Community Action Groups Research Articles

How practical is tactical? Political sociology, militarization, and police tactical teams in Canada

Emergency Response Teams (ERT), commonly referred to as Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) teams, are the specialized police unit responsible for mitigating violent and dangerous conflict beyond the capacity of general duty to handle effectively. Debates surrounding the application and effectiveness of ERTs in policing highlight a need to keep ERT members safe due to adequacy and occupational health and safety standards while concurrently managing the expectations of community groups. These groups include those calling for defunding or de-militarization. Explored in the current article, is a thematic analysis of popularized media to unpack the arguments that police, government officials and community activist groups make to help shift opinions on police militarization. However, we frame these media account within Bourdieusian concepts of symbolic power, habitus or field struggle to provide insight into, arguably conflicting, interpretations of police militarization.

Most of the world's largest flowers (genus Rafflesia) are now on the brink of extinction

Societal Impact StatementRafflesia is the genus that contains the world's largest flowers. Despite their global appeal, most of the 42 known species are now at risk of extinction. Urgent action is needed to protect these remarkable flowers. A combined approach to conservation is recommended, including a greater level of habitat protection and support for local community action groups. Rafflesia is a suitable new icon for conservation in the Asian tropics.SummaryThe genus Rafflesia, which includes the world's largest flowers, has aroused curiosity among scientists for centuries and features prominently in local culture across Southeast Asia. The plant has long been used in ethnobotanical medicine and, more recently, as a source of revenue from ecotourism. But despite its acclaim, Rafflesia remains poorly understood in many respects. Taxonomy is disputed, new species are described each year, and the plant has proven recalcitrant to cultivation. This has hindered conservation, and most of the 42 known species are now severely threatened, yet only one is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). We estimate that 60% of Rafflesia species face a severe risk of extinction (equivalent to Critically Endangered [CR]). Moreover, we predict that at least 67% of known habitats fall outside protected areas, exacerbating their vulnerability. Alarmingly, recent observations suggest taxa are still being eradicated before they are even known to science. We present recent scientific discoveries and probable extinctions and highlight case studies of conservation success, with a focus on the role of local people. We propose a multi‐pronged conservation approach combining strengthened taxonomy, ex situ propagation, ecotourism, and an extension of protected areas. We suggest action devolved to local communities and awareness campaigns linked to social media networks will be crucial outside of protected jurisdictions. Finally, we propose to establish Rafflesia as a new icon for plant conservation in the Asian tropics. A combined approach might just save some of the world's most remarkable flowers, most of which are now on the brink of being lost.

Application of CHAT Analysis to a Community-Based Action Team

This study applies cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) to a community-based racial equity and social justice action group in the American South. The community action group is referred to as a “team” by participants and by its host community. The CHAT framework applied incorporates Vygotsky’s mediated action triangle and holds that learning can occur within any activity system. Using CHAT, it is possible to clarify points of tension that occurred within the action team during the community-based team’s first year of development. Reflecting on points of tension within the CHAT framework supported appropriate modifications to the team’s development. This application of the CHAT framework demonstrates ways CHAT could be applied to support leadership assessment and constructive follow-up on areas of tension in a community group, thereby contributing to group maintenance and ongoing well-being.
 Keywords: community action group, racial equity, social justice, CHAT

Superfund cleanup time and community characteristics: A survival analysis

This paper investigates the correlation of socioeconomic characteristics of communities close to Superfund sites with the duration of cleanup using spatial survival analysis with frailty effects. Census-tract-level data is used to achieve a more accurate representation of affected areas. We find evidence of slower cleanup in areas with higher minority population, particularly when controlling for EPA Region. Additionally, sites that are more costly, have high assessed hazards, and have a Community Action Group are associated with longer cleanup times, while sites which are federally owned and have low assessed hazards are associated with shorter cleanup times.

