Session: Cultivating Partnerships for Gun Violence Prevention: A Conceptual Framework for Ethical, Equitable, and Effective Research (Society for Social Work and Research 28th Annual Conference - Recentering & Democratizing Knowledge: The Next 30 Years of Social Work Science)

Drawing on nearly five years of engaged research with community violence intervention (CVI) partners in Chicago, the Center for Neighborhood Engaged Research and Science (CORNERS) at Northwestern University conducts Neighborhood Science - its unique approach to research that seeks to include the knowledge, experiences, and voices of communities and community members in the scientific process and integrate it with data from agencies and organizations to help us better understand and develop solutions to neighborhood challenges. A key component of this approach is CORNERS’ Conceptual Framework for Ethical, Equitable, and Effective Research that guides the center’s work in a variety of research settings. The framework is steeped in community-based participatory research principles and offers guidance for building relationships with partners, maximizing benefits and minimizing potential harms in research design, and developing mechanisms of transparency and accountability. This symposium will explore the framework’s application in four distinct research projects: the Street Outreach Analytics Response (SOAR) Project, an evaluation of the Flatlining Violence Inspires Peace (FLIP) Program, an evaluation of Chicago CRED, and a research partnership with the Wellness Initiative at the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago (INVC). The SOAR Project and INVC research explore the development of projects and partnerships with the goal of cultivating meaningful relationships and community-led design. The evaluations of the FLIP Program and Chicago CRED showcase (the other end of the research process) and findings that support data-informed practice. Together, the papers present the benefits of CORNERS’ approach to violence prevention research, the critical importance of developing equitable community-researcher partnerships, and the ways in which such research can support and inform practice.