Engaging the for-profit sector in community-based participatory research: lessons from the ground.

BACKGROUND: Principles of community engagement articulated by leading governmental public health and research organizations are widely accepted. Academics seeking to partner effectively with communities have a variety of guidelines to access, and resources to assist community-based organizations (CBOs) exist. However, experiences related to inclusion of nontraditional partners from the for-profit private industry sector, utilizing participatory approaches, are not documented.

OBJECTIVES: This paper describes the perspective of community and academic participants on partnership development with a for-profit environmental engineering firm. Challenges related to building a transdisciplinary, crosssector partnership are highlighted.

METHODS: Results are reported using the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences Partnerships for Environmental Public Health (PEPH) evaluation manual. Five activities pursued in early phases of research are described.

CONCLUSIONS: Community members and scholars recognize that complex public health problems warrant transdisciplinary and cross-sector effort. Efforts to build CBPR partnerships with for-profit industry may benefit from a stepwise approach.