Community engaged research provides an opportunity for scientists to co-design and conduct research that aligns with local concerns and interests and can expand scientific literacy within a community. In this study, we partnered with Portland Harbor Community Coalition (PHCC) to conduct environmental monitoring of emerging contaminants in the lower Willamette River, a historically industrialized and urbanized waterway and listed Superfund site. PHCC initiated the study and co-developed the sampling strategy and hypotheses. Throughout the duration of the project, research results were reported back by participating in online and in-person public forums and creating materials to share the project goals, outcomes, and results. An ongoing effort in the science communication strategy was to define the capabilities and constraints of suspect and nontarget screening which were communicated via infographics and videos. The community expressed interest in surface water contaminants, so the methods employed focused on detecting polar and moderately polar compounds. While this approach limited our ability to assess nonpolar Superfund contaminants of concern in the water column, these compounds are regularly monitored by the US Environmental Protection Agency and Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. The suspect and non-target analysis revealed an urbanized river with influences from wastewater effluent and industrial activity. We detected thousands of chemical features, identified over 750 by suspect screening and prioritized 114 detected compounds for future monitoring efforts based on hazard, detection frequency, and compound classes. We assessed the biological effects of a selection of surface water samples using high throughput embryonic zebrafish assays. The results showed few adverse effects, providing evidence that typical interactions with the river system are unlikely to be hazardous for community members. Following the completion of the study, we produced an accessible report of the research findings and held a community forum to share our findings and answer questions. This study provides a process of codeveloping and communicating study aims and results with a community partner with a specific focus on translating suspect and nontarget analysis results to a non-technical audience.