Doing community-driven research: A description of Seattle Partners for healthy communities

Seattle Partners, an Urban Research Center (URC) funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is a partnership of community agency representatives, community activists, public health professionals, academic s, and health care providers whose mission is to improve the health of urba n Seattle, Washington, communities by conducting community-based participat ory research. This article describes the development and characteristics of Seattle Partners. Using primarily qualitative methods, including periodic in-depth interviews, evaluators identified the components necessary for Sea ttle Partners to maintain a collaborative and establish a research center d riven by community interests. Seattle Partners is run by an unrestricted an d inclusive board that has spent 5 years developing both an operating struc ture and various research interventions. Operating under Community Collabor ation Principles, the board identified social determinants of health as the priority area in which to work. Collaboration, "small and concrete" accomp lishments, skilled individuals, and funder support directly influence the s uccess of the center. Decision making, project selection, and board composi tion have all been challenges to work through. Learning how to do and susta in the work are lessons being learned as Seattle Partners matures.