**Forthcoming in Progress in Community Health Partnerships (PCHP) 19.1. All rights reserved.**
ABSTRACT
Objective: To assess engagement quality, partnership processes, and network characteristics of a community-academic research collaboration.
Methods: We surveyed community and academic members of a community advisory board (CAB) in Baltimore, MD, USA (December 2019-August 2020) to assess demographics, health equity work experiences, quality of community engagement and partnership, and collaborative networks among members.
Results: Fifty-four members completed the survey (77% response rate). Members reported a median of 10 years of health equity work experience and 2 years serving on the CAB. Community (non-academic) members rated the quality of community engagement and most domains of partnership, except quality of decision-making, as high (~4/5). CAB members reported collaborative ties, on average, with 16-17 other members. Academic members had nearly twice the ties of community members. Community members’ number of ties and engagement ratings were not associated.
Conclusions: In this CAB, collaborative ties were numerous. Although community members rated the CAB’s engagement and partnership quality favorably on several dimensions, additional efforts to enhance decision-making processes and members’ influence and outreach within the network could further promote achievement of the CAB’s goals.