MISSION STATEMENT
The National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Aging, National Institute of Nursing Research, and the Office of Research in Minority Health created a program to decrease the minority/non-minority differential in health and its social sequelae for older people by focusing research upon health promotion, disease prevention, and disability prevention. To meet this long-range goal, the Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research, or RCMARs, will create a research infrastructure around four objectives:

• To establish a mechanism for mentoring researchers for careers in research on the health of minority elders;
  
• To enhance diversity in the professional workforce conducting research on the health of minority elders;
  
• To evaluate/develop measurement tools tailored to minority aging population and;
  
• To develop and deploy strategies for recruiting and retaining older minority group members in epidemiological, psychosocial, and/or biomedical research.

CORE COMPONENTS
RCMAR consists of four cores: administrative, community liaison, investigator development, and measurement and methods.

Administrative Core
Core Director: Evelyn R. Barrack, Ph.D.
The Administrative Core seeks to effectively support and coordinate the activities of the Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR)

Community Liaison Core
Core Director: Kimberlydawn Wisdom, M.D., M.S.
The overall objective of the Community Liaison Core (CLC) is to facilitate the recruitment and retention of older African Americans into research studies designed to understand ways to improve health outcomes within the African American community. The specific objectives of the CLC are to accomplish:

• capacity-building - develop/maintain relationships (networks) with African American community-based organizations and facilitate interaction among community leaders, members and researchers;
  
• knowledge acquisition - assist investigators with the conduction of culturally informed recruitment and retention;
  
• knowledge dissemination - disseminate information regarding techniques for recruitment and retention of minority participants

Investigator Development Core
Core Director: Gary Chase, Ph.D.
The purposes of the Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) Investigator Development Core are to provide mentoring and training for new African American investigators and others with interest in minority health issues; to select pilot research proposals for internal funding; to disseminate information within Henry Ford Health System (HFHS) on available research funding from National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other agencies; and to provide continuing assistance in career development for new RCMAR investigators.

Measurement and Methods Core
Core Director: Marvella E. Ford, Ph.D.
An overall objective of the Measurement Core is to develop and test strategies to enhance cultural sensitivity in collecting clinical, behavioral, and social science data used in this proposal. Our specific aims are to identify/modify or create culturally sensitive epidemiologic or psychosocial measurement tools; test strategies for enhancing cultural sensitivity in collecting clinical, behavioral, and social science data; catalogue these measurement tools; and distribute the tools.