IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i6p1831-d331503.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Individual and Community Engagement in Response to Environmental Challenges Experienced in Four Low-Income Urban Neighborhoods

Author

Listed:
  • Michelle L. Kaiser

    (College of Social Work, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43222, USA)

  • Michelle D. Hand

    (College of Social Work, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43222, USA)

  • Erica K. Pence

    (College of Social Work, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43222, USA)

Abstract

Low-income urban communities, and the individuals that live within them, continue to face disproportionate interconnected social, economic, and environmental challenges related to their built, natural, and social environments. The aim of our phenomenological research study was to elevate the experiences of residents living in low-income urban neighborhoods in terms of their communities’ environmental challenges. Our objectives were to (1) identify challenges across neighborhoods, (2) identify ways individuals and communities are addressing those challenges, and (3) assess the individual and collective efficacy and engagement of communities to lead environmental improvements in neighborhoods. This study brings forward the voices that are often ignored or misunderstood in these communities and uses an ecological-social perspective. We conducted focus groups (N = 68) in four low-income urban neighborhoods across two Ohio cities in the United States. Participants described five key challenges in their communities: Pollution, abandoned buildings with associated crime, low food access and health concerns, trash and illegal dumping, and lack of trees. We assessed engagement and efficacy using two frameworks focused on individual and community readiness to engage in and lead community change. Policymakers should acknowledge the valuable contributions and leadership capacity of residents in low-income communities to implement environmental initiatives.

