Table 4.

Quotes Illustrating the Team Impacts of Engaging Richmond

Motivations “I want this team to make sure people get what they need … Families need to get somewhere.”

Skepticism based on previous engagement “What happens when we give it? … We don’t get anything in return. We see this happen so many times, it makes it seem that it didn’t matter, what we gave, and our voice doesn’t matter.”

Ownership “I feel a lot of ownership. I feel like the success or failure of the project is my success or failure. I feel like I want everyone to feel the same way. I want everyone to do their best, I just feel like this is our project, this is a representation of our work and this is what people see, so it has to be done and done well.”

Building trust “I think there is a lot of trust. I think it has increased since we’ve been a team. I think we have a lot of respect for one another and each other’s opinions, which is why we can agree to disagree now, versus going back and forth constantly.” “I’d say it [trust] increased because as time went on we got to know each other so we know what to expect from each other.” “We all sit at the table and we all have the same reciprocity.”

Experience with research and action “We need some action and some solutions. I got frustrated, because it’s like ‘Oh my goodness, are we really going to waste this time again with the problems, what the system did, and policies?’ Okay, we know all of that.” “That’s the frustration for everybody - you don’t always see what you’re building. But as time goes on you see what you’re building. ‘Cause that’s the nature of the process and that’s why the frustration sets in.”

Reputation “I think that they [service providers who participated in focus groups] were impressed with what we brought to the process … I think they were generally taken aback in a very good way that here there’s this group of people in the community that are working on research in the kind of way that we are and it’s like, ‘Where have these people been?’”