Santa Ana Building Healthy Communities: Using community driven data to increase underrepresented voices and build healthy communities

Community-based participatory projects that increase underrepresented voices are critical to building healthy communities. This research looks at the data process of the Santa Ana Building Healthy Communities initiative, a community health planning initiative funded by a state foundation, The California Endowment. In 2009, The Endowment selected 14 places across California to target 10 years of funding; Central Santa Ana was selected based on a variety of socioeconomic and health-related indicators. To support a 12-month planning phase of this initiative, a Campus-Community Data and Evaluation Team was formed to provide residents and organizational leaders with qualitative and quantitative data about and from the targeted area. We aimed to create a process that privileges community voices to drive the planning process as well as establishes a data structure that could provide evidence and continued support for this 10-year initiative. This paper illustrates that the collection of narrative data from community dialog is an effective means to hold a planning process accountable. Faithfully capturing community vision and voice also provides powerful resident driven evidence on community problems and their solutions. Coupling these data with community identified quantitative indicators of health and well-being can stimulate dialog, communicate community needs to stakeholders and funders, bolster community driven and evidence based planning, and ultimately increase the chances that community project goals are met.