2024 Bridge to Academia: Creating and sustaining successful community-academic partnerships

In the past two decades, there has been growing interest in connecting academic researchers and community-based practitioners to improve the translation of research findings to real-world settings. Community engaged research principles can guide approaches to developing authentic and collaborative relationships that benefit both parties. However, establishing and sustaining these relations can be challenging. This presentation, co-led by a community-based service provider and academic partners, will discuss pathways to creating academic-community partnerships and best practices for ensuring their success. Discussants will review their own ongoing collaborative projects in which community engaged research is being used to create effective clinical programming and a GAP analysis for Port Huron, Michigan.