Community-Driven Research Day

Community-Driven Research Day (CDRD) is a program that encourages collaboration between researchers and community-based organizations (CBOs)/community groups that have research questions they are interested in answering.

Through CDRD, Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) and community groups interested in developing partnerships to conduct research participate in an interactive rapid presentation that highlights their mission, goals, and major accomplishments and displays research questions they are interested in answering to health and equity for their community members.

This annual event is jointly sponsored by the following institutions: Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Drexel University, Temple University College of Public Health, La Salle University, Thomas Jefferson University, and the University of Pennsylvania.

We are committed to community-based participatory research, which includes the basic tenet that both community partners and research partners are involved in all phases of research, allowing community capacity and related opportunities to be developed and sustained. The focus of CDRD is about making connections, and the CDRD organizing committee is willing to help facilitate connections.

Small grants are awarded to promising community partner-researcher collaborations annually through a competitive submission process.

Community-Driven Research Day 2025 was held on Tuesday, March 11 in Philadelphia. 

This year's event was hosted by the Penn Center for Public Health. See below for event information. Questions? Please reach out to PennCPH@pennmedicine.upenn.edu.

CDRD Information

View the 2025 flyer

View and share the 2025 CDRD flyer!

Past successful CDRD partnerships

Congratulations to the 2024 CDRD Awardees!

  • Project Title -- Co-creating Trauma-Informed Outdoor Programming with Youth
    • Prescribe Outside in collaboration with CHOP's Center for Violence Prevention
  • Project Title-- Empowering Youth Coping: Mobile Health Gamification of Selfcare and Digital Arts Technology Training
    • That Could Be Me Foundation in collaboration with La Salle University 
  • Project Title-- Evaluating a Mental Health Lived Experience Education Program for Reducing Stigma and Increasing Help-Seeking Behaviors Among Adolescents 
    • Minding Your Mind in collaboration with Temple University Kornberg School of Dentistry

Watch academic researchers and community partners share about the collaborative research projects that stemmed from Community-Driven Research Day.

A Domino Effect: Understanding the Impact of the Opioid Crisis on African American Older Adults


Utilizing Community-based Participatory Research to Implement Sustainable IPV Screening Practices


Perceptions of African Americans About Their Participation in Clinical Trials

CDRD 2024

Joel Fein, MD, MPH, Rachel Myers, PhD, MS, Ayana Bradshaw, and Susan Furth, MD, PhD at the 2024 Community-Driven Research Day hosted at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Research Readiness Day

Research Readiness Day (RRD) is designed as a complement to CDRD to prepare participants to develop community-academic partnerships. RRD is a technical assistance event for CBOs and community groups interested in learning more about effective community/academic research partnerships.

This is a great opportunity for community organizations that presented posters at CDRD to gain technical assistance in developing their CDRD proposal.

Save the date for RRD 2025! April 3, 2025.