Status: Substantially Completed, Ongoing

• The Division of Research’s Brown Ethics And Responsible Conduct of Research Education (BEARCORE) training now includes content on community-engaged research.
• Faculty and staff from the School of Public Health, Advance RI-CTR and the Swearer Center developed nine online, asynchronous modules and three in-person sessions in collaboration with two community-based partners. Additional faculty and staff across Brown's academic divisions also provided insights, materials, and feedback. Colleagues from the Division of Research and the Sheridan Center Digital Learning and Design provided guidance on developing online modules, and the latter recorded interviews for them. 
• The Swearer Center’s Engaged Research section of the website was updated to provide clearer resources and guidance for community-engaged research.
• Advance Rhode Island Clinical and Translational Research has developed “Community Engagement Studios,” a model that convenes community experts to provide guidance and strengthen research studies at every stage of development. 

Status: Substantially Completed, Ongoing

• The Community-Engaged Data & Evaluation Collaborative (CEDEC) partnerships have generated collaborative research projects, proposals and several co-authored articles that are currently under review.
  Sponsoring units: Annenberg Institute, Brown University Library, Center for Computation and Visualization, Data Science Institute, Department of Africana Studies, School of Professional Studies, School of Public Health, Watson School of International and Public Affairs.
• A Community-Engaged Research Partnership Specialist role was established to support people in developing proposals for the Equitable Climate Future working groups and postdocs, including community partners. Sponsoring units include the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, the Swearer Center, the Office of the Provost, and more.
• The Annenberg Institute and the Rhode Island School Superintendents Association coordinate annual convenings, in part to identify research priorities for district partners.
• The School of Public Health (SPH) launched the Promising Practices Speaker series to highlight partners, faculty and staff and their approaches to research or education.
• Community engagement staff across units (Swearer Center, SPH, Advance-CTR, Office of Community Engagement) continue to convene and advise researchers and partners in response to inquiries, as they emerge.

Status: Substantially Completed, Ongoing

• The Annenberg Institute worked in partnership with the Rhode Island Foundation to convene and provide research support to a statewide commission that brought together education leaders, policymakers and community stakeholders to review and recommend updates to Rhode Island’s school funding formula.
• The Annenberg Institute partnered with the Rhode Island Department of Education and the Providence Public School District to study and strengthen Rhode Island’s teacher pipeline (from recruitment and preparation to retention and long-term career pathways).
• Equitable Climate Futures (Institute at Brown for Environment and Society) ensures research, policy and practice are co-developed, responsive and grounded in lived experiences.
• The CHAIRS-C Community Engagement Core at the School of Public Health works to align research with community priorities by fostering meaningful partnerships among researchers, older adults, service organizations, policymakers and other stakeholders. Community perspectives inform research design, implementation and translation, strengthening the relevance and impact of CHAIRS-C’s work on climate, aging and public health.

Status: Substantially Completed, Ongoing

• In FY24 and FY25, Brown compensated Rhode Island-based research partners with $33 million in payments.
• A Compensation Guide was created and shared with engagement staff across Brown.

Status: Substantially Completed, Ongoing

• Brown University’s Salesforce community engagement platform serves as a centralized system for coordinating and strengthening campus-community partnerships across the University. Guided by data governance protocols, privacy protections and limited authorized access, the system also supports institutional reporting, partnership matchmaking and a more connected, collaborative approach to community engagement. 

Status: Substantially Completed, Ongoing

• Over the past two years, the Community Engagement Council (CEC) has convened regularly to strategize on developing and implementing the Community Engagement Agenda.
• The Community Engagement Council operationalized six CEC Committees (Assessment and Impact, Research and Public Impact, Economic Development, Engaged Scholarship, Health and Medicine and K-12 Partnerships) to support the implementation of the Community Engagement Agenda.
• The Swearer Center sponsors an annual Community-Engaged Research and Teaching Retreat. 
  In 2025, co-hosts included Advance Rhode Island Clinical and Translational Research, the Division of Research, the Office of Community Engagement, the Office of the Dean of the Faculty, the School of Public Health Office of Community Engagement and the Sheridan Center for Teaching and Learning.

Status: Substantially Completed, Ongoing

• Brown and Providence stories highlight local partnerships, community priorities and the people shaping Brown’s engagement with Providence and Rhode Island.
• Swearer Center Stories provide additional examples of community-engaged learning, research and partnerships across campus and local communities.
• Multiple departments and units across campus are involved in continuous storytelling about meaningful, mutually beneficial community engagement efforts. Some examples include the Department of Education, the Institute at Brown on Environment and Society, the Ruth J. Simmons Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice, and the School of Public Health.
• The Office of Community Engagement has collected and synthesized community engagement stories and media mentions into a user-friendly repository.

