Since 2002, community-based participatory research methods have been used by the Calvin College Nursing Department to map out a strategic health plan for three urban, low-income, underserved neighborhoods. Nine focus groups and 449 door-to-door health surveys were completed across the three urban neighborhoods between 2002 and 2004. Neighborhood meetings were held to share the results of the research, and to give residents a platform to identify the top five health concerns for their neighborhood along with recommended solutions. The top health concern identified by all three neighborhoods was lack of access to health care. The resident-driven solution addressing this issue was development of a Community Health Worker Program. Residents would be trained in basic health care and would work with nursing students to promote health and access to care in the neighborhood. The Community Health Worker Program was identified on the strategic plan as a strategy to promote access to care, and was initiated in the three neighborhoods in 2005. Evaluation measures were outlined in the strategic plan to measure effectiveness of the collaborative program. Between 2009 and 2011, students and Community Health Worker Program members collaborated to complete the same research process of focus groups and door-to-door surveys as initiated in 2002. Neighborhood meetings were conducted to disseminate the research results, review the top five health concerns, recommend solutions, and update the strategic plan. Results showed that emergency room use and barriers to health care decreased in the three neighborhoods between 2004 and 2011; access to dental care increased. Combining community-based participatory research with written strategic plans was found to be a useful strategy to unite community members, nursing students and faculty members, and neighborhood organizations in a long-term partnership addressing resident-driven health concerns and solutions in urban underserved neighborhoods while educating nursing students