Advancing Community-Engaged Research through Partnership Development: Overcoming Challenges Voiced by Community-Academic Partners

“It has to be designed in a way that really challenges people’s assumptions”: preparing scholars to build equitable community research partnerships

“…This is a domain of continuous discourse, particularly when academic partners have focused primarily on traditional research outcomes, whereas community stakeholders have discussed the importance of committing to a long-term, ongoing relationship beyond the project scope when funding and resources are no longer available. 50 Doberneck and colleagues 51 , in developing community engagement competencies for graduate and profession students identified "Criticality in Community Engagement" as a key competency. Criticality was defined as the ability to identify positionality and reflect critically on how one's own position impacts relationships.…”

“…Moreover, interviewees highlighted the centrality of integrating an orientation to action and sustainability of the partnership even beyond the completion of the research project. This is a domain of continuous discourse, particularly when academic partners have focused primarily on traditional research outcomes, whereas community stakeholders have discussed the importance of committing to a long-term, ongoing relationship beyond the project scope when funding and resources are no longer available [50].…”

Building a National Framework to Pair Scientists and Schools During a Global Pandemic

“…Funding is absolutely necessary for community-academic partnerships to continue. Small grants can be stimulus, but they do not produce outcomes 14 ; larger funding sources such as those supplied by the National Institutes of Health through the RADx-UP are needed for such communityacademic partnerships to survive and thrive. Finally, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed an uncountable number of inequalities in child health, which have been exponentially compounded by inaccurate reports on the SARS-CoV-2 virus, as well as misinformation surrounding COVID-19 vaccines and potential therapies.…”

Society for the Improvement of Psychological Science Global Engagement Task Force Report

“…The various financial barriers described above have led several organizations (including those cited below) to attempt to find ways to provide financial support for scholars to engage with organization-related activities. Mini-grant programs are a potential solution to funding issues for open science initiatives, as they have been used to incentivize open educational resource creation and adoption (Todorinova & Wilkinson, 2020), engagement in community partnerships (Alexander et al, 2020), and other important research and advocacy initiatives. These types of programs may also be helpful for building a sense of community, especially if mentorship and networking practices are integrated into them.…”