Alliance for Research in Chicagoland Communities: Story of Engagement and Capacity Building

The mission of the Alliance for Research in Chicagoland Communities (ARCC) is to grow equitable and collaborative partnerships between Chicago area communities and Northwestern University (NU) for research that leads to measureable improvement in community health. ARCC is not a research center but rather an effort to shift the institution from a project-oriented approach to engagement to long term mutually beneficial collaboration with communities. ARCC is guided by a Steering Committee (SC) of representatives from community-based organizations and NU faculty & staff. A shared-power collaborative approach to ARCC's development has been vital to efforts to create a new paradigm and capacity to overcome engrained institutional culture and policies and barriers within communities. The SC has eagerly pursued opportunities to address these challenges and to build on partners' strengths and resources to create more equitable power dynamics for community and academic partners in research. ARCC Community SC members collectively applied for and have been awarded funds from a local foundation to specifically focus resources on the development and institutionalization of their capacity as equal and knowledgeable research partners to meet their own mission-driven needs and to serve as ambassadors for community engaged-research. These investments are fostering the infrastructure and supportive leaders to set the stage for long-term changes in community and institutional systems and practices. During this presentation, ARCC Community SC members and staff will share their experiences, accomplishments, challenges, reflections, and future plans for collective impact on current research practices. Initial evaluation results will also be presented.