Athena K. Ramos, Natalia Trinidad, Sonja H. Bickford, Nate Bickford, J. Torquati, Maria M. Mushi
{"title":"Engaging Residents in Planning a Community Garden: A Strategy for Enhancing Participation Through Relevant Messaging","authors":"Athena K. Ramos, Natalia Trinidad, Sonja H. Bickford, Nate Bickford, J. Torquati, Maria M. Mushi","doi":"10.33596/COLL.24","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Understanding residents’ perceptions and preferences regarding health promotion and community development strategies is vital. Community gardens, often collaborative community-engaged projects, are designed to be healthy places where neighbors gather; however, they have the potential to be much more. The purpose of the study was to gauge public support for a community garden in South Omaha and prioritize messaging strategies regarding the potential benefits of a garden. To that end, a bilingual online survey that assessed interest in, perceived benefits of, purposes for, and functional attributes to co-locate in a community garden was conducted. Through this process, we learned about the value of developing local data, importance of using an asset-based framework, understanding community perceptions about potential benefits, balancing community research endeavors, and developing partnerships to expand the reach of a project. Developing community research strategies and appropriate messaging in collaboration with community members and partners is critical to the success of community health promotion initiatives.","PeriodicalId":87236,"journal":{"name":"Collaborations (Coral Gables, Fla.)","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2019-08-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"4","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Collaborations (Coral Gables, Fla.)","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.33596/COLL.24","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 4
Abstract
Understanding residents’ perceptions and preferences regarding health promotion and community development strategies is vital. Community gardens, often collaborative community-engaged projects, are designed to be healthy places where neighbors gather; however, they have the potential to be much more. The purpose of the study was to gauge public support for a community garden in South Omaha and prioritize messaging strategies regarding the potential benefits of a garden. To that end, a bilingual online survey that assessed interest in, perceived benefits of, purposes for, and functional attributes to co-locate in a community garden was conducted. Through this process, we learned about the value of developing local data, importance of using an asset-based framework, understanding community perceptions about potential benefits, balancing community research endeavors, and developing partnerships to expand the reach of a project. Developing community research strategies and appropriate messaging in collaboration with community members and partners is critical to the success of community health promotion initiatives.