Status: Substantially Completed, Ongoing

• As part of Brown University's Carnegie Community Engagement Classification reclassification process, faculty, staff, students, and Community Advisory Board members participated in a comprehensive assessment of the University's existing community engagement practices, processes, and indicators. This collaborative effort helped establish a baseline for continuous improvement and contributed to Brown's successful Carnegie Community Engagement reclassification in December 2025. 

Status: Substantially Completed, Ongoing

• The Office of Community Engagement provides an annual progress report to campus stakeholders. The first was published in May 2025 (one year after the launch of the Community Engagement Agenda). The report was presented to the Administrative Leaders Group, the Executive Committee, the Corporation and in Today@Brown for all campus in Spring 2025.
• The Office of Community Engagement hosts regular Community Engagement Council (CEC) meetings to inform senior leaders from across campus about community engagement efforts.

Status: Substantially Completed, Ongoing

• The Vice President for Community Engagement has provided regular updates to the Corporation’s Committee on Communications, Alumni and External Affairs.

Status: Significant Progress

• Brown’s Community-Engaged Research foundational training includes an asynchronous module on understanding the local context.
• A two-part Braiding Knowledges: Understanding Indigenous Research Methods and Tribal Engagement at Brown (Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative) workshop introduced faculty, staff and postdoctoral fellows to key concepts around decolonial and indigenous methodologies in the Northeast. 
• Presentations on the Community Engagement Agenda and local engagement were delivered to campus and community stakeholders, including Admissions-related visits, the President’s Staff Advisory Council, the Administrative Leaders Group, K-12 schools and communities of practice. 

Status: Significant Progress

• As of May 2026, Brown has documented engagement with 434 Rhode Island-based community organizations. These partnerships span a wide range of sectors, including education, workforce development, healthcare, arts and culture, housing, youth development, economic mobility, civic engagement, environmental sustainability and social services.
• Updated Tribal Engagement inventory process: Ongoing consultation with tribally and Indigenous community engaged faculty, staff and students across divisions via 1:1 meetings and semesterly facilitated tribal engagement convenings. Data collected includes projects/initiatives, department(s) involved, associated faculty and staff, partner tribal nations and Indigenous communities, collaborating tribal citizens and Indigenous community members and timeframe.

Status: Significant Progress

• The Annenberg Institute has expanded its local engagement team and research-to-practice partnerships with area districts. This includes: a new Student Mental Health Network comprising 12 RI school districts to support systems for identifying and addressing student mental health needs (in partnership with WAMS) and year 2 of a Professional Learning Network (6 districts) focused on improving preparation for, access to and success in timely Algebra.
• CEDEC projects are developed in partnership with community organizations to address community-identified data and evaluation needs. 
  Sponsoring units: Annenberg Institute, Brown University Library, Center for Computation and Visualization, Data Science Institute, Department of Africana Studies, School of Professional Studies, School of Public Health, Watson School of International and Public Affairs.
• Members of the School of Public Health’s People, Place and Health Collective have written four grant applications for two local nonprofit organizations seeking research capacity to complete projects that require academic partners. For example, several faculty and staff at SPH worked with RIDOH and local health equity zones to draft and submit two grant proposals to support community-led public health initiatives (fall and spring FY26).
• The School of Public Health supported the development of the Health Equity Zone (HEZ) research initiative with initial pilot funding, helping build the evidence base for the HEZ model. This foundational investment helped secure a four-year, approximately $3 million NIH R01 grant to further evaluate and advance the model.

Status: Significant Progress

• Multiple units across Brown engage with Community Advisory Boards (CABs) to help ensure community perspectives inform research, programming and institutional engagement efforts. These advisory bodies include the Advance Rhode Island Clinical and Translational Research Community Advisory Action Board, the People, Place and Health Collective, an advisory group connected to the Brown University School of Public Health and the Swearer Center for Public Service and the Tribal Arts Advisory Council. They have provided guidance focused on strengthening accountability and deepening reciprocal partnerships with communities. Additional advisory boards are being identified as Brown continues to expand structures for meaningful community voice and shared decision-making across its engagement ecosystem.

Status: Significant Progress

• Through Salesforce, 886 community initiatives, including research questions and priorities, have been catalyzed, with 574 completed matches connecting community partners with campus resources and support.

Status: Significant Progress

• The Vice President of Community and community-engaged staff have presented and shared resources with every campus stakeholder group, including students, staff, faculty and alumni. Presentations have included to groups such as the Corporation, Chairs and Directors, President’s Staff Advisory Council and Administrative Leaders Group).
• Beginning in 2024, the Office of the Dean of the Faculty has incorporated a focus on community engagement into New Faculty Orientation.
• BrownEngage serves as a central resource for community engagement information, tools, and opportunities, which we share with campus partners and incorporate into presentations and outreach across the University.

Status: Emerging Progress

• The Watson School of International and Public Affairs and the Department of Linguistics are developing standards with relevant public and community engagement content.
• Three of the six units participating in the Community-Engaged Department Pilot Program identified and worked towards goals related to recognition of community-engaged scholarship in promotion and tenure.
• The provost, dean of the faculty and multiple department chairs supported additional planning related to departmental policies, standards and criteria that recognize public and community engagement.

