Summary
When conducting policy research, a community’s stories are the most valuable source of data. Partnering with community leaders to engage the population will result in stronger policies that emphasize the voices, cultures, and needs of the community.
“Community partner-led strategies are also more successful in recruiting community members into research studies than more traditional approaches.”
“In CBPR, the researchers and community are partners—each bringing a critical and valuable piece to the research.”
“CBPR can help shift narratives from those that rely on stereotypes about communities of color to those that more accurately reflect their strengths and needs.”
Takeaways
- Community members are familiar with the families, understand the history of the community, and know how to probe for additional details when needed. Because of this, Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR) yields richer data collection.
- A CBPR approach will allow the stories of community members to reframe policy discussions with accurate information about the goals, assets, and needs present in the population.