recovery supports, further compounded by traumas such as disproportionate losses from COVID-19 and halted drug treatment and harm reduction services.

Researchers encounter several challenges, including mistrust towards academic and research institutions among underserved communities. There's a prevalent fear that research findings could perpetuate negative stereotypes or that biological samples could be misused. Moreover, these communities often feel that researchers take valuable information without offering direct benefits or sharing the results of their studies, creating an asymmetry in the researcher-community relationship.

Even with good intentions, researchers with multiple privileged identities might not fully understand the lived realities of study participants from marginalized communities, leading to oversights that can impact the study's effectiveness. One example is failing to anticipate the fear among marginalized community members that having Narcan could lead to unwarranted police searches due to the stigma of drug use, thus impacting participants' willingness to carry lifesaving medication.

The UK-REI-CC aims to bridge the gap between researchers and underserved communities by creating an intentional learning community. This community fosters connections, delivers training, develops research resources, and disseminates findings to reduce health inequities. By guiding teams in challenging dialogues, examining biases, building cultural humility, and employing evidence-based practices, the UK-REI-CC is crucial in enhancing community-engaged substance use research with underserved communities. The UK-REI-CC also facilitates collaboration and communication between Highly Resourced Institutions (HRIs) and Limited Resourced Institutions (LRIs), acknowledging the importance of interconnectedness in achieving health equity.

The UK-REI-CC employs a novel approach centered on the Radical Healing of Communities of Color framework. This method acknowledges generational and current-day trauma from racism, impacting relationships between scientists and underserved communities. Key to this approach is the concept of collectivism, with resilience and social justice at its core. Activities and aims are rooted in a strength-based perspective, focusing on community stability, partnership sustainment, and the avoidance of perpetuating negative stereotypes.

The center is committed to valuing, listening to, and respecting all projects and investigators, irrespective of their resources or perceived hierarchy. This inclusivity extends within research teams, considering power differentials. Feedback is sought through various means, ensuring those in less powerful positions are heard. The approach emphasizes strength-based orientation, encouraging projects to reflect the resilience of racial and ethnic minority communities (REMCs).

Dr. Stevens-Watkins is a licensed psychologist, a professor in counseling psychology, and an Associate Vice President for Research with a focus on diversity and inclusion. With an extensive track record on National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) projects, she leads UNited In True racial Equity (UNITE), a substantial research priority area at the University of Kentucky. Under her guidance, the university has seen a significant increase in grants for racial equity research. Her experience extends to community-engaged research, emphasizing mental health outcomes and addressing substance use disorders among Black communities.

The meetings are integral to building a learning community across Racial Equity Initiative (REI) teams, promoting best practices in REI research, and hastening health equity research. The kickoff meeting initiates the multi-year collaboration among grantees, the coordinating center, the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) steering committee, and the expert panel, focusing on project details, challenges, and collaborative team formation. Subsequent annual meetings continue this momentum, featuring presentations, progress updates, in-person training, and networking opportunities. These gatherings underscore the UK-REI-CC's commitment to collectivistic, strengths-based, community-engaged research.