“Mejorando Nuestras Oportunidades”: Engaging Urban Youth in Environmental Health Assessment and Advocacy to Improve Health and Outdoor Play Spaces

Flavia C. Peréa, Nina R. Sayles, Amanda J. Reich, Alyssa Koomas, Heather McMann and Linda S. Sprague Martinez
Additional contact information
Flavia C. Peréa: Mindich Program in Engaged Scholarship, Harvard College, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Nina R. Sayles: Mindich Program in Engaged Scholarship, Harvard College, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Amanda J. Reich: Center for Surgery and Public Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA 02120, USA
Alyssa Koomas: Alliance for a Healthier Generation, Portland, OR 97201, USA
Heather McMann: Groundwork Lawrence, Lawrence, MA 01840, USA
Linda S. Sprague Martinez: School of Social Work, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 4, 1-18

Abstract: Youth can be valuable partners in community health improvement efforts. Latino youth from Lawrence, MA were engaged in research and health promotion over an 11-month period. Utilizing their knowledge of the community, youth assessed local parks and carried out evidence-based health promotion efforts to communicate community resources to encourage physical activity, nurture community ownership of parks, and advocate for park improvements. Health promotion efforts can engage youth in strategies to address critical public health issues by leveraging their unique perspective and distinct location within communities. The communications developed by the youth were distributed within the community, benefiting residents directly. Youth were motivated to engage in the project by a sense of civic obligation, and upon completing the project, they expressed that they had gained research and communication skills and were inspired to continue to support their community. Youth engagement in applied research and health promotion at the local level can provide a foundation for community health improvement efforts that are relevant for distinct communities, while fostering the positive development of youth, and nurturing community-driven efforts to help create a healthier environment.

Keywords: Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR); youth engagement; environmental assessment; parks and play spaces (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/4/571/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/4/571/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:4:p:571-:d:206445

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().