Engaging Latino Residents to Build a Healthier Community in Mid-City San Diego

Faculty and staff from the University of California, San Diego Academic Center of Excellence on Youth Violence Prevention partnered with a local collaborative, the Mid-City Community Advocacy Network, to build the capacity of the community to identify quality of life issues and advocate for change.In an effort to train and mobilize community residents effectively in the skills needed to engage in advocacy and systems change, the traditional delivery model of community engagement (surveys, focus groups, large and small forums, health fairs, and street fairs) was replaced with culturally specific, active engagement strategies. Engaging diverse communities in Mid-City (Latino, Somali, and Vietnamese) required an approach that included hiring bilingual, bicultural staff recruited from those communities, hosting meetings in residents’ homes, and providing extensive leadership training and support for residents. This community resident leadership initiative, piloted in the Latino community of mid-city San Diego, was successful in engaging resident participation in the process. This paper outlines the lessons learned from this initiative.