 The findings from the MICHR community engagement retreat suggests that there are several key barriers to effective community academic partnerships. These include lack of communication and relationship building, difficulty identifying shared goals, values and norms, and unequal funding and role distribution. Additionally, community members expressed a need for greater respect for their contributions and more training opportunities to build capacity. Academic members highlighted the difficulties associated with balancing the demands of promotions and tenure with the time required for community-engaged research. Furthermore, they suggested that more efforts should be made to create connections between potential partners from the community and academia. This article was offered by Susan J. Wolford, Aizji Buyukta, Patricia Pichowsky, and others.