Tacoma Community College Library: ENGL 102, S. Endicott, Spring 2024: Examples of PAR and PAR resources

PAR resources

The following is a listing of PAR work being done, including in Tacoma. Many of these resources include examples of PAR research that is being done.

Action Mapping Project (AMP): YPAR
The Action Mapping Project (AMP) is a youth-oriented and community-based project in Tacoma, Washington that fosters neighborhood change through data production, education, and direct action.
Urban Institute: Community Engagement Resource Center
Discussion and examples of participatory research.
AmeriCorps: Participatory Research grants
Includes a list of research grantees with a description of their proposals. Includes the work highlighted on this page, the Carlton-Faribault project.
Community Toolbox:
Learn about community-based participatory research: what it is, why it can be effective, who might use it, and how to set up and conduct it.

Carlton (University) & Faribault MN PAR Collaboration- community research experience

AmeriCorp and PAR

AmeriCorp funds collaborative PAR research projects. This project, a collaboration between Carlton University and the Somali and Latinx community in Faribault, Minnesota, was intended to better understand the experiences of these communities, particularly Somali and Latinx high school students.

Latina mothers in Faribault, MN joined together to work on a project funded by this grant, that connects members of the Latino community to each other and also to the public education system. The primary purpose of their work was to understand the experiences of Latinx students and families in the Faribault school system and to understand, and change the system that contributes to the low Latinx graduation rate in Faribault.

This video (12 mins) demonstrates an important aspect of PAR, discussing experiences in their PAR process, and "lessons learned" from the process.

video: "CNCS Latinx Parent Team: Madres Unitas." by CNSC. Standard YouTube license applies.

Learn more about the Carlton-Faribault research collective

PAR and cultural humility

Cultural Humility

A required component to participatory action research (PAR) is "cultural humility", a pro-social competency that allows us to engage with each other with curiosity rather than judgement.

A quick definition of cultural humility: Video: less than 1 minute

video: "What exactly is cultural humility, in short?" by Diabetes Africa. Standard YouTube license applies.

Video (9:51 mins): Cultural Humility in Community-Based Participatory Research:

How PAR led to forming a worker alliance that led to anti-wage theft ordinance in San Francisco.

video: "Cultural Humility in Community Based Participatory Research & Education" by Vivian Chavez. Standard YouTube license applies.

Stories as research

Participatory action research (PAR) can include storytelling as a part of the research process. Sharing stories helps the research collective understand more about the problems they are researching, and sharing and listening to stories helps the community learn from each each, and understand more about the community and the people who live there which forges connection.

Here is a video presentation from a research who uses storytelling as a part of their PAR work. (28 minutes with 12 minutes of questions at the end)

Video: "Story as a Participatory research and community development tool." by Community Powered Response. Standard YouTube license applies.

Here is a compelling video (13:56 mins) about how storytelling is neurologically much more powerful than data alone in understanding people, communities, problems.

video: "Why storytelling is more powerful than data." by Karen Eber for TEDx. Standard YouTube license applies.