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Throughout the two-year period, we learned a great deal about conducting community-engaged participatory research in partnership with adolescents in a school-based setting. Following are some suggestions for lessons learned and steps we found helpful.

1. Create a strong co-equal research partnership between academic researchers and a community organization that serves and reflects the culture of the community.

• Given the large Latino population in Hartford, a research team that included Spanish-speakers and members of the Hartford community was essential.
• Partnering with an organization with long-established connections in the community, including relationships with school administrators and other organizations, was invaluable.

2. Identify and engage champions on the school staff.

• Building relationships with school support staff such as librarians, internship coordinators, counselors, teachers, school food pantry coordinator, and other trusted school personnel, greatly facilitated student participation and program success.
• These champions enthusiastically supported and generously provided their time to the project, including identifying potential ACS participants, acting as a liaison between the ACS project coordinators and upper-level school administrators, assisting in recruiting participants for focus groups through existing school processes, and identifying and creating opportunities for program dissemination.

3. Acknowledge students’ challenges in committing time to all ACS activities.

• Many students hold significant responsibilities outside of school, including part-time jobs, family caregiving, participation in clubs or sports, and reliance on public transportation. Acknowledging students’ competing commitments and setting realistic expectations and flexible programming helped encourage higher ACS participation and attendance.
• If possible, integrate the ACS program with other school requirements, such as community service hours or senior capstone projects.
• Explore opportunities to incorporate the ACS program as a paid internship. We were able to pay the ACS for the hours they dedicated to the program through a local organization that recruits and places high school students in paid job-training internships.

4. Schedule ACS training sessions and locations to maximize student attendance.

• Explore whether students have common times available during the school day, such as lunch periods or early dismissal days. We found that holding regular training sessions twice a week during the school day helped to facilitate student participation.
• After-school hours were difficult to coordinate due to students’ work obligations, transportation challenges, extracurricular commitments, and family responsibilities.
• A safe, familiar, and easily accessible location for training is necessary. The school library provided the best option for our program.
• Off-site training locations are possible, but require additional considerations, such as school policies regarding off-campus activities and transportation requirements.
• Providing transportation support, such as bus passes or rideshare funding, may improve attendance and accessibility for off-site training and field trips. However, school and district policies regarding transportation should be reviewed early in the planning process. School policies may prohibit underage students from traveling in rideshare or staff vehicles.
• Providing students with clear directions, transportation instructions, and meeting location details helped reduce confusion and improve attendance at off-site events.

5. Maintain clear and frequent communication with ACS and school staff.

• One ACS coordinator was designated as the key contact person for students, which ensured that students knew who to contact with any issues or concerns. Having a recent college graduate in this role also increased students’ comfort level in communication with them.
• Helpful strategies for communicating with ACS included sending reminder texts before meetings and training sessions, asking students to confirm attendance, utilizing group chats, providing assignment reminders through text messages, encouraging students to regularly check their email, and asking students about their preferred means of communication.
• Due to students’ more consistent use of text messaging, combining email communication with text reminders improved responsiveness and participation.
• Keeping all levels of school leadership consistently informed and engaged (including internship coordinators, principals and district staff) reduced confusion and strengthened institutional support for the project.
• Consistent communications with school personnel also helped to ensure that research staff understood school policies and procedures and internship procedures and requirements

6. Make educational materials and training sessions engaging and accessible.

• Programs should allow students to grow, develop confidence, and contribute their own perspectives and ideas throughout the learning process.
• The most effective training materials were interactive and engaging, easy to understand while still educational and skill-building and designed to encourage participation and discussion. Creating a learning environment where students felt encouraged to ask questions and participate openly helped strengthen engagement and confidence.
• Students valued the hands-on experience they gained in designing and implementing focus groups and the Food Resource Guides, creative activities (e.g., designing a logo, writing social media posts, producing a podcast), and participating in school events (e.g., handing out flyers at parents’ night).
• To help students focus during training sessions, provide healthy snacks and beverages during the sessions, offer meals if sessions occur during lunch or extended hours, and include frequent breaks.
• Field trips to visit community partners (e.g., food banks), meetings with local policymakers, and visits to the CT Legislative Office Building were very well received and increased ACS’ interest in community involvement.

7. Build trust and individual relationships with students

• A small team of ACS program coordinators conducted the training and attended most sessions, which allowed them to build rapport with the students.
• Building strong relationships between ACS program coordinators and students, as well as between individual ACS members, played a major role in student engagement and retention. Trust and mutual respect for all members of the group (ACS coordinators and students) helped students feel more comfortable participating and contributed to stronger group dynamics.
• Helpful strategies included icebreakers and get-to-know-you activities at the beginning of each session, open discussions, and safe space for students to voice their own opinions and experiences.