Perceived needs and concerns of residents in a rail yard community: The enrrich project

San Bernardino, California is home to BNSF San Bernardino Railyard (SBR), a major trading hub that was recently identified by the California Air Resources Board as having the highest community health risk in the State. In response, the ENRRICH Project was implemented by Loma Linda University researchers and their local community partner CCAEJ to investigate the potential linkage between proximity to the railyard and adverse health outcomes. The project used a community-based participatory research approach with mixed methods. Qualitative inquiry was conducted to contextually inform the quantitative study, in which randomly selected residents (N=715) near the railyard and further away (controls) were interviewed by rigorously trained residents. Data was coded for recurrent themes and organized into overarching categories. Themes and trends were then concurrently analyzed with qualitative and quantitative methods, involving GIS, word clouds, and statistics to allow characterization of community concerns. While air quality and health were seen as important, people closest to SBR were mostly concerned about immediate/tangible issues: police, security, law enforcement; street lighting and repair; and trees and greenery. Several emerging themes differed by the language preference in which the survey was conducted, (p<0.05) including more English speakers expressing concerns over need for activities for children, addressing crime and violence, jobs, and traffic. Spanish speakers expressed concerns over security, cleaner neighborhoods, environmental issues including pollution, and need for street lighting and repairs. Comprehensive efforts to promote health and well-being for residents of this community need to utilize a variety of data to more effectively reflect needs.