Empowering communities to redress environmental health inequities

Systemic social and environmental inequities frequently manifest in a variety of disproportionate health outcomes, including uneven rates of obesity and diabetes, particularly in low-income communities of color. A growing body of literature highlights community organizing as a method and approach for empowering communities to develop and implement targeted public health prevention and promotion programs. This presentation seeks to inform community empowerment to redress systemic inequities that manifest in poor health outcomes by presenting a novel evaluation frame for understanding the processes and outcomes of community-based organizations (CBO) participating in the Communities Creating Healthy Environments (CCHE) national childhood obesity initiative. The participating CBOs worked to adapt social and physical settings—e.g., access to healthy food and recreational space—in the context of public health inequities. The evaluation frame accounts for CBOs’ work in establishing a community participant base, developing community leaders to educate and empower their base, establishing organizational allies with similar interests and values, mobilizing community members toward social change efforts, and developing messages that connect disproportionate health outcomes with social and environmental factors. To elucidate such processes and outcomes, this presentation will provide examples of the frame’s application within two CBOs involved in the CCHE initiative, who sought to empower communities through social and environmental change strategies that redressed the social and environmental determinants of childhood obesity. Finally, this presentation argues the value of culturally-relevant community organizing approaches within public health.