About Research Alliances

Sample New in the 2012-2017 REL contract are research alliances that are intended to drive research, evaluation, technical assistance, and dissemination strategies. All RELs will establish research alliances in their regions and work with them in carrying out the contract's scope of work. Together, RELs will identify opportunities for coordination and collaboration with each other and with other federal technical assistance providers to help ensure development of a coherent and potentially deep body of knowledge and expertise. The alliances will set goals related to specific problems and develop projects, products, and dissemination activities that address those problems.

Alliance members possess the following characteristics:

They have a responsibility or expertise related to one of the four priority areas.
They use data from various sources and have a need to improve capacity and application of data for decision making.
They believe that everyday practice can be improved through interactions with other expert professionals.