Building the next generation: Engaging youth in community-based participatory research: A community perspective

Engaging youth in participatory research enhances youth skills and assets and adds to the authenticity of the research. This case study will highlight a community-academic partnership between youth community members and academic researchers, formed with the goal of implementing and evaluating an evidence-based HIV prevention intervention in African American faith-based settings, and expanded in response to youth-driven imperatives to address social and environmental risk factors that impact HIV vulnerability among African American youth. This session will discuss reaching equitable partnership with youth through a systematic sequence of education and empowerment. The importance of respecting and encouraging parental involvement, promoting youth leadership and ownership, and garnering community buy in and support will be discussed.