The Tulumbe! Partnership was created with funds from the Pipeline to Proposal (P2P) awards established by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). The P2P awards were designed to develop partnerships; promote patient engagement; and build patient-led research proposals. Tulumbe! has spent the last two years working to engage the African immigrant community in addressing issues related to HIV, specifically focusing on identifying research topics and questions 3 that are important to community members. There are currently 10 core members representing health providers, African immigrants living with HIV, advocates, researchers and community leaders.

Tulumbe! has utilized various approaches to engage African immigrants in research and advocacy, including (1) ensuring African immigrants are on the Tulumbe! core partnership support (2) inviting them to attend various HIV specific events (3) convene community forums (4) surveys and (5) listserv. As a result of our efforts, we received additional funding from the Getting to Zero Coalition to implement a photovoice project based on the communities’ priority to address HIV stigma.

Tulumbe! will discuss how they have engaged community partners in different stages of the research projects. In this breakout session, Tulumbe! will discuss the challenges and successes of engaging African immigrants by focusing on the engagement opportunities implemented as part of the Tulumbe! Project, as well as highlight the challenges and successes in developing a diverse partnership. The 6-topics that compose the research agenda and a photovoice project will be presented.