Exploring Neighborhood Perspectives & Priorities of Youth

• In Event: Roundtable: Neighborhoods, Communities and Crime

Abstract

In 2014, a partnership was formed between Running Rebels Community Organization (RRCO), an organization serving predominately underserved, disenfranchised black male youth for over 35 years, and a doctoral candidate in public and community health from the Medical College of Wisconsin. Employing a Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) orientation, a Youth Advisory Council, RRCO staff, and the doctoral candidate jointly developed and conducted a mixed methods study to explore how youth conceptualize and prioritize environmental health issues. Youth in RRCO recreational and court ordered programming were invited to participate. Across groups, youth described a holistic understanding of environmental health with an emphasis on neighborhoods and social context. Our presentation will discuss 1) overarching youth perspectives on environmental health priorities, with a focus on job opportunities and police relations; and 2) differences in environmental health priorities among recreational and court ordered youth. We will highlight court-ordered youths’ unique perception of criminal records as a major problem and priority, and contextualize it within 1) major social and historical events that have contributed to longstanding racial and economic inequities in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; 2) an environmental health framework; and 3) policy developments to further support the critical work of community organizations.

Authors

• Sandra Bogar, Medical College of Wisconsin

• Eric Weaver, Running Rebels Community Organization

• Rod Mitchell, Running Rebels Community Organization

• Shane Woodruff, Running Rebels Community Organization