Community-Based Participatory Research

1 Community-Based Participatory Research : A Strategy for Building Healthy Communities and Promoting Health through Policy Change PolicyLink is a national Research and action institute advancing economic and social equity by Lifting Up What Works . The University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health uses transdisciplinary scholarship, education, and public engagement to develop diverse leaders equipped to help solve health challenges of the 21st century and beyond. Find this report online at 2012 by PolicyLink All rights reserved.

2 Design by: Leslie Yang Cover photos courtesy of (from left to right): , WalkSanDiego, Trade, Health & Environment Impact Project, Environmental Health Coalition. Photos courtesy of (from left to right): : Meredith Minkler; : Meredith Minkler; : Anthony Veneziale; : Trade, Health & Environment Impact Project; : Analilia P. Garcia, Environmental Health Coalition; : Analilia P. Garcia, Social Model Recovery Systems, Inc.; : Trade, Health & Environment Impact Project; : Analilia Garcia, ; : , West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project; : WalkSanDiego, Network for a Healthy California.

3 Community-Based Participatory Research : A Strategy for Building Healthy Communities and Promoting Health through Policy Change A Report to The California Endowment Meredith Minkler Analilia P. Garcia School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley Victor Rubin PolicyLink Nina Wallerstein University of New Mexico This report is dedicated to the many community members who give so generously of their time and talents in partnering with academic, health department, and other professionals on Research and action to advance health-promoting policies.

4 And to the memory of Sarah Samuels, for her outstanding contributions to high-quality Research and to enhancing community and partnership capacity and building healthy communities. PolicyLink Table of Contents 7 Acknowledgments 21 3. Local Ways and Values: Use Approaches and Processes 9 I. Background and Overview of That Reflect Local community Community-Based Participatory Culture and Ways of Doing Research Things Even If It Slows Down the Process 9 Introduction 22 4. Multiple Methods: 10 CBPR Defined Use Forms of Data Collection That Can Provide Both the 10 CBPR Principles "Stories and Statistics" Needed 13 CBPR and the Fight against to Help Effect Policy Change Health Disparities 23 5.

5 Demystify the Policymaking Process: Trainings, Web- 15 II. CBPR as a Strategy for Policy Based Tools, and Links to a Change: A Conceptual Model "Policy Mentor" Can Help Your 15 CBPR Contexts, Processes, Partnership Better Understand Policy Strategies, and Outcomes and Navigate the Policy Process 17 III. Eight Promising CBPR 24 6. Engage Children and Youth in CBPR. Practices 26 7. Visual and Social Media: 18 1. Build an Effective CBPR. Take Advantage of New Partnership and Maintain it Technologies to Document, Over Time Study, and Effect Change 20 2.

6 Use Asset Identification: 28 8. Regional Scale: Build on community , Academic, Communities Can Work and Other Partners' Strengths Together on a Regional Level in Studying and Addressing on Efforts to Improve Health Shared Concerns and the Environment 4 Community-Based Participatory Research PolicyLink 31 IV. Using CBPR to Help Effect 45 V. Evaluating CBPR Processes Policy Change: Six California- and Outcomes Based Case Studies 47 VI. Additional Resources 32 Reclaiming a Latino by Topic Neighborhood in San Diego County: The Environmental 53 Appendix: Summary of Helpful Health Coalition Partnership Websites and Other Resources 34 CBPR with Youth in Los Angeles's Skid Row 36 The Trade, Health and Environment (THE) Impact Project: Addressing the Ports and Goods Movement through a Collaborative Partnership 38 The Central California Regional Obesity Prevention Project.

7 A CBPR Effort in Kern County 40 Addressing Diesel Bus Traffic and Asthma in West Oakland 42 Engaging Youth and Promotoras in CBPR to Improve the Built Environment: A Case Study from Chula Vista Community-Based Participatory Research 5. PolicyLink Acknowledgments This report grew out of our belief that Participatory Research can be a critically important approach for community -driven efforts to improve health, in part by promoting relevant change on the policy level. We also believed that many exciting examples of such work could be found in California from which valuable lessons could be drawn.

8 The experiences and materials collected for this project, and the dialogue held among leaders in the field, more than confirmed these beliefs: Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) is already practiced effectively in California and is poised to have an even greater impact through the emphasis many partnerships increasingly are placing on policy-focused Research and action. We gratefully acknowledge our Research team and advisory group members at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health and PolicyLink, and particularly Priscilla Gonzalez, Karemi Alvarez, Mary Lee, Mildred Thompson, and Rebecca Flournoy for their contributions.

9 Thanks also are due the participants in an earlier statewide convening who provided important early feedback and advice on this project. We also owe much gratitude to the many community leaders, researchers, and policymakers who gave of their time and insights as part of our six case study analyses. Finally, we are deeply grateful to The California Endowment for its continued support of this work, and particularly to Evaluation Manager Mona K. Jhawar and former Research Director Will Nicholas, for their valuable insights and feedback.

10 Community-Based Participatory Research 7. PolicyLink CBPR is a collaborative process that equitably involves all partners in the Research process and recognizes the unique strengths that each brings. CBPR begins with a Research topic of importance to the community with the aim of combining knowledge and action for social change to improve community health and eliminate health disparities.. Kellogg community Health Scholars Program (2001). 8 Community-Based Participatory Research PolicyLink I. Background and Overview of Community-Based Participatory Research Introduction local parks and streets, conditions which work against their own and their children's chances of leading safe and healthy lives.