The Tisch College Community Research Center (TCRC) at Tufts University is a coalition of champions for participatory methodologies in community research. It seeks to expand civically-engaged research through equitable partnerships between community-based organizations and faculty, students, and staff of Tufts. TCRC's unusual operational approach illustrates this kind of relationship itself, with an intentionally structured shared-governance model that is comprised of both local community and university partners. Together, community and faculty partners determine priorities for the center, grapple with navigating social, political, and economic challenges, and make funding and other decisions. The aspirations of this model are ambitious and often difficult to realize. This session focuses on core issues that centers like TCRC must navigate.