Engaging African-American academicians in African American community engaged research: Our story continues

African American (AA) communities often experience disparate outcomes in many community health issues. In line with community-based participatory research (CBPR) principles, the voice and presence of these communities in research on community health issues that impact them is crucial. This presentation will address how one community-academic research partnership sought to address this issue and develop long term collaborations and relationships with Chicagoland AA Communities and Northwestern University African American Faculty and Fellows (NUAAFF). 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 governed by a steering committee (SC) comprised of community-based organizations and NU faculty and staff. In 2008, this group embarked on a 9 month process of AA community outreach to stimulate interest in community-academic research partnerships. This effort was presented at the 2009 APHA conference in Philadelphia. As a result of these efforts, other gaps were exposed; the lack of NUAAFF 1) awareness, 2) availability, and 3) knowledge of AA community interest in engaging in collaborative research. Through informal brunches, networking events, topical lectures and a mini-grant program designed for NUAAFF interested in CBPR, ARCC staff created a network for relationship-building and career development opportunities. Presenters will share the successes, challenges, lessons learned, anticipated future practices and the overall impact of this effort.