Community partnership lessons learned from the You & Me: Test and Treat study.

Background: Community-engaged research relies on the strength of partnerships to achieve and sustain shared goals. The You & Me: Test and Treat (YMTT) project aimed to promote COVID-19 test and treatment access using a tiered model of community engagement and a codeveloped toolkit to foster robust community-academic partnerships. This study assesses the YMTT project's strengths, identifies partnership lessons learned, and evaluates the toolkit's utility.

Methods: This analysis of the YMTT project was conducted from May 2024 to October 2024. A mixed-methods approach was used. Participants represented anchor, local community, and academic partners from YMTT. A validated survey assessed partnership dynamics, including communication, collaboration, and dissemination. The Community Engagement Toolkit Survey and focus groups explored the YMTT partnership strengths and toolkit's utility, while a collaborative exercise documented reflections on partnership processes. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis.

Results: Twenty-two participants (4 anchor partners, 10 community partners, and 8 academic partners) completed surveys, focus groups, and collaborative exercises. Survey results highlighted strong communication practices (88% agreement on effective, ongoing communication) and mutual respect (88% agreement on valued contributions). Key challenges and themes from the collaborative exercise included trust building, sustainability planning, equitable resource sharing, and accessibility of tools for diverse community partners.

Conclusions: This study demonstrated that strong communication and mutual respect underpin effective partnerships but highlighted the need for improved sustainability planning and accessible tools. These findings provide a roadmap for enhancing community-academic partnerships and addressing health disparities through equitable, sustainable collaboration.

Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05589376. Registered 21 October 2022.