Community Research
Your community faces a daunting challenge: maybe you’ve noticed that more people seem to be getting sick with cancer; maybe you’re trying to prevent the siting of a polluting industry in your neighborhood; or maybe you want to start a cooperative that promotes local businesses and workers. What should you do?
An open, collective and well-organized public meeting is a crucial place to start, driven by your community, and facilitated by insiders and outsiders. Even though not everyone will get involved, you can none-the-less ensure that most everyone is invited. This keeps things democratic, plus it brings together the thinking power of your community that likely remains an untapped source of power to address your problem.
Start with participation, not passive listening, by having everyone work in small and then large groups to design their own solutions! Check out the Green Action Plan (pdf) to make sure that you have a process figured out to ensure inclusion that is none-the-less as well organized as it can be. Community based research is undeniably messy. But that messiness is crucial to doing good research that addresses diversity of context and community.
Encourage everyone involved to ground their knowledge (pdf). There is not one sole voice of expertise, whether that be the government, the academy, or a local community member. All voices matter to do proactive research that facilitates proactive change, and we each benefit from grounding our knowledge in our own experiences, not domineering over others.
How does this actually work out? The process has helped many communities! Here are some salient examples:
- The community of Fruithurst, Alabama researched and brought attention to cancer.
- WAIT CBS Birmingham, February 14, 2017
- WAIT CBS Birmingham, March 7, 2017
- WAIT CBS Birmingham, January 7, 2018
- Also, see January 30th, 2018 coverage from: WAIT CBS Birmigham; ABC3340; and AL.com
- The community of Industry, Illinois researched and brought attention to and stop a large-scale corporate hog farms.
- Two Midwestern watersheds reduced phosphorus pollution.
Here are the kinds of things you can achieve and/or produce through Community Based Research:
- Water Quality Test Results
- Soil Quality Test Results
- Action Plan
- Action Implementation
- Interview data on illnesses
- Survey data on illnesses, water sourcing, and environmental exposures
- Grant funding for remediation and/or research