Community partners play a central role in planning and implementing HIV/STD control programs in the United States. Because the health care system in the United States is highly decentralized and fragmented, from a local health department perspective, community partners have to be broadly defined to include not only the populations affected by HIV/STD and organizations that represent those populations, but also health care providers and health care organizations. Health departments often have to balance roles that involve collaboration and shared decision-making with roles as funders who monitor contracts and the performance of funded community-based organizations. This presentation will describe how health departments and community collaborators work together in the U.S., examples of how these collaborations have been successful, and some of the challenges local health departments face as they work with diverse community stakeholders to prevent and treat HIV/STD.