Green infrastructure and climate change impacts on the flows and water quality of urban catchments: Salmons Brook and Pymmes Brook in north-east London

Abstract Poor water quality is a widespread issue in urban rivers and streams in London. Localised pollution can have impacts on local communities, from health issues to environmental degradation and restricted recreational use of water. The Salmons and Pymmes Brooks, located in the London Borough of Enfield, flow into the River Lee, and in this paper, the impacts of misconnected sewers, urban runoff and atmospheric pollution have been evaluated. The first step towards finding a sustainable and effective solution to these issues is to identify sources and paths of pollutants and to understand their cycle through catchments and rivers. The INCA water quality model has been applied to the Salmons and Pymmes urban catchments in north-east London, with the aim of providing local communities and community action groups such as Thames21 with a tool they can use to assess the water quality issue. INCA is a process-based, dynamic flow and quality model, and so it can account for daily changes in temperature, flow, water velocity and residence time that all affect reaction kinetics and hence chemical flux. As INCA is process-based, a set of mitigation strategies have been evaluated including constructed wetland across the catchment to assess pollution control. The constructed wetlands can make a significant difference reducing sediment transport and improving nutrient control for nitrogen and phosphorus. The results of this paper show that a substantial reduction in nitrate, ammonium and phosphorus concentrations can be achieved if a proper catchment-scale wetland implementation strategy is put in place. Furthermore, the paper shows how the nutrient reduction efficiency of the wetlands should not be affected by climate change.

Rural multiculturalism? Migrants, antiracism, and convivial cultures in provincial Sweden

ABSTRACT Migrant solidarity movements are significant political manifestations that stretch beyond Europe's urban centres. Yet, their wider antiracist potential requires further examination. Starting with ethnographic insights in community activist groups that aim to create “welcoming” places outside the larger cities of Sweden, this article argues that conceptualizations of convivial cultures help to bridge perspectives on multiculturalism, cosmopolitanism, and antiracism. Community activists across racialized categories of natives and migrants aim to redefine their small towns towards greater local solidarity. They introduce multiculturalist ideals and recalibrate notions of race through everyday activism, while they also reproduce, or fail to address, dominant racism in domains of gender equality and neoliberal integration regimes. A focus on convivial cultures, which contrast to melancholic cultures where the past of the nation is represented as always more solidaric than that of the (migrant) present, contributes to a scholarship of hope for underexplored antiracism in rural regions.

Speaking for the trees: a study of the relationship between discourse, power and organisational culture in competing constructions of nature

ABSTRACT In order to demonstrate the effects of competing constructions of nature by different interest groups, this article describes a dispute in Cape Town, South Africa, through the lens of cultural theory and Foucault’s notion of discourse linked to power. Controversy arose over the felling of a small plantation of non-indigenous pine trees, situated amidst indigenous “fynbos” vegetation in a suburban park. The matter was adjudicated in the Western Cape Division of the South African High Court, and subsequently in the Supreme Court of Appeal. The case turned on the meaning of public power and the affected community’s right to be heard. During argumentation the scientifically framed and institutionally supported discourse of the conservation entity was pitched against the symbolically oriented discourse of a community action group representing ramblers, joggers, horse riders, and dog walkers. The analysis focuses on how opposing arguments were shaped by perspectives of what nature, in the context of a suburban park, should look like and the purpose it should serve. The study shows how the dominant discourse of nature, rooted in the assumed supremacy of science and expert knowledge, was challenged by a multivalent and contextually moulded discourse of nature as amenity.

Keetsahnak/Our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Sisters ed. by Kim Anderson, Maria Campbell, and Christi Belcourt

Reviewed by: Keetsahnak/Our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Sisters ed. by Kim Anderson, Maria Campbell, and Christi Belcourt Wendelin Hume Keetsahnak/Our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Sisters. Edited by Kim Anderson, Maria Campbell, and Christi Belcourt. Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 2018. xi + 338 pp. Contributors, index. $29.95, paper. Keetsahnak is a thoughtful and compelling collection of individually written essays dealing with missing and murdered Indigenous women, particularly centered around efforts by the Canadian Walking With Our Sisters community action group. Beginning with the beautiful feminine beadwork example on a circular piece of leather depicted on the cover, the book is thoughtfully full of symbolism, emotion, and a determined resilience and strength. The book is put together by three editors who also contributed pieces to the collection. The book contains a useful prologue [End Page 107] and an introduction that provides background for the book, the community movement, and the phenomenon. There are also four sections in the body, and a forward-looking epilogue wraps up the collection. Each of the thirty-five contributors has a short biography at the end of the book, which shows the broad range of contributors from academicians, to activists, to artists, and more. The efforts at embracing diversity and inclusion—since everyone's story is important—is mirrored in the wide range of different tribal backgrounds and other affiliations. Each of the essays is united around the purpose of acknowledging and drawing attention to the problem of missing and murdered Indigenous (women) sisters. The purpose of the collection of essays defies easy categorization as it is in part commemoration, honoring, ceremony, community, taking action, and a demonstration of caring. If one wishes to examine this international issue of concern on a personal level, wherein the subject is deeply internalized by many Indigenous women and then shared thoughtfully with the reader, this is a good book with which to do so. More than just creating an emotional understanding of this troubling issue, pointed critiques of genocide, racism, sexism, patriarchy, homophobia, colonialism, and violence are discussed as well. Stories of early prairie life and the challenges of interracial marriages and relationships might be of particular interest to readers familiar with the contemporary culture of the Great Plains. Some readers may have difficulty with the essays not flowing smoothly from one to the next nor being neatly categorized by subtopic; for example, the immense harm of boarding schools or the critique of inadequate investigation when crime reports are filed. Instead the stories are presented on their own merit, flowing back and forth so the reader can identify oft-repeated familiar threads and not overlook the resilience, grace, and beauty among Indigenous women and their communities. Wendelin Hume Department of Criminal Justice University of North Dakota Copyright © 2020 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Community Perspectives of a 3-Delays Model Intervention: A Qualitative Evaluation of Saving Mothers, Giving Life in Zambia.

