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Promoting Environmental Health Policy Through Community Based Participatory Research: A Case Study from Harlem, New York

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Abstract

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 “hot spots” were among the outcomes for which the partnership’s research and policy work was given substantial credit. Lessons for other urban community–academic partnerships interested in using CBPR to promote healthy public policy are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

This research study was made possible by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and we gratefully acknowledge the Foundation and program officer Barbara Sabol for their belief in and support of this project. We acknowledge as well the assistance of researcher Shelley Facente, consultant Angela Glover Blackwell and her team at PolicyLink, and members of the Kellogg funded study’s Community Advisory Board for its many contributions. We are grateful to the anonymous reviewers whose comments on an earlier draft of this paper greatly strengthened the final manuscript. Finally, our deepest appreciation is extended to the community and academic partners and policy makers whose insights greatly enriched this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Public Health Practice, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA, 94720-7360, USA

    Meredith Minkler DrPH, MPH, Victoria Breckwich Vásquez DrPH, MPH & Peggy Shepard

Authors
  1. Meredith Minkler DrPH, MPH
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  2. Victoria Breckwich Vásquez DrPH, MPH
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  3. Peggy Shepard
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Meredith Minkler DrPH, MPH.

Additional information

Dr. Minkler is with Health and Social Behavior, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA; Ms. Shepard is with West Harlem Environmental ACTion, Inc., 271 West 125th Street Suite # 308, New York, NY, 10027, USA.

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Minkler, M., Vásquez, V.B. & Shepard, P. Promoting Environmental Health Policy Through Community Based Participatory Research: A Case Study from Harlem, New York. JURH 83, 101–110 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-005-9010-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-005-9010-9

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