Evidence on its own is never enough to make the social impact we desire as psychological professionals. This interactive panel will offer discussion on improving community based research from the training of psychology student researchers to collaborating with the people who make real world decisions about mental health treatment. Each panelist strives to close gaps in health outcomes in their varying roles and research partnerships. From intentional academic review to guiding the community consultation process to community dissemination, each panelist has their own positionality and commitment to shaping community engagement strategies, data outputs, and service development in response to research findings. The audience forum will offer the opportunity to discuss how to promote a collaborative dialogue with different communities, agencies, and research groups. Panelists will offer insights into examining one's research lifecycle and modifying it intentionally to place sustained community relationships as a core value over the traditional academic research process of data collection to publication pipeline. We will also offer discussion on the persistent capacity gap that slows the evolution of institutional culture to prioritize research that answers real-time problems while generating a bank of evidence that communities can use immediately.