Due to the changing geography of migrants settling and resettling in traditional and new destinations in different regions from various parts of the globe, there has been a heightened need for mutual understanding and collaboration between native and newcomer populations. This is especially important as local places launch initiatives for immigrant integration and inclusion. Consequently, direct-practice and policy practitioners who work with international migrants have an opportunity to inform not only best practices but shape theory and research in this growing area of scholarship. The purpose of this paper is to examine immigration practitioner and researcher perspectives regarding the challenges and opportunities to working with and understanding newcomer integration. We position our analysis within the context of university-community partnerships and community-based participatory research. In doing so, we examine, through qualitative focus group data, researchers' and practitioners' experiences regarding working with and gathering research on immigrant communities. We then discuss the challenges and opportunities these individuals confront in doing immigrant integration-related work and provide recommendations on how to maximize effectiveness. Practitioners and researchers have sought ways to reconcile their different world-views by working to identify needs and develop applied solutions to addressing those needs. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is an example of an established method within university-community partnerships through which this may be accomplished. The participatory approach, as researchers articulate, enhances the validity of community-based research, facilitates effective work with communities, and acknowledges accurate understanding of the community life characteristics, allowing researchers to obtain truthful information. However, how does CBPR look when brought to the field of immigrant integration? For this study, we conducted three focus groups at two different international conferences that included both immigration researchers and practitioners. Two focus groups were held in April 2016 at Welcoming America's Welcoming Interactive convening in Atlanta. A third focus group was held at the Welcoming Economies (WE) Global Network annual convening in Philadelphia in October 2016. We chose these venues as they targeted both practitioners and researchers interested or actively working on immigrant integration policies and practices. They also provided us with a sample that was inclusive of researchers from academic, public, nonprofit, and private institutions as well as practitioners from the nonprofit and public sectors. Participants in the conferences and the focus groups also came from varying levels of practice to their work, consisting of sub-national, national, or international reach. Therefore, these focus groups provided a unique opportunity to not only explore these individuals' experiences, but capture the lessons learned regarding challenges, opportunities, and best practices. Through these focus groups, interested scholars/researchers and practitioners were brought together to discuss their experiences with conducting research about immigrant and refugee integration. We structure our discussion of the findings first by addressing perspectives on challenges for the study of newcomer integration followed by addressing opportunities and recommendations for the study of newcomer integration. We conclude with recommendations of effective models for local university-community partnerships to address challenges and opportunities for immigrant integration discussed among focus group participants.