Saving Mothers, Giving Life (SMGL), a health systems strengthening approach based on the 3-delays model, aimed to reduce maternal and perinatal mortality in 6 districts in Zambia between 2012 and 2017. By 2016, the maternal mortality ratio in SMGL-supported districts declined by 41% compared to its level at the beginning of SMGL-from 480 to 284 deaths per 100,000 live births. The 10.5% annual reduction between the baseline and 2016 was about 4.5 times higher than the annual reduction rate for sub-Saharan Africa and about 2.6 times higher than the annual reduction estimated for Zambia as a whole. While outcome measures demonstrate reductions in maternal and perinatal mortality, this qualitative endline evaluation assessed community perceptions of the SMGL intervention package, including (1) messaging about use of maternal health services, (2) access to maternal health services, and (3) quality improvement of maternal health services. We used purposive sampling to conduct semistructured in-depth interviews with women who delivered at home (n=20), women who delivered in health facilities (n=20), community leaders (n=8), clinicians (n=15), and public health stakeholders (n=15). We also conducted 12 focus group discussions with a total of 93 men and women from the community and Safe Motherhood Action Group members. Data were coded and analyzed using NVivo version 10. Delay 1: Participants were receptive to SMGL's messages related to early antenatal care, health facility-based deliveries, and involving male partners in pregnancy and childbirth. However, top-down pressure to increase health facility deliveries led to unintended consequences, such as community-imposed penalty fees for home deliveries. Delay 2: Community members perceived some improvements, such as refurbished maternity waiting homes and dedicated maternity ambulances, but many still had difficulty reaching the health facilities in time to deliver. Delay 3: SMGL's clinician trainings were considered a strength, but the increased demand for health facility deliveries led to human resource challenges, which affected perceived quality of care. While SMGL's health systems strengthening approach aimed to reduce challenges related to the 3 delays, participants still reported significant barriers accessing maternal and newborn health care. More research is needed to understand the necessary intervention package to affect system-wide change.

Fundamental study on development of the analysis method for role structure on community action groups

Fundamental study on development of the analysis method for role structure on community action groups

Justifying and resisting public park commercialisation: The battle for Battersea Park

Urban parks have always been contested and contradictory spaces: highly ordered and elitist, yet valued as democratic places and public amenities. In an era of neoliberal austerity there are greater pressures for parks to pay for themselves and the associated commercialisation often exacerbates conflicts between park users and managing authorities. This paper focuses on how their increased use as venues for commercial events affects the publicness of urban parks. This issue is explored via the case of Battersea Park in London, which was used as a venue for Formula E motor races in 2015 and 2016. These events disrupted park access during race weekends, but also in the periods when the venue was assembled/disassembled. The events were resisted by a community action group whose campaigning eventually resulted in the decision by Formula E to cease racing in Battersea Park. The paper analyses how Formula E events were justified and opposed using a form of rhetorical analysis inspired by the work of Michael Billig. Interviews were undertaken with key stakeholders involved in the case and their arguments were analysed to reveal different ways of thinking about public parks. The dispute is understood as one underpinned by different interpretations of who and what a park is for, and by contrasting views on the impact of interruptions to everyday routines. The Formula E events reduced public access, but the dispute surrounding the events arguably made Battersea Park more public by generating debate and by provoking local activists to defend their park.

