Building Community Capacity for Translational Impact: A Human-Centered Research Fellowship Model

INTRODUCTION: Community partners are essential to translational research. This work describes the design and early implementation of a Community Research Fellowship model that strengthens organizational research capacity, supports shared leadership, and advances community engagement in translational science.

METHODS: Northwestern University's Alliance for Research with Chicagoland Communities (ARCC) designed an 18-month Community Research Fellowship using human-centered design approaches. Fellows-leaders from Chicagoland community-based organizations participate in sequenced learning on research design, ethics, qualitative and quantitative methods, evaluation, and partnership navigation. A core requirement is the development of an organizational research capacity-building project grounded in community priorities. In Year 2, Fellows implement their projects and serve as ambassadors, building research and partnership capacity among community organizational leaders and research teams.

RESULTS: Early results demonstrate strong engagement, research capacity building, leadership development, and institutional learning. Post-session evaluations yielded mean scores of 4.75-5.0 (5-point scale) for session quality, relevance to professional and organizational needs, and facilitation. Impact stories highlight expanded leadership visibility, peer-driven collaboration, community-based learning, and cross-CTSA collaboration has further informed best practices.

DISCUSSION: The Fellowship advances translational impact by integrating applied learning and shared leadership into community-driven research training. Early results suggest strong promise for strengthening sustainable research capacity, leadership development, and community-academic partnerships across translational research settings.