Humboldt Park: A Community United to Challenge Asthma

Asthma disproportionately affects urban minority children. A community survey in 2004 including the Humboldt Park and West Town neighborhoods of Chicago reported potential total asthma rates of 14% in Mexican children, 20% in White children, 25% in Black children, and 34% in Puerto Rican children. These data set off a series of events leading to the formation of the Greater Humboldt Park Community of Wellness which is a grass-root, community-based health coalition serving the Chicago community areas of Humboldt Park and West Town. The Asthma Task Force of the Greater Humboldt Park Community of Wellness took on the charge of initiating and coordinating asthma research in the community. Task Force members included community leaders, researchers from multiple academic health centers, an administrator from the Chicago Public Schools, leaders from a non-profit asthma service agency, and local parents of children with asthma.

Multiple projects resulted. A large academic health center partnered with the Task Force to conduct a survey in several elementary schools to better characterize asthma prevalence, control, and mediating factors. This led to larger funding to explore mediating social factors related to asthma. The Chicago Public Schools received funding to expand asthma training for staff and families. A different academic center partnered with the Task Force and other local agencies to conduct asthma focus groups with families and children. This resulted in an NIH-funded behavioral randomized controlled trial of a community asthma intervention which is ongoing. More intervention studies are in development that will address social and structural factors, asthma, and obesity.

By having partnerships with different academic centers and government agencies all coordinated by a community task force, multiple complimentary projects resulted. The academic investigators benefited from their own work, and the work of the others. The community reaped the most benefit by receiving high quality useful information, services, and opportunities from a wide variety of sources. The experience in Humboldt Park serves as a model of community-based participatory research and community development that other communities may choose to replicate in the future.