Thank you for watching our video! We share some of the results from our journey as we documented the equitable co-creation of a continental community science project to benefit our communities. What happens when communities co-lead a science project side by side with informal science institutions? 

Our research and experience led us to understand that the co-creation of equitable processes in collaborations and scientific research focused on communities historically excluded from the sciences is critically important. 

The NOISE project presented a unique opportunity for community engagement in science because of the Independent Community-Based Organizations’ (ICBOs) commitment to authentically and explicitly address issues of Race, Equity and Inclusion that impact science projects collaborations.

We invite you to visit https://noiseproject.org/ to learn more about our Community Science Project focused on noise pollution, download our Noise Project App, and continue to learn more about equity, justice, diversity, and inclusion in scientific research. 

Our manuscript “Understanding the Impact of Equitable Collaborations between Science Institutions and Community-Based Organizations: Improving Science through Community-Led Research” is available at https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biac001

Our paper “The Importance of Funding Communities Directly” is available at https://www.informalscience.org/importance-funding-communities-directly

This is a rich presentation, and it is all the richer for the papers you suggest in this welcoming message.  I found the discussion of the IRB process in your BioScience paper particularly interesting.  

   I have two questions that arose as I was watching and reading.  First,  you don't mention "intergenerational" aspects of the community (including school-aged kids and their teachers), but I'll bet that your project includes them.  Can you say a bit more?

    Second, the example of the researcher interested in teaching biodiversity but not connected to the community they want to work with -- What if I (as a scientist or a researcher) am following an issue that I believe is crucial to a community, but the community is not widely aware of the issue as it affects them ?  Have you had experience of such a person/group from outside the community seeking to build awareness about an issue, and then a community process emerging to address it?   

Marilu,

Thank you for sharing about this really thoughtful project. It sounds like a really rich and complex project. I was curious to learn more about how you were able to bring together such a large diversity of community partners, and how you were able to negotiate a project to work on and bring together the expertise you needed to carry it out.

It was impressive to hear that this collaboration has been going on for 8 years. I was wondering if you have thoughts about what has contributed to the longevity of this collaboration, and whether/how you have experienced any turnover of individuals while maintaining the group?

Thanks,
Billy

Thanks, Billy, 

Projects fail when institutions pull in projects like this together in a top-down kind of way. Our project grew from the ground-up in resistance to institutional inequity. Using grounded theory approaches, and Community-based Participatory Action Research we built intentional processes that center Equity and Inclusion to benefit our communities.

If the process is good, communities will support it. Equitable co-created processes attract communities where ownership is genuine. Processes need to be bottom-up. Our group is diverse, yet they have a clear mission to benefit each of the communities.

Below, I share a guide co-created by the ICBO’s  that might help understand how to bring together long-lasting community-led projects like this one: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1siAvFwP4ddDy3SmVuxTVgWj7WSZvRRCE/view

Thanks again!

Marilu,

Thank you for sharing information about your framework and project. I enjoyed reading the articles, specifically about community coding and looking through the information on the website. I appreciate the information provided about the community coding challenges and how the team navigated power dynamics. I'm curious to know in your opinion what was the most positive outcome from the community coding process? Also will the Noise Pollution project also gather data on how noise pollution impacts wildlife in addition to the adverse health outcomes for communities?

Thanks, Beatriz! The value of Community Coding is in the opportunity to bring together diverse perspectives to fill in gaps in the coding process. Acknowledging these gaps is a vital step in confronting the Privilege and Power that is present in collaborations between community partners and science institutions. Community members bring viewpoints that Lab staff would miss otherwise and vice versa. We believe this will give us more complete codes and deeper analysis of our data that accounts for a multitude of perspectives and realities.

In regard to the second question, with the NOISE App, communities will gather data on the issues that interest and/or affect them. In our group there are communities who are measuring noise with a social and environmental justice lens, other communities are measuring noise and how it affects bird populations, other communities are focused on education about noise pollution while others are using the app to designate noise refuges to mitigate the negative effects of noise. Participants can download the data from our website: https://noiseproject.org/data-download/

Greetings,

I am so happy to have discovered your project!  I had the chance to read through several of your posted articles and resources, and plan to incorporate many of your ideas as we develop our new program in Sustainability Engineering at UPR Mayagüez.

One question that came up - In your article “The Importance of Funding Communities Directly”, you noted

“We believe CBOs should have direct access to funding streams so that money is not channeled through dominant culture STEM institutions and CBOs are able to control and build equitable projects that use community-centered approaches that benefit their communities. The infrastructure to support this model does not currently exist within the scientific enterprise, yet.”

I accept this as generally true, but I believe that NSF will support independent scholars and other organizations that might fall outside of the mainstream university research system (e.g., TERC).  Could you please comment on to what extent your project was able to balance the funding to the ICBOs, perhaps through subcontracts or other mechanisms, so as to allow them a means to direct decisions and compensate the organizations?

As a side comment, I see a direct parallel with the question of how to rethink/rebalance  what happens globally within the international development aid processes, so as to give more on the ground community organizations more direct funding vs only funding the big players, who are anywhere from ineffective to corrupt with how development funds are used.  

Also, I am curious to know if you have interacted with any of the divisions of the ASEE that would be allies, such as the Liberal Education/Education and Society Division or the Community Engagement Division?  Or also the Engineering, Social Justice and Peace Network?

Finally, allow me to share an article in which we wrote last year Community Designers: A Pilot Virtual Community Codesign Symposium in which we also attempted to properly balance the power relations within a university-community project.

Let’s continue the conversation!

Fantastic work! I loved the graphics in your video, and I'm excited to look into the Noise Project further. Thank you for sharing your important research.

Thanks Lauren! 

Wow, interesting project. It was nice to see all of those smiling faces! Here at the NY Hall of Science we are also embarking in a new "co-creation" project with our community as part of a major initiative. A new public school PreK Center is being built on our campus and we are going to be working with the school "ecosystem" to help support their science curriculum. We are excited to be working not only with the school admin, teachers, students, and PTA, but also the families of the students in our community. We also want to reach out to local businesses and CBOs from our community to be part of this ecosystem. Just curious, how did you go about recruiting CBOs and other stakeholders into your project?

Absolutely love this project! Thanks for sharing all these resources. Lots to learn. 

Greetings, Jasmine.  This sounds like an exciting project.  I don't know where you are in the process, but it is important to identify the partners and stakeholders in advance of planning the project.  This is where co-creation begins although other stakeholders may join the collaboration later.  You have a good list already.  Having conversations to get to know the extended community and other partners in education--formal and informal--is also a good place to start.  Much success to you on the project and in co-creating sustainable processes to continue to build capacity.

Hello, everyone!  I am Bobby L. Wilson, ICBO and Co-PI on the NOISE Project.  I want to thank each of you for taking the time to watch our video and to cast your vote.  I believe that "Science is everywhere!"  I also believe that there is a place for everyone in science which is why there is great value in community-based participatory action research that invites marginalized and underserved communities to engage in the sciences.  As ICBO's, we have encouraged and welcomed the expertise of citizen scientists from the elementary school student to the senior citizen, without having to be a Ph.D., to explore the wonderful and amazing world of science that we all live in.  It is up to all of us to insist on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in the sciences.  Thank you for your comments and for your vote of support.