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This paper reports on an action research project about organizational change by a regional food bank in New York State's southern tier. While the project team initially included a sociologist, food bank leadership and staff, it expanded to involve participants in food access programs and area college students. This paper combines findings from qualitative research about the food bank with findings generated through a collaborative inquiry about a ten-year process of organizational change. We ask how a regional food bank can change its approach to address root causes of hunger. Acknowledging that narrow, pragmatic definitions of hunger promote charitable responses, our collaboration is grounded in structural understandings of poverty that refuse to blame the poor or treat poverty as an accident. Decades-long economic restructuring, deindustrialization and a rise in the service economy have resulted in growing inequality and long-term demand for "emergency" food in New York State. We outline critiques by scholars and practitioners of the emergency food regime. Description and analysis of the organizational change efforts of the Food Bank of the Southern Tier combine discourse analysis, collaborative inquiry, interviews, and participant observation. Discourse analysis of the agency's strategic plans documents changes in aspirations, exposure to new epistemic communities and repertoires of actions. Interviews with participants evidence impacts of the organization's advocacy and education programs on people with lived experience in poverty. Through a participatory process, we developed a collaborative chronology of phases of organizational change. Collaborative analysis of organizational changes demonstrates new definitions of the problem, a shift in service focus, changing outcomes and increased funding for advocacy. While recognizing substantial constraints, this project contributes to evidence that food banks may shift their discourse and practices beyond charity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: New evidence has found breast and cervical cancer risk factors unique to African American women. Thus, there is a significant need to increase their knowledge and understanding of relevant risk factors and the potential protective benefits associated with breast‐feeding and HPV vaccination. The National Witness Project is a robust, evidence‐ and community‐based lay health advisor programme that uses group education, navigation and survivor narratives to increase cancer screening among diverse underserved women. Methods: A multi‐phase, community‐based participatory research study was conducted across three sites in Buffalo, NY, New York City and Arkansas between October 2016 and January 2017. Pre‐/post‐test surveys were administered during volunteer trainings and community programmes. An evaluation survey was also administered at the Annual Meeting for Education and Networking. Paired sample t tests were used to compare pre‐/post‐test survey scores. Results: Trainee survey results showed the overall mean per cent correct pre‐/post‐test scores were 47.7% (SD: 21.87) and 79.2% (SD: 16.14). Altogether, 31 educational programmes reached 332 community participants. Participants' breast and cervical cancer knowledge scores were significantly higher after the education programme (84.4%) than before (55.3%) with a mean change score of 29% (P ≤.001). Conclusion: This paper reveals the underlying complexities to update the educational curriculum content of a multi‐site, community‐based outreach organization. The new curriculum significantly improved African American women's knowledge about breast and cervical cancer by 10%‐36%, clearly demonstrating that this information was new to them. The need for education programming in African American communities to disseminate cancer prevention and risk information remains high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The paper examines the role of community-based participatory research (CBPR) within the context of social justice literature and practice. Methods: Two CBPR case studies addressing health inequities related to Type 2 Diabetes and Cardiovascular disease were selected from a national cross-site study assessing effective academic-community research partnerships. One CBPR partnership works with African Americans in rural Pemiscot County, Missouri and the other CBPR partnership works with African American and Latinos in urban South Bronx, New York City. Data collection included semi-structured key informant interviews and focus groups. Analysis focused on partnerships' context/ history and their use of multiple justice-oriented strategies to achieve systemic and policy changes in order to address social determinants of health in their communities. Results: Community context and history shaped each partnership's strategies to address social determinants. Four social justice approaches (identity/recognition, procedural, distributive, and structural justice) used by both partnerships were identified. These social justice approaches were employed to address underlying causes of inequitable distribution of resources and power structures, while remaining within a scientific research framework. Conclusion: CBPR can bridge the role of science with civic engagement and political participation, empowering community members to become political agents who integrate evidence into their social justice organizing strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seven focus groups with a diverse group of intimate partner violence (IPV) survivors ( n = 39) explored how to improve survivor satisfaction, empowerment, and safety related to their court-based experiences. These occurred in three jurisdictions which all supported community coordinated responses to IPV. This paper contributes to the literature by asking survivors about existing service gaps and how helping professionals might enhance court operations. Analysis was conducted using a framework approach based on the socio-ecological model. Findings suggest four areas worthy of improvement: Logistics, Emotional Enhancements, Society's Perception of IPV, and Court Procedures. The recommendations for change are neither expensive nor complicated; rather, modest changes may result in greater victim satisfaction with the courts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participatory action research (PAR) is gaining critical attention from scholars across the social sciences, and in the field of geography more specifically, as it promises a viable alternative for researchers concerned with social justice. If most of the benefits of PAR are identified in terms of its potential as a vehicle for social change and action, PAR's role in personal change is less understood. This paper considers the development of new subjectivities in a PAR process from a post-structural perspective. My objective is to reframe and connect the social justice orientation of PAR to a feminist post-structural project which emphasizes the fluidity and multiplicity of subject positions as the basis for personal (and social) transformation. Analysis draws upon collaborative research conducted with six young women in New York City and their project Makes Me Mad: Stereotypes of young