Community Based Research
We envision a world where all trans and nonbinary (TNB) people have access to safe, relevant, and equitable health care.
Who We Are
We are a diverse network of health care providers, TNB community members, and researchers in the U.S. committed to participant-driven health research that is relevant, beneficial, and accessible to the TNB community.
Four Corners is made up of federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) who specialize in LGBTQ health, represent distinct geographic U.S. regions, and serve highly diverse TNB patient panels. Current sites include:
- Howard Brown Health in Chicago
- Whitman-Walker Institute in the District of Columbia
- Los Angeles LGBT Center in Los Angeles
- We are currently working to identify a fourth partner who represents the Southern region of the U.S.
Our Goals
- Support development of patient-centered trans health research
- Actively engage TNB community members throughout all stages of the research process (i.e., research design, development, implementation, analysis, and dissemination)
- Build research capacity among TNB community members
- Build researchers’ and providers’ understanding of TNB communities’ health priorities, concerns, preferences for engagement, etc.
Community Engagement
Four Corners is committed to centering the voices and experiences of TNB peoples. We want TNB people to be part of meaningful research that aligns with their values!
Are you TNB? Here are some questions we recommend you ask before deciding whether you would like to participate in a particular research project:
- Is this project trans led or does it involve TNB researchers?
- What is the study focused on? Is this a priority for my communities and me?
- What is the relationship of this project to my community? How will this research benefit my community?
- Have the researchers worked with local organizations or stakeholders in the community?
- Does the language on outreach materials resonate with me?
- Is it paid? Am I comfortable with this amount for my time, expertise, and/or emotional labor?
- Are there travel stipends available?
- Will I have access to the findings after the study ends? Are there ways to stay engaged after the project ends?
- Who funded the project? Is there contact information listed?
Are you a researcher? TNB communities want research that is social justice oriented and includes all of our complexities, glory, and magic! We need YOU to:
- Build intentional relationships with us
- Value our expertise, time, and emotional labor
- Center health research on the experiences of black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC)
- Invest in us by prioritizing our research interests
- Work with local trans led organizations and groups to build trust
- Work with us through all stages of research, from development to reporting back findings
- Resist “fundability” & advocate for community engaged research practices
- Compensate us in meaningful ways, including a travel stipend
- Understand & deconstruct the power structures inherent between researchers and our community, especially if they are not TNB
- Create multi-lingual research initiatives and spaces
- Embrace the complexity of gender and identity
Four Corners Research
Previous
In the summer of 2019, Four Corners hosted eight focus groups, for and by TNB individuals, across four U.S. cities (Chicago, Los Angeles, D.C., and Houston) in order to identify community health and research priorities and understand how TNB communities want to engage with research. In alignment with the participatory and collaborative values of Four Corners, TNB Network members led the analysis of these focus groups to ensure results included nuance and context from the perspectives of TNB people. Check out our findings!
FUNDING ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: This work was supported through a Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Project Program Award (EA-10754).
DISCLAIMER: All statements in this report, including its findings and conclusions, are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), its Board of Governors or Methodology Committee.
Current
Four Corners is currently conducting its second research study! This study involves interviews, conducted by and for TNB people, to help us understand how things like healthcare quality and access, economic stability, education, and employment status impact TNB peoples’ ability to engage in research and care during the wake of COVID-19.
All participants must identify as trans or nonbinary and be at least 18 years of age. All participants will receive a $50 stipend for their participation in the interviews.
If you are interested or would like to learn more, please contact Nat Ross at 773.572.8360 or natr@howardbrown.org.
¡Four Corners está llevando a cabo su segundo estudio de investigación! Este estudio incluye entrevistas, realizadas por y para personas TNB, que nos ayudarán a entender cómo algunos temas como la calidad y el acceso a la atención médica, la estabilidad económica, la educación y la situación laboral afectan la posibilidad de las personas TNB de participar en la investigación y recibir atención a raíz del COVID-19.
Todos los participantes deben identificarse como trans o no binarios y tener al menos 18 años de edad. Todos los participantes recibirán un estipendio de $50 por su participación en las entrevistas.
Si está interesado o desea obtener más información, comuníquese con Nat Ross llamando al 773.572.8360 o enviando un correo electrónico a NatR@howardbrown.org.
Upcoming Events
Facebook Live Event
We will be hosting a Facebook Live event at the end of March 2021 to report back findings from our first research study! Stay tuned for more details!
The Next STEP (Supporting TNB Engagement in Patient Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR)) Convening
In September of 2021, alongside Howard Brown’s Midwest LGBTQ Health Symposium (MLHS), Four Corners will host a two-day community convening, bringing together TNB community leaders, patients, clinicians, and researchers. The convening will allow stakeholders to connect, build relationships, share findings from patient-centered research projects in TNB health, and collaboratively identify best practices for TNB community engagement in research.
For more information, contact one of our Four Corner’s site coordinators at a health center near you:
Howard Brown Health
Nat Ross
natr@HowardBrown.org
773.572.8360
Los Angeles LGBT Center
Phoebe Lyman
plyman@lalgbtcenter.org
323.993.7458
Whitman-Walker Institute
Christopher Cannon
ccannon@whitman-walker.org
202.745.6157
Trans Accountability Project (TAP)
The Trans Accountability Project was funded by the Chicago Department of Public Health and created in March of 2019 to directly address the health, overall wellness, employment as well as safety concerns of Black and Latina trans women and to provide responses and solutions to the issues that many trans women within the community face on a generational basis.
The Trans Accountability Project’s vision states and steadfastly exhibits that trans and gender non-conforming communities and stakeholders in Chicago are collectively accountable in mobilizing resources and breaking barriers to actively invest in the health, empowerment, and overall wellness of Black and Latina trans women. Our objective is to also define barriers to ARV therapy for the TGNC community, centering the experiences and expertise of Black and Latina Trans women through community forums that lead to community-led structural level intervention to address those barriers.
The Trans Accountability Project Steering Committee is collectively comprised of members from Howard Brown Health, La Casa Norte, Brave Space Alliance, Taskforce Prevention and Community Services, as well as the Broadway Youth Center (V.O.I.C.E.S. Project). They meet biweekly either through in-person meetings or virtual attendance to discuss, plan and implement concrete changes for members of the trans and gender non-conforming communities in the form of the creation of focus groups and events, data and results sharing from and back to the trans community, resource creation and dissemination, as well as the brainstorming and concretization of tangible next steps and action plans that succeed in directly addressing and benefiting the needs of Black and Latina trans women in Chicago.