Suggested Citation

  • Michelle L. Kaiser & Michelle D. Hand & Erica K. Pence, 2020. "Individual and Community Engagement in Response to Environmental Challenges Experienced in Four Low-Income Urban Neighborhoods," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-25, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:6:p:1831-:d:331503
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/6/1831/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/6/1831/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Robin Mearns & Andrew Norton, 2010. "Social Dimensions of Climate Change : Equity and Vulnerability in a Warming World," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2689.
    2. Shigeru Matsumoto & Kenji Takeuchi, 2011. "The effect of community characteristics on the frequency of illegal dumping," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 13(3), pages 177-193, September.
    3. Williams Shanks, Trina R. & Robinson, Christine, 2013. "Assets, economic opportunity and toxic stress: A framework for understanding child and educational outcomes," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 154-170.
    4. Galea, S. & Tracy, M. & Hoggatt, K.J. & DiMaggio, C. & Karpati, A., 2011. "Estimated deaths attributable to social factors in the united states," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 101(8), pages 1456-1465.
    5. Horowitz, C.R. & Colson, K.A. & Hebert, P.L. & Lancaster, K., 2004. "Barriers to buying healthy foods for people with diabetes: Evidence of environmental disparities," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 94(9), pages 1549-1554.
    6. Na’Taki Osborne Jelks & Timothy L. Hawthorne & Dajun Dai & Christina H. Fuller & Christine Stauber, 2018. "Mapping the Hidden Hazards: Community-Led Spatial Data Collection of Street-Level Environmental Stressors in a Degraded, Urban Watershed," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-15, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Leanne S. Fawkes & Thomas J. McDonald & Taehyun Roh & Weihsueh A. Chiu & Robert J. Taylor & Garett T. Sansom, 2022. "A Participatory-Based Research Approach for Assessing Exposure to Lead-Contaminated Drinking Water in the Houston Neighborhood of the Greater Fifth Ward," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-11, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Steven Deller & Amber Canto & Laura Brown, 2015. "Rural poverty, health and food access," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(2), pages 61-74, June.
    2. Chen, Duan-Rung & Wen, Tzai-Hung, 2010. "Socio-spatial patterns of neighborhood effects on adult obesity in Taiwan: A multi-level model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(6), pages 823-833, March.
    3. Anne T. Kuriakose & Rasmus Heltberg & William Wiseman & Cecilia Costella & Rachel Cipryk & Sabine Cornelius, 2013. "Climate-Responsive Social Protection," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 31, pages 19-34, November.
    4. Kurita, Kenichi & Managi, Shunsuke, 2023. "New economic geography model with natural capital and migration congestion effect," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 635-641.
    5. Maria Waldinger, 2015. "The effects of climate change on internal and international migration: implications for developing countries," GRI Working Papers 192, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
    6. Gaurav Bhattacharya, 2019. "Location decisions of industries in the presence of transportation costs and environmental regulations: empirical evidence from India," Journal of Social and Economic Development, Springer;Institute for Social and Economic Change, vol. 21(1), pages 24-53, June.
    7. Lisa Reyes Mason & Bonita B. Sharma & Jayme E. Walters & Christine C. Ekenga, 2020. "Mental Health and Weather Extremes in a Southeastern U.S. City: Exploring Group Differences by Race," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-18, May.
    8. Ilya Ilyankou & Andy Newing & Nick Hood, 2023. "Supermarket Store Locations as a Proxy for Neighbourhood Health, Wellbeing, and Wealth," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-12, July.
    9. Heather Lochotzki & Karen Patricia Williams & Cynthia G. Colen & Olorunfemi Adetona & Charleta B. Tavares & Georgina M. Ginn & Rejeana Haynes & Wansoo Im & Tanya Bils & Darryl B. Hood, 2022. "A Framework for Interfacing and Partnering with Environmental Justice Communities as a Prelude to Human Health and Hazard Identification in the Vulnerable Census Tracts of Columbus, Ohio," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-18, October.
    10. Hunt Allcott & Rebecca Diamond & Jean-Pierre Dubé & Jessie Handbury & Ilya Rahkovsky & Molly Schnell, 2019. "Food Deserts and the Causes of Nutritional Inequality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(4), pages 1793-1844.
    11. repec:ags:aaea22:335946 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Richard Casey Sadler & Amanda Y. Kong & Zachary Buchalski & Erika Renee Chanderraj & Laura A. Carravallah, 2021. "Linking the Flint Food Store Survey: Is Objective or Perceived Access to Healthy Foods Associated with Glycemic Control in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-13, September.
    13. Aubree Driver & Crystal Mehdizadeh & Samuel Bara-Garcia & Coline Bodenreider & Jessica Lewis & Sacoby Wilson, 2019. "Utilization of the Maryland Environmental Justice Screening Tool: A Bladensburg, Maryland Case Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-21, January.
    14. Shobha Shrestha & Prem Sagar Chapagain & Motilal Ghimire, 2019. "Gender Perspective on Water Use and Management in the Context of Climate Change: A Case Study of Melamchi Watershed Area, Nepal," SAGE Open, , vol. 9(1), pages 21582440188, January.
    15. Brent Berry & Taralyn McMullen, 2008. "Visual communication to children in the supermarket context: Health protective or exploitive?," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 25(3), pages 333-348, September.
    16. Katina Popova, 2019. "Women Empowerment: Challenges for the Global Tourism," Izvestia Journal of the Union of Scientists - Varna. Economic Sciences Series, Union of Scientists - Varna, Economic Sciences Section, vol. 8(1), pages 3-9, April.
    17. Kurita, Kenichi & Managi, Shunsuke, 2021. "Circular economy in cities: An economic theory to decouple economic development from waste," MPRA Paper 105435, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Martha Okafor & Daniel F. Sarpong & Aneeqah Ferguson & David Satcher, 2013. "Improving Health Outcomes of Children through Effective Parenting: Model and Methods," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-16, December.
    19. David Rothwell & Timothy Ottusch & Jennifer K. Finders, 2018. "Asset Poverty Among Children: A Cross-national Study of Poverty Risk," LWS Working papers 29, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    20. Forsyth, Ann & Lytle, Leslie & Van Riper, David, 2010. "Finding food: Issues and challenges in using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to measure food access," The Journal of Transport and Land Use, Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, vol. 3(1), pages 43-65.
    21. McCrea, Katherine Tyson & Richards, Maryse & Quimby, Dakari & Scott, Darrick & Davis, Lauren & Hart, Sotonye & Thomas, Andre & Hopson, Symora, 2019. "Understanding violence and developing resilience with African American youth in high-poverty, high-crime communities," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 296-307.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:6:p:1831-:d:331503. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.