How can partners address issues of equity and power from the beginning?

Partnership work is situated in contexts where power shapes outcomes. Issues related to equity and power are critically important for all partners to acknowledge and address. Many partnerships engage in an intentional co-design process to explore and address issues of equity and power within the partnership over time. Other strategies acknowledge that various stakeholder groups have an investment in the work and seek to engage those stakeholders both early and throughout the process. John Landsverk, former director of the Child and Adolescent Services Research Center at UC-San Diego, recalled a project in which the early engagement and collaboration with the local Association of Black Social Workers was essential to getting the aims of their partnership and research agenda right. According to Landsverk, this engagement proved invaluable to advancing the work and engaging with stakeholders.