Enhancing expertise of community partners to promote equity in CBPR: Collaborative research capacity building training for community-based organizations from an academic perspective

There is growing recognition of the importance of community engagement in research for understanding and addressing health inequities. As academic and other research institutions increasingly enter into research relationships with community organizations, there is a need to ensure that such partnerships are collaborative, equitable, and beneficial to communities most affected by health inequities. The purpose of this workshop is to enhance the knowledge and skills of community organizations to engage in collaborative research with outside institutions and researchers. Drawing upon experiences of the Detroit Community-Academic Urban Research Center (URC), a longstanding community-based participatory research (CBPR) partnership, this hands-on, interactive workshop will address each of the following topics from both academic and community perspectives: benefits and challenges for communities; dimensions of participation in research; practical strategies for establishing equitable research relationships; community rights in research; and guiding principles of community-based participatory research.