Using Community-Based Participatory Research and Spatial Cartography to Build Community Relationships and Improve Equity in Early Childhood Education

• In Event: Roundtable Session 9
  In Roundtable Session: Ethnographic, Mixed-Methods, and Community-Based Participatory Research: Equity and Vulnerable Populations

Abstract

Access to high quality early learning is critical to positive youth development yet opportunity and access are often inequitably provided based on race, income, and language. Using community-based participatory research (CBPR) and spatial cartography, community members, parents, and researchers collaborated to collect and analyze 350 parent surveys on access to early childhood education in a predominately Latina/o working class urban community in the southwest. Surveys and maps revealed (1) geographic differences in access and use of family- and center-based care, (2) the significance of trust and safety, and (3) the impact of burdensome bureaucracies. Authors provide recommendations on how to use CBPR and spatial cartography as tools to build community-research relationships and improve equity and access in education policy.

Authors

• Meriah Heredia-Griego, University of New Mexico

• Adrian Pedroza, Partnership for Community Action

• Adai A. Tefera, Arizona State University