Community-engaged research is demanding, long-term work, with progress occurring incrementally. The fifth stage invites partners to pause, recognize meaningful accomplishments along the way, and reflect on what they have achieved together. These moments of celebration create space to renew commitment, strengthen relationships, and chart thoughtful next steps. In this stage, relational accountability is centered, creating space for partners to share the responsibility with one another that persists beyond individual grants or project deliverables. 
Celebrating in community-engaged research affirms shared responsibilities and the careful work that moves the team toward shared goals. Celebrations honor the team’s persistence and care in achieving milestones and joyously recognize accomplishments. Milestones and accomplishments can be product-related (e.g., a report shared with community members or a manuscript accepted by an academic journal) or process-related (e.g., acceptance of a community organization to join the partnership or approval from a community and/or academic IRB).

Celebrate accomplishments in ways that reflect community values.

• Discuss within the partnership which milestones and accomplishments constitute a meaningful “win” and appropriate ways to recognize these successes.
• Celebrate in ways that are both culturally relevant and locally meaningful. For example, celebrate in community through gatherings and by sharing stories.  
• Recognize and honor contributions to achieving collective accomplishments.
• Avoid focusing solely on the accomplishments of individuals in the partnership. Instead, focus on how both individual and collective efforts contributed to accomplishments. 
• Celebrate team-identified milestones and goals and honor the efforts of individual partners who support the team’s progress toward them.

Collective reflection and meaning making.

• Discuss what worked, what caused harm or tension, and what should be done differently in future work.
• Create space to discuss unintended consequences or burdens that emerged during the project or while working toward the accomplishment.

Plan collectively for what comes next.

• Discuss how the work should move forward.
• Invite community leadership to help identify next steps.
• As a team, support transitions or capacity-building as needed to move toward the identified next steps.