Youth Leadership in Public Housing: A Community Based Participatory Research project to elevate the needs of young people living in San Francisco's HOPE SF public housing communities

The HOPE SF Initiative is a unique effort to transform 4 of San Francisco’s most distressed public housing sites into thriving and healthy communities. Youth under the age of twenty-five comprise more than fifty percent of these communities and are impacted by numerous health disparities. A youth-led, participatory assessment was conducted to examine opportunities and barriers to supporting the health and well-being of youth aged 12-24 living in the four public housing communities. A Community Based Participatory Research approach was employed and young people from the communities were actively engaged in the design, implementation, analysis and presentation phases of the assessment. Nine Youth Assessment Leaders were hired, engaged in all stages and also received ongoing training and support in areas including Youth-led Action Research, social determinants of health and other topics.  In addition the assessment was a practice based learning opportunity for Master of Public Health students at SFSU. Together, the young people and graduate students gathered experiences and perspectives of 180 adult and youth residents, program staff and key informants. Findings and recommendations, focused on themes of violence, mental health, the built environment and other areas, were presented to city officials, department heads, residents and various stakeholders. The assessment has resulted in ongoing commitments to youth leadership in public housing communities of San Francisco and now serves as a model for engaging young people in research and policy-making processes. The assessment and ongoing partnership also illuminate strategies for academic-community partnerships that eliminate health disparities experienced by public housing communities.