ANCHORED TO PLACE AND
ROOTED IN COMMUNITY
In a virtual meeting in mid-January, a few people engage each other in good-natured teasing—the kind that comes with familiarity and common cause. The easy-going banter fills the few minutes before 9:00 am, when the business of this gathering commences and the talk turns to research. But even the business discussion this morning will be lighter, accompanied by a sense of relief.
T
he health equity project they have been developing for months, and will soon submit for foundation funding, is undergoing its final edit. At that point, one of the attendees observes, they will be able to take a few weeks off from 9:00 am meetings. That isn’t likely, though, since the group has already identified three new phases of the work ahead. They call themselves a team: faculty, staff, and a community partner. They have a comfortable work rhythm—listening, encouraging, questioning, floating project ideas that are informed by different disciplines, expertise, and experiences. The result is what some would see as a synergy of effort and perspective. Each member of the group will do a part to bring about equitable health outcomes for local individuals and communities, but all have committed to the holistic framework. Their endeavor is longterm and important. Convened by the Urban Institute for Racial, Economic, and Environmental Justice, the team is an outgrowth of the Institute’s vision of a productive collaboration among diverse disciplines and between the university and community partners. Indeed, partnering is the Institute’s core activity; “it animates our mission,” says Jan Furman, the Institute’s director. “We reach out continually to individuals, organizations, and agencies in Greater Flint to find ways to work together in authentic partnership.” This CommunityBased Participatory Research (CBPR) framework has become a best practice in translating research into action, a process which starts with a community’s understanding of its lived experience of a problem and ends with the cocreation—community and university—of a solution. All partners are involved in all phases and aspects of research ideation, design, decision-making, power-sharing, and dissemination of findings—an approach that differs from the
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BRIDGES / SUMMER 2022
We reach out continually to individuals, organizations, and agencies in Greater Flint to find ways to work together in authentic partnership.
traditional research processes focused on contributing to the researchers’ fields of knowledge. CBPR’s focus is investigating and changing oppressive social systems. It is action research that serves the aims of social justice. Patrick McNeal champions this more inclusive approach to research. As a member of the health equity team, McNeal brings decades of experience in building bridges across and within community organizations and with the university. McNeal serves as Director of the North Flint Neighborhood Action Council (NFNAC). The NFNAC brings together residents, block club and neighborhood association leaders, organizations, and community stakeholders in some of the most economically disenfranchised areas of Flint to plan, implement, and sustain comprehensive revitalization efforts that improve the lives of residents. NFNAC provides residents with the loudest voice in change and reminds them of the community’s importance when discussing neighborhood decisions. A believer in lifelong learning, McNeal has earned both a master’s in educational leadership and a Master of Divinity. He also serves his community as a certified mediator, life coach, and Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation practitioner.