urban womyn of color. Discussion addresses the role of critical reflection, dialogue, emotion, and narrative in the participatory research process. Building upon critical educator/theorist Paolo Freire's contributions to PAR, I address issues of power, scale, and the politics of location in order to contribute to understandings of spatial praxis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This case study examines an eight-year transdisciplinary action research initiative involving an academic planning and design research center and a state agency working in collaboration with other state agencies, nonprofit organizations, and communities. The primary goal of this collaboration was to help communities across New York State change the way they engage in community planning so as to improve the likelihood that investments of people, time, and financial resources result in revitalization. Through a series of linked projects, the questions addressed by the cases shifted in scale from individual community-based projects, to a series of demonstration projects in multiple communities, to a statewide community education program. Outcomes included policy and program changes at the state level as well as positive change and action for individual communities. The collaborative process presented challenges as it grew in scale and complexity. A discussion of the lessons learned reflects on the importance of acknowledging the effect of changes occurring over long-term collaboration, establishing a collaborative framework, and recognizing differences in mission and culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I argue that participatory action research offers the potential for challenging the normative production of knowledge by including excluded perspectives and engaging those most affected by the research in the process. I report on a participatory action research project ‘Makes Me Mad: Stereotypes of Young Urban Womyn of Color’ that I developed with six young women from New York. In my discussion I address key principles of participatory action research (PAR) including the significance of building collective capacity and creating a community of researchers, the value of PAR as a research methodology, issues of audience, and the presentation of research findings (beyond the journal article) so they are ‘received’. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article details the evolution of an action research project over the fall of 2011 through the spring of 2014. The project investigates the engagement of social work students at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College with library resources and services. In addition to a review of the literature and a contextualizing discussion around the status of information literacy instruction in social work, the article describes the development and use of an online assessment tool, the introduction of new information literacy instruction strategies and materials including online research guides, and a discussion of the descriptive and inferential findings generated from 3 years of survey data. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is a need for feasible, evidence-based interventions that support HIV risk reduction among heterosexual Black men. In this article, we describe the process for development of the Barbershop Talk With Brothers (BTWB) program and evaluation. The BTWB program is a theoretically grounded and community-based HIV prevention program that seeks to improve individual skills and motivation to decrease sexual risk, and that builds men's interest in and capacity for improving their community's health. Formative data collection included barbershop observations and barber focus groups, brief behavioral risk assessments of men in barbershops, and focus groups and individual interviews. Based on this information and in consultation with our steering committee, we developed the BTWB program and accompanying program evaluation. From April through November 2011, 80 men were recruited and completed a baseline assessment of a pilot test of the program; 78 men completed the program and 71 completed a 3-month assessment. The pilot evaluation procedures were feasible to implement, and assessments of pre- and post-test measures indicate that key behavioral outcomes and proposed mediators of those outcomes changed in hypothesized directions. Specifically, attitudes and self-efficacy toward consistent condom use improved, and respondents reported lower levels of sexual risk behavior from baseline to follow-up (all p < 0.05). Perceptions of community empowerment also increased ( p = 0.06). While HIV stigma decreased, this difference did not reach statistical significance. Our approach to community-engaged program development resulted in an acceptable, feasible approach to reaching and educating heterosexual Black men about HIV prevention in community settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asian Americans experience diabetes at a higher rate than non-Hispanic whites. Diabetes prevention programs using lifestyle interventions have been shown to produce beneficial results, yet there have been no culturally-tailored programs for diabetes prevention in the Korean community. We explore the impact and feasibility of a pilot Community Health Worker (CHW) intervention to improve health behaviors and promote diabetes prevention among Korean Americans using a randomized controlled trial. Between 2011 and 2012, a total of 48 Korean Americans at risk for diabetes living in New York City (NYC) participated in the intervention. Participants were allocated to treatment or control groups. A community-based participatory research approach guided development of the intervention, which consisted of 6 workshops held by CHWs on diabetes prevention, nutrition, physical activity, diabetes complications, stress and family support, and access to health care. Changes over 6 months were examined for clinical measurements (weight, BMI, waist circumference, blood pressure, glucose, and cholesterol); health behaviors (physical activity, nutrition, food behaviors, diabetes knowledge, self-efficacy, and mental health); and health access (insurance and self-reported health). In this small pilot study, changes were seen in weight, waist circumference, diastolic blood pressure, physical activity nutrition, diabetes knowledge, and mental health. Qualitative findings provide additional contextual information that inform ways in which CHWs may influence health outcomes. These findings demonstrate that a diabetes prevention program can be successful among a Korean American population in NYC, and important insight is provided for ways that programs can be tailored to meet the needs of vulnerable populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coming from a critical youth studies perspective, this article sketches a participatory action research project designed by youth and adults in New York City to evaluate the impact of neo-liberal public policies on young people. Through telling the counter-story of the Polling for Justice ( PFJ) project, we propose that re-considering accountability at the point of knowledge production is generative for re-imagining - and realising - a more just world. PFJ examined young people's experiences of urban public