ARCC Launches Anti-Racist Learning Collaborative Tool

A new tool developed by the Alliance for Research in Chicagoland Communities (ARCC) aims to support researchers and community-academic research partnerships in learning and implementing strategies to integrate racial equity and anti-racism into their partnerships and research design, conduct, leadership, and impact. 

The Anti-Racist Community-Academic Research Reflective Practice Tool was developed by community and academic partners of the ARCC Steering Committee, the ARCC Anti-Racism Taskforce, and participants in the ARCC Community-Academic Anti-Racism Learning Collaborative, in partnership with the Equity Institute of the Evanston/North Shore YWCA.

Although research creates knowledge that can transform and improve lives, investigators must also acknowledge, understand, and address the history and legacy of research, research practices, and healthcare that contribute directly to systemic racism, racial health inequities, and the underrepresentation of Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) in research participation and leadership. This requires the intentional focusing of resources and power to BIPOC and other marginalized communities most experiencing the impacts of the root causes of health inequities. 

Research partners must also directly examine, reflect on, and address issues of bias and racism in engaged research and partnerships themselves to ensure that they do not perpetuate and deepen inequities and community distrust. This tool provides guiding questions to assist with this.