‘Learning for resilience': Developing community capital through flood action groups in urban flood risk settings with lower social capital

The role of civil agency in preparing and adapting to changing risk is an increasingly critical element within devolved local flood risk management. However, effective civil agency for flood resilience needs to draw on, and if necessary develop, community capital. Community Action Groups form one model for local resilience building for flood risk, and one actively supported by some governments. This research evaluates the participatory model of flood group development involving horizontal support rather than top-down or bottom-up generation. The process involved nascent groups working with an NGO facilitator in the implementation of a set of processes framed in the context of 'learning for resilience' that supported flood group development in a situation of challenged social capital (lower socio-economic status; health issues, lack of previous flood experience) in the UK. The methodology involved repeat semi-structured interviews with flood group members and flood risk management (FRM) agencies who worked with them through the process, as well as observation of flood group meetings. Results outline how groups emerge from transient and disconnected communities, the value of local knowledge, evolving communication skills and agency, normalisation of group members within participatory processes, frustrations within these processes, group sustainability and FRM agency perspectives. Discussion then critiques the co-working/partnership model and assesses its implications for social 'learning for resilience' within challenged flood groups with variable social capital. The authors propose a framework ('The 6Ss') for anticipating concerns or barriers within such participatory processes as a guide to future local urban DRR practice.

Citizen Led Healthcare - Learning from the Millom experience: An NHS North West Leadership Academy Project

Introduction: The most difficult place to recruit in Cumbria is the small town of Millom. After the retirement of senior partners 3 years ago the General Practice lost 50% capacity. For over a year it placed advert after advert without a single response. In April 2014 it gave notice that it could no longer cover the community hospital which closed temporarily. The community felt this was the final straw. Within a week the Millom Action Group was formed and organised a protest march with over 2000 people. At the follow up meeting health leaders invited the Millom Action Group in as full and equal partners and we formed the Millom Alliance. The action group now run all our communications and are fully integrated into our local leadership structures. Working together we have created a powerful social movement around health and wellbeing. The group produced a GP recruitment video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rky8n7Co5U led by local schoolchildren, spread by social media with 5000 views in the first week. They even sent it to President Obama. It helped recruit 3 doctors. Together we have created an innovative population health system in which integrated health teams (the two local Foundation trusts have joined the GP practice as partners to create a multidisciplinary, multispecialty practice) have worked with a community mobilised at scale for health and wellbeing. Results have been impressive with a 23% reduction in non-elective admissions and 16% reduction in elective admission since the march plus community led initiatives to improve health including a programme in schools to teach 700 children how to use health services, and an initiative to become an autism-friendly town. Method: The NHS North West Leadership Academy (NHS NWLA) is a member organisation supporting effective leadership interventions across the North West of England. The NHS NWLA became involved when the Millom Alliance in partnership with Cumbria Leadership and Improvement Collaborative (CLIC) applied for a Systems Leadership Grant to study and spread the leadership behaviours behind the Millom success. The dragons den style pitch for the grant was health and community leaders standing together. The study looked at formal and informal leadership within health providers and local communities. Results: The first piece of learning was around context – never waste a crisis. The second was that social movements and asset based approaches can solve seemingly intractable complex problems. A critical moment was inviting the protest group to join us in the leadership team of the new Alliance taking a lead on communications. Health leaders led from the ‘edge’ of their organisations across boundaries, sharing success. The leaders were visible, displayed authenticity, an ability to move between strategic and tactical and built trust. Traditional power structures were dismantled. Conclusion: As the leader of the community action group said recently ‘I used to think you were really important. I now realise that we are the most important’. We are traditionally accountable upwards through layers of governance to regulators. We have effectively rebalanced our accountability back to the communities we serve.

Home space, gender and activism: The visible and the invisible in austere times

This article argues for the centrality of the home in understanding both the impacts of ‘austerity’ in the UK and potential activist responses. The article focuses on gendered forms of activism, particularly among low-income women. Empirical material is drawn from research with women in different contexts, a network of migrant women in London and a group of community activists in Stoke-on-Trent, in order to identify three particular registers of home-based and, by extension, community activism, including notions of ‘the everyday’, ‘the inbetween’ and experiences of trauma. There is also a brief discussion of housing activism in contemporary London in order to explore how such analysis might be applied to other forms of organising. There is a call for more sustained consideration of these often hidden forms of activism from researchers in understanding, as well as intervening in, the dynamics of contemporary social policy and governance.