policy and through embodied participatory research, privileging young people's knowledge of the everyday, attempted deep accountability, provoked precarious solidarity, and activated change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Communities for Healthy Living program used a community-based participa tory research (CBPR) approach to empower Head Start parents in designing and pilot testing a multi-component family-centered obesity prevention program. One program component was a childhood obesity awareness campaign addressing common parental misconceptions about obesity. The campaign was designed by a community advisory board of parents to target specific issues identified within their own community. Results from pre-post intervention surveys (N=108) showed that campaign exposure was high; 92% of responding parents reported noticing the campaign. Parents also demonstrated significant increases in awareness of childhood obesity, along with decreases in obesity-related misconceptions. Findings, supported by growing literature on CBPR, suggest a CBPR approach to campaign development is an effective strategy to promote parent awareness of childhood obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increased understanding of the relationship between stress and disease, the role of stress in explaining persistent disparities in health outcomes has received growing attention. One body of research has focused on allostatic load-the 'wear and tear' that results from chronic or excessive activation of the stress response. Other research has looked at the link between stress and health behaviors. In this study, we conducted 7 focus groups with a total of 56 people to understand how people living in Highbridge, South Bronx, New York, a low income community with poor health outcomes, perceive stress and its relationship to health. Focus group participants described a direct causal pathway between stress and poor health as well as an indirect pathway through health behaviors, including uncontrolled eating, sleep deprivation, substance abuse, smoking, violence and aggression, and withdrawal and inactivity. Participants articulated a number of theories about why stress leads to these unhealthy behaviors, including self-medication, adaptive behavior, discounting the future, depletion of willpower, and competing priorities. Their nuanced understanding of the link between stress and health elucidates the mechanisms and pathways by which stress may result in disparities in health outcomes and create challenges in changing health behaviors in poor communities like the South Bronx. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the Digital Life History Project, a 10-week “lab” linked to a course on aging, in which students and community-dwelling elders work together to create a short digital story honoring the elder's life. After two interview sessions, the pair works together to produce a 3- to 5-minute digital life story narrated by the elder. The resulting multimedia videos are then screened for the community at large at the end of the semester. Students and elders alike report long-term personal, interpersonal, and community-based effects from participating in the Digital Life History Project, including making meaningful relationships, linking biography and history, learning to confront ageism, charting the next chapter, and participating in community-wide education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

South Asians, particularly Bangladeshis, are one of the fastest growing immigrant groups in the U.S. Limited data exist regarding the health needs of Bangladeshis in the U.S. More data are needed to guide health intervention efforts for this community. To help address this gap, we conducted a community-based health needs assessment survey among women in a Bangladeshi population living in Bronx, NY. Community health promoters conducted a door-to-door household survey and collected data from 167 women, an approach that yielded a participation rate over 90%. Over half reported fair or poor health and 36.5% screened positive for risk of depression. Only 35% had engaged in physical activity over the past month. 60% reported never having received a pap smear. Using WHO guidelines for BMI, 74% were either overweight or obese. Age-standardized prevalence of type 2 diabetes and hypertension were 15.4 and 36.5% respectively. In a multivariable logistic regression model, age and percent lifetime in the U.S. were independently associated with having diabetes. Poor health behaviors and high prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors observed in this group suggest the need for early health promotion and prevention interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Influenza vaccination coverage remains low and disparities persist. In New York City, a community-based participatory research project (Project VIVA) worked to address this issue in Harlem and the South Bronx by supplementing existing vaccination programs with non-traditional venues (i.e., community-based organizations). We conducted a 10 min survey to assess access to influenza vaccine as well as attitudes and beliefs towards influenza vaccination that could inform intervention development for subsequent seasons. Among 991 participants recruited using street intercept techniques, 63% received seasonal vaccine only, 11% seasonal and H1N1, and 26% neither; 89% reported seeing a health care provider (HCP) during the influenza season. Correlates of immunization among those with provider visits during the influenza season included being US-born, interest in getting the vaccine, concern about self or family getting influenza, an HCP's recommendation and comfort with government. Among those without an HCP visit, factors associated with immunization included being US born, married, interest in getting the vaccine, understanding influenza information, and concern about getting influenza. Factors associated with lack of interest in influenza vaccine included being born outside the US, Black and uncomfortable with government. In medically underserved areas, having access to routine medical care and understanding the medical implications of influenza play an important role in enhancing uptake of seasonal influenza vaccination. Strategies to improve vaccination rates among Blacks and foreign-born residents need to be addressed. The use of non-traditional venues to provide influenza vaccinations in underserved communities has the potential to reduce health disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an action research project designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a summer school curricula on motivation, engagement and performance among seventh and eighth grade students in Rochester, New York. It highlights the curricula implemented by the Monroe 2-Orleans Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) which include the "Math of Homeostasis" in grade seven and "Forces, Motion and Math" for grade 8. It mentions that the grade seven program is problem-based math and science approach which aims to integrate literacy strategies. It states that the grade 8 program provides a cooperative atmosphere which integrates math and science based on the programs from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).