Building Impactful Community-University Partnerships Through a Shared Power Approach

Literature on participatory research methods emphasizes the importance of cocreating knowledge with community partners and academics in pursuit of social change. This article provides a case study reflection on a project that brought together academics from multiple disciplines and community leaders who have been working to address complex social challenges for decades. With a shared power foundation, the collaborative leveraged deep community leader expertise and experience alongside multi-institutional and multidisciplinary academic research to design an innovative solution to food access challenges rife with opportunity for investment from multiple stakeholders. This case study shares reflections from this community-university partnership grounded in shared power and seeking tangible solutions to a complex and long-standing challenge. Lessons learned demonstrate the importance of continued and transparent attention to power sharing and the collective pursuit of holistic change. This paper contributes to literature on participatory action research and community-university partnerships by providing a reflective case study on an innovative and effective power-sharing model.