Status: Emerging Progress

• The Swearer Center and the Office of Community Engagement work with community partners to understand their data, evaluation and research priorities and to share them with colleagues across the university through individual consultations and initiatives.
• The Annenberg Institute systematically gathers and shares community-identified priorities to ensure that research agendas are responsive to partners' and communities' needs.
• The School of Public Health works with partners and shares priorities more broadly. For example, longstanding community partners will collaborate with the School of Public Health to co-develop potential research studies that reflect shared priorities and address pressing community health needs. This approach supports more equitable and participatory research design, in which community expertise informs study questions, methodology, and the interpretation of findings.

Status: Emerging Progress

• The Annenberg Institute administered Community Engaged Education Research Grants. The grants promote and accelerate collaborations between Brown University researchers and education partners in Providence and Rhode Island. 
• The School of Public Health provides seed funding through the Community-Academic Research Partnership Funds. The funds connect research expertise to a community-originated inquiry around a topic relevant to local public health efforts and interests, support the creation and delivery of tangibly useful tools for community health efforts resulting from research; or strengthen existing relationships anticipated to lead toward further funding opportunities for public health research locally. 
• The Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America (CSREA), in partnership with the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, initiated a Community-Engaged Research Program to support interdisciplinary, collaborative research on racial and economic equity in New England.
• Center on Heat, Health and Aging Innovation and Research Solutions for Communities (CHAIRS-C) Pilot Grant Program supports research and community partnerships addressing extreme weather events’ effects on adult health. (School of Public Health).
• Equitable Climate Futures funds working groups and postdoctoral fellowships to support research that advances climate solutions driven by stakeholder needs and priorities, with a focus on under-resourced and historically marginalized groups.
• The Data Science Institute's 2026 Data Science Seed & Collaborative Grants program awarded funding to eleven interdisciplinary research and education projects that leverage data science to address complex societal challenges. The grants support innovative initiatives across the University, including projects focused on public health, education, workforce development, artificial intelligence, environmental sustainability, and cancer research.

Status: Emerging Progress

• The Annenberg Institute hosts an annual convening to support the Rhode Island School Superintendents Association (RISSA) Annual Conference, which convenes school superintendents and education leaders from across the state to discuss emerging challenges, share promising practices, strengthen cross-sector partnerships, and advance strategies to improve educational outcomes for Rhode Island students. 

Status: Emerging Progress

• Brown University Library, School of Public Health, Swearer Center, Office of Community Engagement, Division of Pre-College and Undergraduate Programs, have job descriptions/expectations inclusive of coordinating community engagement efforts.

Status: Emerging Progress

• The Community Engagement Committee's Assessment and Impact Committee continues to work on ways to connect people responsible for the ongoing assessment of CE projects/initiatives.

Status: Emerging Progress

• Annual reports (2025) and report to President Paxson, CAEA and senior leaders.
• 2024 and 2025 Community Benefits Report to the City of Providence.

Status: Emerging Progress

• The Community Engagement Council (CEC) Assessment and Impact Committee played a central role in supporting the Carnegie Community Engagement Reclassification process by coordinating campus-wide assessment, documentation, and stakeholder engagement efforts. Recognizing that community engagement spans multiple functional areas across the institution, the committee developed a collaborative process to gather input from each of the six CEC committees—Assessment and Impact, K-12 Partnerships, Economic Development, Engaged Scholarship, Research and Public Impact, and Community Partnerships. Committee chairs and members were asked to review evidence, identify institutional examples, validate accomplishments, and surface areas for improvement related to their respective focus areas. 

Status: Emerging Progress

• To begin the process of outcomes and impact accountability measures for community engagement, the Community Engagement Council (CEC) Assessment and Impact Committee led a coordinated, institution-wide approach to the Carnegie Community Engagement Reclassification process. The committee developed a structured process for collecting, reviewing, and validating evidence from across the University, ensuring that community engagement activities were consistently documented and aligned with the Carnegie Classification framework.

Status: Emerging Progress

• The Community Engagement Council (CEC) Health and Medicine Committee, in collaboration with the School of Public Health (SPH), Office of Community Engagement (OCE), the Swearer Center and other stakeholders, continues to identify opportunities to improve processes for compensating community partners. Building on recommendations from faculty and community engagement leaders, the committee is working with the Research Agreements and Contracts team to clarify procedures and simplify contract processes in alignment with the Division of Research's Reducing Red Tape in Research initiative.
• The CEC’s Engaged Scholarship Committee developed recommendations to address faculty promotion and tenure standards and criteria, a critical policy affecting CE. The university submitted a proposal to the Modernizing Academic Appointment and Advancement (MA3) Challenge.
• The School of Public Health works closely with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island to publish the annual Rhode Island Life Index, which captures Rhode Islanders’ perceptions of social determinants of health and well-being.