Participant Action Research & Community Forums
On June 22nd, THRIVE Santa Ana and Cooperación Santa Ana, with the support of community partners including Latino Health Access, Cambodian Families, CIELO, and Orange County Environmental Justice, invited community members who are most impacted by economic inequality to share their ideas and perspectives on how to build a more equitable and sustainable economy in our region.
Over 100 residents participated. The two-hour community forum was held at Latino Health Access, in Spanish, English, and Khmer. Read a brief report on results from the forum here, by community-based researchers Erualdo Gonzalez and Carolina Sarmiento.
This forum kicked-off a collaborative research strategy, known as Participative Action Research (PAR), wherein residents are invited to inform the priorities, design of a research process. In the context of CERF, PAR was proposed as an approach to center the participation of residents from disinvested communities, from the initial planning phase. The report from this preliminary forum will be included along with other data in the CERF Regional Plan, to inform decisions in the initiative. Most importantly, residents of disinvested communities are being invited and supported to provide guidance and leadership for the CERF process moving forward. Additional forums are proposed for August 2023 and March 2024, to assure ongoing input and vetting of CERF recommendations with residents.
