Community engaged research has burgeoned over the past two decades, characterized by a paradigm shift from doing work on communities to doing work with communities. Evolving from niche to conventional, this methodological approach centers equity and addresses social concerns through partnership. As universities focus on public engaged scholarship, it is essential that scholars and community members have the capacity to critically engage in this space. The 2026 Child Study Center Innovation Hub symposium, Community Engaged Research for Public Impact: Process to Policy, will provide a forum to do this, focusing on community engaged research perspectives, methods, and approaches with diverse populations, in multiple geographies, across the lifespan. Partnering with the Community Engaged Research, Action, and Partnerships (CERAP) Unit at the Social Science Research Institute, this interdisciplinary symposium will bring together Penn State faculty, community partners, practitioners, and others to learn more about community engaged research and how to harness this approach to improve the lives of diverse children, youth, and families. Velma Murry will share expertise in utilizing community engaged approaches at the individual, familial, community, policy, and intervention levels with rural and urban populations, and she will share a historical perspective, highlighting changes and growth in this approach. Goessling, an expert in participatory, action-oriented research approaches and research capacity building, will showcase the process—a community engaged iterative research cycle—within the education domain. Elan Hope will share a unique perspective as a university scholar and policy analyst to demonstrate how community engaged approaches can be used to produce transformative science.