まちづくり市民活動団体への参加動機と活動タイプとの関連性

Community action groups are expected as new groups to support the life of the community instead of territorial groups. In recent years, “Community design” that the expert support to forming community action groups to solve regional problems is getting a lot of attention. It is important for community designer to select the action type of the groups taking the motivations of members to participate into consideration. The aim of this study is to clarify the relationship between the motivations of members to participate community action groups and action types of the groups through the comparison between “action type of player” and “action type of area manager”. “Action type of player” is an action type of the group to act oneself as a player to creative a new social action, and “action type of area manager” is an action type of the group to make a place, system and opportunity for player to act to change the area. First, We made 32-items scale of motivations of members to participate community action groups in reference to scale of motivations to participate volunteer activities (Table2). We performed the questionnaire survey by using the scale targeting 153 members in 10 groups. By factor analysis using answers to the questionnaire, it was clarified that the motivations to participate community action groups is composed of the following 8 factors: “self-growth needs” factor, “desire for social contribution” factor, “belongingness and interaction needs” factor, “having spare time” factor, “desire to return for kindness ” factor, “desire to help family” factor, “desire to get evaluation in the society” factor and “desire for recognition from others” factor (Table3). Second, the motivations of members in 10 groups were classified as follows: “type of using spare time”, “type of desire for recognition from others” and “type of self-actualization needs”(Fig. 2). In “type of using spare time”, there were tendencies to be a lot of members in their 20's or younger, 60's or older, and without occupation. They had motivations to want to get evaluation in the society and to do what was useful for family. In “type of desire for recognition from others”, there were tendencies to be a lot of members in their 40's, self-employed workers and public servants. They had motivations to want to return for kindness of others and to be needed by them. In “type of self-actualization needs”, there were tendencies to be a lot of professional members. They had intrinsic motivations to want to make better community by using professional skill, to grow and to enjoy acting with other members. Third, we investigated the relationship between the motivations to participate the groups and their action types. The result was that there were tendencies to be a lot of members of “type of using spare time” and “type of desire for recognition from others” in the groups of “action type of player” and to be a lot of members of “type of self-actualization needs” in the groups of “action type of area manager”(Fig. 4). In other words, it was clarified that most of members in the groups of “action type of player” had extrinsic motivations, but on the other hand most of members in the groups of “action type of area manager” had intrinsic motivations.

Incidencia de las juntas de acción comunal en el desarrollo local en áreas de influencia de proyectos de hidrocarburos

<p align="justify">Las juntas de acción comunal (JAC), como organizaciones civiles sin ánimo de lucro, que voluntariamente participan en un esfuerzo conjunto en la búsqueda de un objetivo en común, han sido el motor de desarrollo de veredas, corregimientos y barrios en las últimas décadas. En Colombia existen alrededor de 45.000. El objetivo del presente estudio es conocer el papel de las JAC en el desarrollo local. La metodología utilizada fue el estudio de caso de las JAC de los barrios Evaristo Sourdis, La Unión y San Carlos (segunda etapa), en Sabanalarga, Atlántico, caracterizados por su ubicación, sus procesos y su cercanía al reciente desarrollo de la industria petrolera en el municipio. Los resultados presentan la caracterización de las JAC, sus procesos de organización, sus acciones frente al desarrollo y su relación con los nuevos actores del territorio, en este caso la reciente industria petrolera en el municipio. Se concluye que las JAC inciden en procesos de desarrollo local, independientemente de los demás actores existentes en sus territorios, ya que su principal objetivo es el mejoramiento de las condiciones de vida de la comunidad.</p>

Community Perspective on Consultation on Urban Stormwater Management: Lessons from Brownhill Creek, South Australia

