Expanding Participatory Governance: Using Town Halls to Engage Broader Community and Academic Voices in CEnR Program Planning

There is increasing evidence about the positive impact of using collaborative community-engaged approaches to research. Similarly, efforts to build and sustain community-university infrastructure to promote community-engaged research (CEnR) are also improved by a collaborative approach. For this reason, the Alliance for Research in Chicagoland Communities (ARCC), in Northwestern University’s Center for Community Health, embraces a participatory governance model for achieving its mission to grow equitable and collaborative partnerships between Chicago communities and Northwestern for research that lead to measureable community health improvements. 

The ARCC steering committee (SC) of Chicagoland community and faith-based organizations, public agencies and Northwestern faculty has decision-making power in planning ARCC’s strategic directions, programs, and budgeting. The SC recognized early on that while only a limited number of community and academic partners can serve on the SC, ARCC serves a much larger set of current and potential partners. ARCC has hosted five annual open Town Halls to invite input from a broader group of community and academic voices on program priorities, activities and future directions. 

Each town hall agenda includes sharing ARCC activities/outcomes to date, showcasing an ARCC-supported partnership, and facilitating group discussions. Town halls are held diverse locations across Chicagoland and are led and facilitated by ARCC community and academic SC members. Town halls are well attended and input has led to changes in ARCC activities/directions. They’ve also successfully engaged Northwestern institutional leaders directly with a wide range of partners. Community and academic presenters will share town hall logistics, input impact, and strategies for replication.