title: Using a participatory approach to provide assistance to community-based organizations: the Seattle Partners Community Research Center.
abstract: Community-based organizations (CBOs), including grassroots, voluntary organizations, are an important part of any strategy for addressing social determinants of health. Because of the challenges faced by CBOs, "enabling systems" may be neededto help them survive and fulfill theirmissions, andresearchers have a variety of skills that allow them to play a role in such systems. The potential for researchers to play a role in supporting CBOs led the Seattle Urban Research Center (known as Seattle Partners) to establish a community research center (CRC) as one of its core projects. This article describes the operation of the Seattle Partners CRC and gives examples of how it has worked collaboratively with CBOs in providing technical assistance. The Discussion section draws from the CRC experience to examine the benefits and challenges of collaboration and the trade-off between capacity building and providing direct technical assistance in promoting long-term CBO viability.
authors.affiliation: University of Washington, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Seattle, USA. cheadle@u.washington.edu
authors.forename: Allen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cheadle
authors.forename: Marianne
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sullivan
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Krieger
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ciske
authors.forename: Molly
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.forename: James K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Schier
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Eisinger
mesh_terms: D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003256:Community Participation; D006290:Health Planning Technical Assistance; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D020380:Needs Assessment; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012109:Research Support as Topic; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014504:Urban Health; D014861:Washington