Introduction
As part of our role as a National Program Office, we regularly facilitate networking and peer-learning opportunities among E4A grantees. Our goal with this blog is to share broader learnings that emerged from these networking events during which grantees spoke about successes and challenges and imagined what future collaborations might look like. The themes of continuous co-learning, community relationships, and practical research approaches highlight not only how racial and Indigenous health equity work unfolds on the ground, but also how researchers, leaders, and advocates across fields might approach evidence-building, knowledge-sharing, and equity research more thoughtfully. This reflection offers highlights and insights that speak to both the grantee experience and the broader pursuit of racial and Indigenous health equity.
Theme 1: Continuous Co-Learning
Continuous co-learning manifested in multiple ways throughout the discussions, with grantees sharing insights about how teaching and learning are part of an ongoing process grounded in reciprocity. Specifically, grantees from the Indigenous-Led Solutions to Advance Health Equity and Wellbeing Call for Proposals (CFP) shared examples of youth, Elders, and knowledge holders making vital contributions to project design and implementation. In our racial and health equity research projects, community members, housing intervention residents, and contributors play a critical role in informing and often co-designing the projects funded by E4A. These perspectives challenge conventional academic hierarchies and instead foster processes of mutual, bi-directional learning.
Theme 2: Community Relationships
Research projects thrive when strong relationships are at their core and they are grounded in community requests and priorities. The groundwork to lay the foundations of such projects often includes securing community approvals, identifying and attempting to remediate power imbalances, cultivating trust, and active listening to communities and partners.
Like many community partnerships, a balance must be struck in how much we ask of our partners, many of whom are already overextended and underresourced. This means showing up in spaces that are not always project-specific, honoring local events, and entering conversations without a preset agenda.
Theme 3: Practical Research Approaches
The practical research implications of our conversations were powerful and, in many ways, served as an antithesis to rigid academic notions of pre-defined protocols and maintaining the current status quo. Grantees emphasized that flexibility is key to success in working with community partners—whether that involves co-designing interview guides, shaping research questions, or structuring dissemination.
Grantees and project partners stressed the importance of funding practices that explicitly budget for food, ceremony, and relationship-building. These elements are essential to the work and honor critical aspects of project success, and must be recognized as integral parts of how research is designed and funded moving forward. Community members challenge us to think big, think practically, and, at times, think radically to reshape our preconceived notions of what makes research relevant and useful. In this sense, research approaches become less about enforcing standardization and more about aligning respect with rigor.
Conclusions
What does this mean for researchers, leaders, and advocates beyond these sessions? First, it signals that high-quality evidence and solutions to our shared problems come not only from statistical associations but also from the relationality that makes research possible.
Second, it shows us a better way to conduct scientific work—with our relationships and values intact—especially at a time when the federal funding landscape feels both treacherous and unstable.
Finally, it reminds us that methodology is not just an abstract concept; it is a living process shaped by education, connection, and community. For evidence to truly be actionable, it must be trusted, relevant, and rooted in relationships.