Working together to make information accessible: Principles of university-community engagement through the Detroit Housing Counseling and Homeownership Project

Abstract

The Center for Equitable Family and Community Well-Being is committed to community-engaged research. In this paper, we explain what that means in practice through our work on the Detroit Housing Counseling and Homeownership Project. Together with community partners, our project team made important information about the state of mortgage financing and homeownership accessible to stakeholders and residents. The project was successful, in particular, for observing four key principles of community-engaged research: (1) equity in the design and distribution of power in the partnership; (2) leverage partners’ strengths; (3) transparency and regular communication; and (4) focus on sustainability and accessibility.