About Resource
Healthy City is an online data and mapping platform funded by Catalyst California (formerly Advancement Project California), a nonprofit advocating for policies that promote racial justice. Through its Community Research Lab program, Healthy City supports community-based organizations in the development, implementation, and dissemination of data/mapping projects, tools, and workshops that promote community based participatory action research.
Healthy City’s Participatory Asset Mapping toolkit will help its users explore:
- What is participatory asset mapping?
- Why, when, and how should it be done?
- What can be done with its results?
- What does it look like to leverage participatory asset maps to advocate for policy change?
A suite of practical tools are included and will guide users through:
- How to use WikiMaps, a freely available mapping software
- How to plan and facilitate an asset mapping event
- Ethical considerations involved in community based participatory action research
How to Use
Participatory asset mapping can empower community members to involve themselves in research and action towards strengthening their community, to articulate and communicate spatial knowledge to external agencies, and to manage resources, community development, and planning. As such, this approach is a natural fit for any place-based community science effort whose work directly engages community members with the goals of affecting policy change, and/or enhancing community outreach or organizing efforts.
Explore this guide to learn about participatory asset mapping methods (community-engaged mapping events and social investigations like surveys, interviews, community walks) and tools (WikiMaps, Google’s MyMaps), and tailor the most ideal approach to a specific project and community of interest. Considering a community-engaged mapping event? Consult first the Appendices for critical ethical considerations as well as step-by-step instructions on preparing for and facilitating such an event (including a draft script, worksheets, and potential responses to FAQs).
For additional resources on hyperlocal communications, adapting your research question to respond to community needs, and how maps can be used for community organizing, consult the entire Community Research Toolbox, here: https://www.healthycity.org/cbpar-toolbox/
Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
Author(s)/Organization: Janice C. Burns, Dagmar Pudrzynska Paul, and Silvia R. Paz / Healthy City
Publication Year: 2012
Tags
Attributes:Centers Community Priorities, Aims for Action, Respects Community Strengths
Outcomes:Capacity for Civic Engagement, Impactful Scientific Research, Strong Community Partnerships
Approaches:Civic Engagement & Policymaking, Participatory Research
Type:Guidebooks & Manuals