Invited Symposium I: On the Ground with Community Partners and Researchers: Challenges and Lessons Learned from Violence Prevention Research

Collaborative approaches to conducting research with communities and community partners is becoming more prevalent in social work research. Yet we still have so much more to learn about how to genuinely, respectfully, and effectively engage in collaborative research in ways that center on the perspectives and knowledge of community members to effect change. This symposium will focus on the experiences of community partners and researchers working in two intervention and research partnerships focused on community-centered trauma-informed violence reduction and prevention interventions funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration grant called ReCAST (Resiliency in Communities after Stress and Trauma).

Symposium participants will discuss barriers and potential solutions related to five key areas in collaborative research partnerships: (1) the complexities of multi-partner collaborative research projects, as well as the processes and structures created to manage these complexities; (2) the struggles with capacity at multiple levels, particularly the need to develop the capacity of grassroots community partners; (3) top-down evidence based approaches versus bottom up-co-creation of knowledge; (4) historical and current trust issues between institutions and communities but also within communities; and (5) ways to measure impact and further data justice: understanding what is working or what we have accomplished in ways that advance data justice. Panelists also will address the challenges and possible solutions to developing research partnerships as reported by social work scholars, including the institutional barriers that impact authentic collaborative community research.