Abstract Environmental factors play an important and explanatory role in health disparities. Research suggests that a community should be an integral part of the process of solving community problems. Consequently, there has been a shift from traditional academic research to more community participatory approaches. To our knowledge none of these approaches have examined the role of academic co-locations (multiple site locations) as part of a community-level cancer prevention and disparities approach. Our co-location strategy involves exporting faculty and staff, clinical trials, interventions, outreach, education, and research from Georgetown University's main campus to a newly established office site located in Southeast, DC, a medically underserved area. Using the environmental focus group study as a case example of the impact of our co-location strategy, we seek to put forward an academic co-location definition and framework for implementation. Our findings show that co-location is a viable strategy that should be considered as part of a multifaceted approach in building and sustaining collaborative partnerships and research capacity, particularly within minority underserved communities. Focus group themes emerged around six topical areas: (1) the concept of environment, (2) perception of pollution, (3) perceptions of water quality, 4) perceptions of air quality, 5) health issues related environmental pollutants, (6) personal and community environment, and 7) environmental information received. Our co-location strategy was also associated with the following outcomes: beneficial in establishing trust, respect, accessibility, and success in study accrual and retention. Co-location benefits, challenges, and lessons learned are also discussed. Citation Format: Sherrie Flynt Wallington, Chiranjeev Dash, Rhonda Hamilton, Everett Dodson, Lucile L. Adams-Campbell. The co-location of academia with the community in addressing cancer health disparities: A new model of partnerships for environmental public health. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Twelfth Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2013 Oct 27-30; National Harbor, MD. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Can Prev Res 2013;6(11 Suppl): Abstract nr B12.