An academic-community partnered working group met monthly over one year to formulate approaches to engage the community to talk about depression and wellness. The group developed depression-related outreach events for the 2005 Pan African Film Festival during Black History Month (February) in South L.A. The events included: 1) poetry reading/comedy on depression; 2) photo exhibit by community members depicting influences of their local environment on mood; 3) screening of an NIMH-produced public service announcement (PSA) about depression in African American men, prior to a regularly scheduled film. The group used expert consultation and community participation to develop evaluation questionnaires to measure the impact of these events.