The Youth Research Council (YRC) is a Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) project in which high school students, undergraduate and graduate students, and university-affiliated professors and administrators collaborate on consequential, justice- oriented research projects in their community. In this article, twelve members of the YRC reflect on our reasons for joining and remaining active participants in this community-engaged research project. Our discussion and analysis of “what brought us here” and “what keeps us here” offers a window into strategies and struggles for cultivating transformational reciprocity and sustainability within research partnerships.