Center for Chronic Disease Reduction and Equity Promotion Across Minnesota (C2DREAM)

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT – Overall
A growing body of research documents the profound contribution of structural and interpersonal racism to
disparities in chronic disease including cardiovascular disease (CVD) and the related chronic conditions
(RCC) of hypertension and obesity. In Minnesota, where the murder of Mr. George Floyd at the hands of
police instigated a local, national, and global reckoning on the pervasiveness of racism, there is an urgent need
to understand and ultimately address the ways that racism undermines well-being of Black, Indigenous, and
people of color (BIPOC) communities. The mission of our proposed Center for Chronic Disease Reduction
and Equity Promotion Across Minnesota (C2DREAM) is to reduce disparities in CVD and RCC
experienced by BIPOC communities including immigrants and refugees across Minnesota. Our 3
proposed intervention projects target community and primary care approaches to diet, physical activity,
smoking cessation, and other proximal contributors to CVD and RCC among Minnesota’s diverse BIPOC
communities. C2DREAM will promote innovative, multilevel interventions that target fundamental causes of
health inequities among diverse BIPOC communities across Minnesota; generate knowledge, analytical and
implementation approaches, and community engagement strategies to understand and develop solutions to
address racism at multiple levels; develop and support the next generation of health equity researchers; create
and sustain a community-engaged and equity-guided dissemination and implementation processes to translate
research results and knowledge regarding addressing chronic disease inequities into action; and employ
equity-guided evaluation approaches. All center activities and research projects are aligned with a unifying
conceptual model guided by the NIMHD’s Minority Health & Health Disparities Research Framework.
C2DREAM is a regional partnership that spans the state among the University of Minnesota (UMN),
including the Medical School on the Twin Cities (central) and Duluth (northern) Campuses, and the School of
Public Health; Mayo Clinic including Rochester and community-based Mayo Clinic Health System clinics
(southern); and Hennepin Healthcare, a county-owned HMO and the state’s largest safety net hospital
(central). Our partnership builds on many formal and informal connections across collaborators and institutions,
including NCATS-funded UMN Clinical Translational Science Institute (CTSI) and Mayo Clinic Center for
Clinical and Translational Sciences (CCaTS) resources, as well as extensive partnerships with key community
stakeholders. Our team has rich expertise in measurement of racism at multiple levels, health promotion
interventions targeting CVD and related chronic conditions, behavioral medicine, epidemiology, public health,
psychology, community based participatory research, policy, communications, and implementation science.
This breadth, depth, and regional reach uniquely positions us to rigorously investigate fundamental drivers of
health inequities and generate solutions that will impact Minnesota and the nation.

Grant Number: 5P50MD017342-05
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: MICHELE ALLEN