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Engaging the For-Profit Sector in Community-Based Participatory Research: Lessons From the Ground
- Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 8, Issue 4, Winter 2014
- pp. 523-530
- 10.1353/cpr.2014.0062
- Article
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Background: Principles of community engagement articulated by leading governmental public health and research organizations are widely accepted. Academics seeking to partner effectively with communities have a variety of guidelines to access, and resources to assist community-based organizations (CBOs) exist. However, experiences related to inclusion of nontraditional partners from the for-profit private industry sector, utilizing participatory approaches, are not documented.
Objectives: This paper describes the perspective of community and academic participants on partnership development with a for-profit environmental engineering firm. Challenges related to building a transdisciplinary, crosssector partnership are highlighted.
Methods: Results are reported using the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences Partnerships for Environmental Public Health (PEPH) evaluation manual. Five activities pursued in early phases of research are described.
Conclusions: Community members and scholars recognize that complex public health problems warrant transdisciplinary and cross-sector effort. Efforts to build CBPR partnerships with for-profit industry may benefit from a stepwise approach.