Individual & Partner Coaching
Our team is here to help you build the next great community-academic partnership.
We are a resource for Penn faculty, staff, trainees, and community partners to learn effective collaboration between community and academia. We guide partners to incorporate building blocks of equity throughout their partnerships: in the intervention they’re partnering on, the outcomes they’re targeting, and the partnerships themselves, including power dynamics and resource sharing.
What to expect from a coaching consultation
All initial consultations are free.
First, we will meet with you to gather information and learn about your needs.
Second, we discuss options for a customized service plan to meet your needs and budget.
We are committed to serving organizations of all sizes and capacities. Free and reduced cost services may be available for smaller community-based organizations and partners.
Our Philosophy
We focus on relationship-building, open communication, accountability, and integrity.
We believe you cannot achieve health and equity without equitable partnerships. That’s why we work with both community and academic partners, to address equity from both sides of the partnership. Sharing power and recognizing each partner’s unique contribution and expertise are keystones to successful partnerships. You then must establish a mutual agenda to accomplish your respective missions and lay out clear expectations and codes of conduct to navigate the long path to a strong, sustainable partnership. We’re here to help with that.
Areas of coaching
Finding the right partner and making the connection
Developing a shared agenda to provide mutual benefit and value-added to the community
Creating processes and guiding principles for ensuring trust and accountability
Writing and executing joint grant proposals that require authentic community-academic partnerships
Packaging and disseminating findings to multiple audiences
Evaluating the implementation and effectiveness of community-academic partnerships
Pictured from left to right: Co-Directors Nicole Thomas and Sara Solomon, Associate Director Dr. Lucy Wolf Tuton
We meet people where they’re at and work side-by-side to help them achieve their goals. By taking the time with each individual or team to understand their capacity and needs, we create customized and sustainable plans.
