title: Lessons learned from building an infrastructure for community-engaged research.
abstract: Before community-based participatory research (CBPR) can commence an infrastructure needs to be established whereby both academic researchers and community members can participate in CBPR as equitable partners throughout the research process.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We describe the key principles of the Brooklyn Health Disparities Center (BHDC), a community-academic-government partnership, to guide the development for an infrastructure to support, increase, and sustain the capacity of academics and community members to engage in CBPR to address cardiovascular health disparities in Brooklyn, New York.
  
  
  METHODS
  The guiding principles of the BHDC consist of 1) promoting equitable and collaborative partnerships 2) enhancing research capacity and 3) building/sustaining trust. Delphi survey, youth summer internship programs, and workshops were among the tools utilized in enhancing community capacity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Several lessons were gleaned: design programs that are capable of building trust, skills, capacity, and interest of community members concomitantly; be flexible in terms of the priorities and objectives that the partners seek to focus on as these may change over time; and build a groundswell of local advocates to embrace the research and policy agenda of the BHDC.
authors.affiliation: Brooklyn Health Disparities Center, Brooklyn, New York.
authors.forename: Calpurnyia B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.affiliation: Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, Brooklyn, New York.
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Browne
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York.
authors.forename: Tracey E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.affiliation: Brooklyn Health Disparities Center, Brooklyn, New York.
authors.forename: Kweli
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rashied-Henry
authors.affiliation: Brooklyn Health Disparities Center, Brooklyn, New York.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Primus
authors.affiliation: Brooklyn Health Disparities Center, Brooklyn, New York.
authors.forename: Raphael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.affiliation: Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, Brooklyn, New York.
authors.forename: Humberto
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York.
authors.forename: Ferdinand
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zizi
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York.
authors.forename: Girardin
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jean-Louis
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Sciences, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York.
authors.forename: Clinton
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Office of the Brooklyn Borough President, Brooklyn, New York, United States of America.
authors.forename: Yvonne
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Graham
authors.affiliation: Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, Brooklyn, New York.
authors.forename: Marilyn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fraser-White
keywords: Community-based participatory research; health disparities; minority health; partnerships