Who should I partner with?

Whether you're a scholar or a community-based organization, there are many ways to find collaborators for your research projects. Ask around. You may be surprised to find that people you know can put you in touch with the "right" people or organization. For scholars: is there someone at work, church or school who might live in the community in which you'd like to find a partner? Ask them if they can put you in touch with someone. For community groups: have you seen a scholar in the paper or attended a lecture on a subject in which your organization is involved? You can also talk with city officials and check the neighborhood library for directories of local universities and community organizations.



Once you have a prospective partner, start the conversation over coffee. Consider meeting in either the neighborhood in which you'd like to conduct the research, or at the offices of the scholar or community-based organization. Maybe down the road it will lead to collaboration on a research project. The researcher and community members, most often representing a university and a community organization respectively, collaborate around common interests. These interests may be based on the neighborhood itself or an important issue that both have a stake in addressing. Research projects can tackle such difficult issues as job training and placement, HIV/AIDS and other illnesses, access to healthcare, or gentrification and housing displacement while seeking to build on strengths already present in the community. In addition to working directly with an organization, some researchers prefer to form an advisory panel made up of local stakeholders that can provide input in some or all phases of the project. An advisory panel may serve as liaisons with others in the community who would potentially be affected by the project. Researchers have partnered with non-profit community-based organizations, government agencies as well as small businesses like barbershops that have contact with a population of interest to the study. Think creatively about who you want to partner with, and why.

Before committing to a project with a potential research partner, it is a good idea to discuss project goals and problem-solving mechanisms. Talk about:

• Overall responsibilities for the researcher and for the community group.
• The distribution of research money, equipment and training, publicity and authorship.
• Timeline for the project's various phases: fieldwork, analysis, sharing the findings and action.
• Creating realistic expectations for the outcome of the research.
• Identifying a diverse range of stakeholders in the community, so their input can be considered as the project moves forward.

Try to plan in advance how each partner will benefit from the project. Will the community gain research skills, information about their neighborhood or cultural group, social connections for future problem solving or help with finding and writing grants? Will the scholar get information that makes a contribution to what is already known about the topic?

Try to make the resources of the academic institution available to the community of study. This can be difficult because universities, museums and other large institutions have many departments and projects, and bringing in an outside group will require extra time of staff not directly involved in the research project. However, this topic is worth thinking about right from the start.

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