ABSTRACT
There is no shortage of social, economic, and health issues to address, but there is not always a clear path to knowing how to identify the necessary resources to address those issues. The goal in this chapter is to describe the processes by which communities can begin to better initiate and guide relationships with academics in order to engage in research endeavors that improve health outcomes. Partnership approaches are one option, not only with academic institutions, but also partnerships with government agencies, the private sector, health care institutions, and other community-based organizations. A range of examples operationalize effective partnership development, implementation, and sustainability practices. Many of the examples provided here are largely focused on academic-community partnerships, but the principles, functions, and processes described in this chapter can be applied to a range of potential partnership approaches that allow communities to initiate and facilitate these relationships.
