Community-based participatory research (CBPR) increasingly is being used to study and address environmental justice. This article presents the results of a cross-site case study of four CBPR partnerships in the United States that researched environmental health problems and worked to educate legislators and promote relevant public policy. The authors focus on community and partnership capacity within and across sites, using as a theoretical framework Goodman and his colleagues' dimensions of community capacity, as these were tailored to environmental health by Freudenberg, and as further modified to include partnership capacity within a systems perspective. The four CBPR partnerships examined were situated in NewYork, California, Oklahoma, and North Carolina and were part of a larger national study. Case study contexts and characteristics, policy-related outcomes, and findings related to community and partnership capacity are presented, with implications drawn for other CBPR partnerships with a policy focus.
Community-academic partnerships have demonstrated potential for studying and improving community and environmental health, but only recently have their policy impacts been systematically studied. This case study highlights the evolution, research, and policy processes and outcomes of a community based participatory research (CBPR) partnership that has had multilevel impacts on health policy concerning diesel bus emissions and related environmental justice issues. The partnership between West Harlem Environmental ACTion, Inc. (WE ACT) and the Columbia University Center for Children's Environmental Health was explored using a multimethod case study approach. The conversion of New York City's bus fleet to clean diesel and the installation by the EPA of permanent air monitors in Harlem and other Bhot spots^were among the outcomes for which the partnership's research and policy work was given substantial credit. Lessons for other urban communityacademic partnerships interested in using CBPR to promote healthy public policy are discussed.
Community-based participatory research (CBPR) increasingly is being used in both developed and developing countries to study and address community-identified issues through a collaborative and empowering action-oriented process. In 2003-2005, a study was undertaken to document the impacts of CBPR on healthy public policy in the US. From an initial review of 80 partnership efforts, 10 were selected as best capturing the range and diversity of projects meeting the study criteria, and were the subject of in-depth case study analysis. This article presents and analyzes one of these cases, a collaboration between researchers at the Indiana University School of Nursing and the Healthy Cities Committee of New Castle, IN, USA. With its action component still underway a decade after the formal study's completion, the partnership was selected to enable an examination of sustainable change through CBPR. Beginning with a participatory door-to-door health survey of 1000 households using a non-probability quota sampling strategy, the project involved community members in many stages of the research process. A smoking rate of twice the national average was among the study findings that helped to galvanize the community into action. A variety of health promoting environmental and 'small p policy' changes were undertaken ranging from a bill restricting indoor smoking in public places to an initiative to develop a system of trails throughout the county to promote physical fitness and decreased reliance on automobiles. This article examines the evolution of the original CBPR partnership, its research methods and findings, and the environmental changes it sought to promote healthier lifestyles. Success factors, barriers and sustainability benchmarks are discussed. The case study offers an example of the potential of CBPR for helping to lay the groundwork for long-term sustainable change in support of healthier communities.
In 2000, a regional rule governing maximum individual cancer risk from stationary facilities in Southern California was dramatically altered, reducing allowable risk levels by 75%. This article uses a case study approach to explore the role of a community-based participatory research (CBPR) partnership, the Southern California Environmental Justice Collaborative, in producing research and helping spearhead policy advocacy leading to this policy change. It also highlights the role of the collaborative in helping to change the framing of the issue from individual to cumulative risk assessment, so that the regulatory agencies began to reflect this broader thinking in their policymaking. Copyright 2006 by The Policy Studies Organization.
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