Engaging community voices: An assets-based approach to research and action on healthy foods & safe places to be active

Community engagement is the foundation of viable, community-sustained action. Contrary to participatory methods focused on needs or shortcomings, an asset-based approach highlights the resources and relationships that communities already have in order to identify priorities for future action. This paper describes three community health asset-mapping workshops conducted with over 50 local community members and organizational stakeholders in three North Carolina counties, as part of a multidisciplinary research and outreach project focused on food access and community food environments. The workshops focused on identifying community assets that contribute to the availability of healthy and affordable food in low-income communities. At the workshops, we asked participants (including low-income residents, volunteers, and organizational leaders) to map community assets, create historical timelines, and share experiences and knowledge. These revealed different priorities in each county – ranging from transportation to food pantries – and catalyzed community-led strategies for change that build on existing assets. Importantly, in some cases, our findings identified striking discrepancies between assets identified by residents and those identified by organizational leaders. Asset-mapping is a promising method for academic-community partnership in public health research, in that it is able to discern—from a community-based perspective—the social, cultural, and geographical narratives that shape communities and health. The discussion highlights how the research and outreach team utilized this assets-based approach as a springboard for community-academic partnership and action. We conclude by highlighting relevant lessons learned for researchers employing community-based methods, in order to ensure that our methods challenge, rather than reproduce, inequalities .