Linking Communities and Scientists to Durham HIV Prevention (LinCS 2 Durham) is a community-based participatory research project that brings members of the Black community in Durham, NC, and scientists together to help chart the course of future HIV prevention research in the city. The project is led by FHI 360 in collaboration with North Carolina Central University, the Durham County Health Department, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and the UNC Center for AIDS Research.

The heart of the project is the LinCS 2 Durham Collaborative Council, a partnership among Durham stakeholders and the research team that guides how the work gets done and makes key decisions. Community stakeholders participate through working groups that support the project’s activities, which include sponsoring meetings, conducting focus groups and developing an HIV Prevention Research Literacy Curriculum. This curriculum is being piloted with young black adults in the community. In 2012, LinCS 2 Durham implemented a survey of young black men and women in Durham to gain insight into the communities and groups to which these young adults feel connected, their HIV-related behaviors, issues of trust, factors that guide their decisions to participate in HIV research studies and attitudes toward HIV testing. In addition, drawing on information gleaned through the project, the Collaborative Council has identified a priority HIV prevention study to pursue and is seeking funding to support it.