Atask's journey from byc to tcrc seed grant to ADAPT co-chair

Background: In 2011, ATASK an Asian CBO was elected to participate in the "Building Your Capacity" (BYC) fellowship program, based on their interest to build research and evaluation capacity. CBO staff along with two academic partners applied for and were awarded a seed grant from the Tufts Community Research Center (TCRC) to engage clients and staff in a study to identify and define the empowerment process. The CBO was invited to be a Board Member of ADAPT in December 2011 and in September 2012 a Co-Chair of ADAPT. Methods: Qualitative methods were used to conduct three focus groups in the TCRC grant with ATASK advocates, Hindi and Chinese speaking clients. The focus groups aimed to unearth the definition of ‘empowerment' as well as identify barriers and facilitators to empowerment. Based on the principles of CBPR, both the academic and community partners played an equal role in all stages of the research process of the TCRC grant. Results: Some of the preliminary findings from this formative research conducted through the TCRC grant showed that the central theme around empowerment was stability, respect and self worth. Giving back to society and other Domestic Violence survivors were the most powerful findings that emerged organically from all 3 focus groups. Conclusion: ATASK's journey from BYC to the TCRC grant then finally to the ADAPT reflects how building research capacity in a non-profit can help forge meaningful relationships between academia and the community, helping the CBO garner leadership skills, effective collaboration and program evaluation expertise.