Engaging Richmond presented Behind the Scenes: Invisible Work in Community-Based Research at the Eastern Sociological Annual Meeting held in Baltimore, Maryland on February 20-23, 2014. Among those presenting at the conference were Engaging Richmond researchers Chanel Bea, Amber Haley, Brenda Kenney, Chimere Miles, Toni Mitchell, Sara Moore, Andrea Robles, Marco Thomas, Albert Walker, and Emily Zimmerman.

The theme for this year’s event was “invisible work,” and presenters were asked to reflect upon the full range of work activities – including those that are unpaid, unacknowledged, and typically under-valued – that contribute to local economies and are important in sustaining people’s everyday lives.

To address the theme, the Engaging Richmond team provided a history of Richmond’s East End neighborhood and how the often “invisible” past has shaped the visible present as well as an overview of the team’s approach to community-based participatory research and action. In its overview of building a successful community-academic partnership, Engaging Richmond demonstrated how they developed mutual trust among team members and what steps they took in order to overcome certain challenges and improve communication within the group. They highlighted the results of the group’s first study, identifying community priorities, and what steps they are taking currently to assess and address community-identified priorities.

Upon return from the conference, the team plans to continue work on formalizing their presentation of the research process, capturing the projects they have accomplished, and promoting the growth that they have achieved in their commitment to one another and to the community. Overall, Engaging Richmond presenters felt the conference was a tremendous success and are eager to make community-based participatory research even more visible and valued in Richmond and elsewhere.