There are salutary lessons from contrasting community consultation efforts in 2011 and 2015 to develop and gain support for an urban stormwater management plan for the Brownhill Creek catchment in Adelaide, South Australia. The 2011 process was a failure in the human dimension, precipitating loss of community confidence, unnecessarily entrained thousands of hours of time of residents who initiated a community action group for environmental conservation and caused a three-year delay to decision making. By contrast, the 2015 process was vastly improved, resulted in a landslide level of support for an obvious option not previously offered, achieved the required level of flood protection, saved Aus$5 million (14%) on the previously proposed option and protected a highly valued natural environment from an unnecessary dam. This paper presents a rarely heard perspective on these community consultation processes from a participating community environmental and heritage conservation action group (the Brownhill Creek Association) that was deeply engaged in reforming the Draft Brown Hill Keswick Creek Stormwater Management Plan. This reveals that the community needs to see that all options are considered and to have access to accurate information with which to assess them. It is also necessary that the proposed plan is consistent with existing agreed plans and policies developed through public consultation. Community concerns need to be heard, acknowledged and acted upon or responded to, and the consultation process needs to be transparently fair and democratic to win community support. A major contributor to success in the second consultation was that all community action groups were invited to meetings to discuss the purpose of the consultation and the methods to be used. Feedback was subsequently received before the process commenced to show what had changed and why any suggestions concerning the consultation process were not being adopted. This openness helped to mend the distrust of the first consultation process and is recommended as an essential early step in any public consultation process.

Community resilience and Chagas disease in a rural region of Mexico.

ABSTRACTOBJECTIVE To explore the pillars of community resilience in a region where Chagas disease is endemic, with the aim of promoting participatory processes to deal with this condition from the resilience of the population.METHODS Qualitative study using ethnographic record and six interviews of focus groups with young people, women and men. The research was carried out in a rural area of the state of Morelos, Mexico, between 2006 and 2007. We carried out educational sessions with the population in general, so that residents could identify the relationship between the vector Triatoma pallidipennis, the parasite (Trypanosoma cruzi), symptoms, and preventive actions for Chagas disease. The ethnographic record and groups were analyzed based on Taylor and Bogdan’s modification, and the focus was to understand the socio-cultural meanings that guide the speeches and activities of residents in relation to the pillars of community resilience.RESULTS The population felt proud of belonging to that location and three pillars of community resilience were clearly identified: collective self-esteem, cultural identity, and social honesty. Having these pillars as bases, we promoted the participation of the population concerning Chagas disease, and a Community Action Group was formed with young people, adult men and women, and social leaders. This Group initiated actions of epidemiological and entomological surveillance in the community to deal with this problem.CONCLUSIONS It is necessary to create more experiences that deepen the understanding of the pillars of community resilience, and how they contribute to enhance participation in health to deal with Chagas disease.

Theoretical Versus Grass-Roots Development of a Community Partnership

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine Bracht, Kingbury, and Rissel's five-stage community development model as applied to a grass-roots community action group. The sample consisted of low-income, predominantly Hispanic women in a community action group in a Southwestern barrio, some of whom were experiencing domestic violence. The community group organizer was interviewed, and a content analytic table was constructed. Results showed that the community group's efforts would have benefited from a theoretically organized approach. The window of opportunity continues to be open for community development researchers to offer theoretical assistance to groups that are forming and to those already formed to help them realize their goals.

The Air Sensor Citizen Science Toolbox: A Collaboration in Community Air Quality Monitoring and Mapping

The Air Sensor Citizen Science Toolbox is being developed by the US EPA with resources and other tools that can be used by citizens to learn more about air sensor technology. The toolbox has an overarching goal of providing guidance and instructions to citizens to allow them to effectively collect, analyze, interpret, and communicate air quality data. EPA’s Office of Research and Development is collaborating with select EPA Regions and local community organizations to develop sensor packages for community-based monitoring to initiate the long-range goal. A pilot community involved in rolling out specific components of the toolbox is bordered by highways, rail yards, major port activities, international airports, and industrial facilities, amongst others. It is believed that residents might be exposed to a variety of airborne pollutants from these sources. To achieve the project’s goal to raise awareness of local air pollution levels through citizen science-based monitoring, scientists involved in the pilot project are: Working with community members to develop a study design for monitoring air quality in the community based on sound science and local community concerns; Assisting the community in selecting appropriate pollutants for citizen scientists to monitor; Providing necessary environmental sensors, one-on-one training, and written directions for sensor use; Guiding community members on data analysis, data viewing options, and communication. A future goal of this pilot project is to translate these methods across other EPA Regional offices so they can collaborate with their local community action groups and address similar issues. The Citizen Science Toolbox has the potential to be a valuable resource for such collaborations.