Background: The number of English learner (EL) students has been steadily increasing within the United States and currently includes more than 5M students. The National Education Association (2020) estimated that by 2025, nearly 25% of all learners will be EL students. Curricula, interventions, and assessments for both diagnostic and academic purposes need further development to accommodate the growing multilingual student population. However, researchers who aim to bridge the gap in available tools often struggle to successfully engage underrepresented and marginalized communities, including the EL population, and the school districts who serve them (Bonevski et al., 2014; Erves et al., 2017). Objective: The current paper provides a descriptive review of our experience engaging with the Spanish-speaking, Hispanic/Latinx community and school districts that serve this population regarding a research study focused on development of a valid, Spanish-language social-emotional assessment. We aim to impart our approach to partnering with underrepresented communities so other researchers can more effectively engage and support them. Setting: Recruitment efforts are underway across the United States and have included virtual and in-person networking. Presently, partnerships have been established with school districts within Illinois, Texas, Michigan, and the District of Columbia. Population: Target populations include community-based organizations to help develop stakeholder-informed recruitment plans to effectively enroll Spanish-speaking Hispanic/Latinx EL students in grades 3-7; their families; and school leaders from across the United States. Practice: We engaged in several community-informed recruitment practices to help us achieve our recruitment goals (e.g., Cunningham-Erves et al., 2023). Research Design: The University Medical Center IRB approved all aspects of this research. This project began early in the pandemic, many schools shifted to remote learning. Wherein we typically identified a limited number of large school districts to collect classroom-level data and to conduct classroom-based individual recruitment efforts, this was no longer sufficient. Further, the EL students we aimed to recruit were among the most negatively impacted by COVID-19 (Long, 2022; Relyea et al., 2023; University of Cincinnati, 2021). After schools re-opened, recovery from learning loss and effectively managing their time and resources within a stressed educational system were their focus. Even with Spanish-language flyers, bilingual webpages, and paid advertisements, traditional methods of recruitment were only minimally effective. We adopted a broader approach to recruitment than previously utilized. To better engage with the community, we began presenting our research problem to community-based and inter-organizational groups. Many of these community members were the same stakeholders we needed to engage in our research. Our research team presented our past recruitment designs and current challenges and began listening. Together, we then brainstormed strategies to reach a larger audience and more effectively build trust in the community. Data Collection and Analysis: We tracked recruitment ideas, strategies, leads, partnerships, and outcomes. Our primary outcomes of interest were recruitment rates and attrition rates after engagement. Results: Here we highlight a range of strategies for reaching underrepresented communities as suggested by members within the community-based organizations. First, because the Principal Investigator was herself not a Spanish-speaking Hispanic/Latina individual, it was important to have representation within our research team and endorsement of our team or project from a trusted community, educational, or religious liaison. To this end, we enlisted the support of a English-Spanish bilingual parent who also worked within an area school district to act as a trusted liaison and to be present at in-person events. As one such example, at a Bilingual Parent Action Committee resource fair, parents would engage openly with the liaison; in one morning, eight new families signed up for information. This trusted individual can more effectively share project information with community bilingual parent groups and at area events. Next, minimize wordiness on materials and better convey the benefits of participation. If possible, utilize text messaging and other audio-based strategies. In response, we have developed Spanish informational messages that play when families are on hold while calling other offices. Through conversation with community members, to reduce attrition, it was suggested that we reduce the number of points of contact for enrollment. We modified our process to have the bilingual coordinator conduct the online enrollment process during a phone call with the parent. We also reach out to parents who provide their contact information, versus asking them to contact us. Community members suggested that enrolling participants simultaneously with other events may yield the greatest return. When families attend other school or community events, often times, children attend. If participation can occur during those events, it facilitates their completion. To engage better with school districts, ideas included providing educational sessions for educators or families on assessment, social-emotional learning, or mental health -- capitalizing on expertise within our team and providing benefit to the partner. Rather than cold-calling prospective school districts, community leaders stressed again how one-on-one engagement in person was key even for educators. Community leaders suggested hosting "lunch and learns" to share information with educators and school leaders. While we were unable to implement this strategy, we did attend key national conferences (e.g., National Association for Bilingual Education) to engage school partners with large Spanish-speaking populations. By hosting vendor tables at conferences, we made personal connections and increased visibility about our work. Finally, school leaders stressed providing materials to them for distribution to families about the partnership and research. Being able to provide schools with materials translated already into Spanish also facilitates their participation and ability to assist with recruitment efforts. Discussion: Community engagement is time-intensive. It is not enough to post a flyer or send an email. A face and a name to connect to the information is needed to establish a trusting relationship (Wallerstein & Duran, 2006). Underrepresented communities, like all communities, value transparency about what the time commitment will be and the end goal. Research opportunities that yield mutual benefit are the most effective partnerships and long-term success. Through varied outreach efforts, new opportunities arise to connect and engage with the EL community. As a result, in addition to individual participants, we developed new partnerships with four districts that have high percentages of Spanish-speaking EL students.