The REACH (Research Expansion Advancing Community Health) project is a University of California San Francisco collaboration with two primary goals: to improve representation of all San Francisco communities in clinical datasets, and to build research capacity among UCSF investigators in need of more experience in community-based settings. As REACH was designed to take the form of a shared use van among UCSF researchers, in 2021, REACH leadership hired Facente Consulting to facilitate planning meetings around how the van could be used equitably.
Facente Consulting facilitated multiple brainstorming meetings with REACH leadership and partners over the course of five months to discuss how the REACH van vision might be implemented. Final deliverables included a planning document organized by project area (e.g., outreach, application review, and evaluation); several key document templates (e.g., researcher code of conduct, researcher participation commitment form); an equity framework visual with key equity-related questions for each step of the process; and a sample pitch to communicate the project’s value to potential funders.