Journal Article

Promoting Environmental Justice Through Community-Based Participatory Research: The Role of Community and Partnership Capacity

Vásquez, Victoria Breckwich, Petersen, Dana, Tajik, Mansoureh, Minkler, Meredith

2008

Overview

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.

• Publisher: Sage Publications,SAGE Publications,Sage,SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subject: African Americans / American Indians / Biological and medical sciences / Business / California / Case Studies / Child Health / Community / Community Action / Community based action research / Community Characteristics / Community involvement / Community Networks - organization & administration / Community Organizations / Community Participation / Community research / Disadvantaged / Diseases / Economic Factors / Environmental Education / Environmental Health / Environmental Influences / Environmental Justice / Environmental law / Environmental legislation / Environmental Research / Environmental Standards / Focus Groups / Hazardous Materials / Health education / Health problems / Health Promotion / Humans / Institutional Cooperation / Interviews as Topic / Legislators / Lobbying / Medical sciences / Minority Groups / Miscellaneous / New York / Nonprofit Organizations / North Carolina / Oklahoma / Organizational Case Studies / Participatory Research / Partnerships / Physical Environment / Political Issues / Pollution / Public Health / Public health. Hygiene / Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine / Public Policy / REGULAR ARTICLES / Research - organization & administration / Rural Environment / Secondary School Students / Social Justice / Systems Approach / United States / Urban Environment / Urban Problems