Last summer, the public water system in Jackson, Mississippi, collapsed. Residents (my father included) have been sounding the alarm for decades, but no one in a position to stop the city’s downward spiral has tried to stop it. Or even if they acted, they didn’t act.
Everything shocked me the last time I visited Jackson’s father shortly before his death in December 2016. It will be the last time I drive around town with his father, but we visit his old neighborhood, his childhood home, his old school. Things have gotten worse since I quit after high school.
At the time, I was studying for my PhD in Environmental Health at the TH Chang School of Public Health at Harvard University. As my father and I drove past one of our favorite childhood libraries, literally flooded through a cave, I experienced both anger and survivor’s guilt. If I lived in an era like Jackson, would I be where I am today? That now-closed library was once a place where I could escape my life as a poor black kid and read the books that transported me to a world beyond the boundaries made by circumstances. . I wondered about the young, disproportionately poor blacks in Jackson now. How were they able to achieve their dreams when I had to overcome obstacles that I couldn’t overcome as a child? As our research showed, truancy rates in public schools increased by up to 10% when a boiling water advisory was issued.
Like many places across the United States, including Flint, Mississippi and Birmingham, Alabama, Mr. Jackson has suffered decades of indifference that have resulted in the collapse of infrastructure in the Mississippi capital. Opportunities for residents to fulfill their potential and build healthy lives for their children are limited at best. They live in constant danger, whether it’s unsafe drinking water, garbage, floods, air pollution, or a myriad of other threats that state and local governments must address.
A researcher like me who comes from a place of high need positive change By rethinking our role and Partnerships with the communities we serve. I consider myself a storm chaser. Go not in the direction of fundraising, but in the direction of urgent need—the storm. I chased the storm home. With a research grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, I returned to Mississippi to study water, air, vision, and noise pollution—my home state while the government seems to be doing nothing. It assesses four issues that continue to plague the
For researchers, a storm-chasing approach requires a pivot to directly address the immediate needs of communities in real time. Otherwise, even with good intentions, you may avoid neglected areas, chase the wrong questions, and derive answers that are irrelevant to your residents’ real lives. It’s easy to advertise success in the Ivory Tower office. It’s quite another to try to build an influential research program when few residents other than those involved really care.
Many researchers measure their success by how far they can advance in academia, a metric that in its current form completely ignores the “public” aspects of public health. Nothing about the science hiding behind paywalls or ivory gates is accessible. I believe that if you really want to make an impact, you need to think far beyond the typical research output such as an academic paper or conference presentation and create something of direct value to the community you are researching. . Every aspect of research is an opportunity to leave behind something of value, whether it’s data on the quality of drinking water or a pipeline of future scientists from the community who may continue to research after you’re gone.
In our research at Jackson, to start We plan for demise and strive to ensure we create useful assets such as accessible data, tools and human capital for the continued advocacy of our communities. Our project leaves a permanent data infrastructure, including an open-access data repository and mapping system to house the data we collect, for use by the citizens of Jackson.
It is also important for researchers to integrate themselves into the places they study by becoming part of the community and understanding both its strengths and needs. This very important task should not be outsourced to community organizations that must necessarily be affiliated with to establish trust. Ask yourself again and again.Am I the one doing this job? ” If not, give community members the lead and allow them to step aside.
A key aspect of my work at Jackson is research partnerships with local high school and community college students. These two great talent pools of his are criminally neglected, even though these students are often enthusiastic and make significant contributions to these projects. By investing in talented local students, they gain knowledge and experience while helping improve the quality of life in the community. Additionally, they may stay with the company and work for the community, which I regret not doing.
These students talked about their research to residents in their communities, asked them to install air quality monitors in their yards, explained what their tap water test results mean, and traveled. I’m taking you to They are motivated to participate because they want to promote progress in the communities in which they live. Through such efforts, these up-and-coming researchers can build community trust in science and research.
Thankfully, local communities have a full say when they have access to the information and tools they need. In Jackson, we’ve seen residents bring our environmental reports to community meetings and use them to advocate for change. Many will use the information at their disposal to take the next step, or even more.
An informed public must take the lead in driving change. They can hold civil servants accountable by electing competent leaders who serve their needs. They need to reject officials who do nothing. Their health and well-being depend on it.
In addition, governments must respond to their citizens and invest in places left behind or intentionally excluded. Jackson and places like it need more than empty words.
Funders can seek out and invest in community-based, participatory research projects that incorporate ‘storm chasing’ and build flexibility into grants to allow researchers to respond to what’s happening on the ground. We can help. Like me, they need to be able to pivot to address what is most important to the community under study rather than taking a top-down approach.Funders request these direct connections before funding, to ensure that the research is what the community needs today, and to and Non-traditional academic products.
Jackson and communities like it deserve a better future where everyone has an opportunity. As researchers, we have a role to play. But we have to do more than collect data and publish it in peer-reviewed journals.
We must act with a commitment to our partners, not just a means of funded research. We must strive to empower all communities to get their fair share of investment and support. A list of peer-reviewed articles is an inadequate legacy if the research behind it doesn’t improve people’s lives.
This is an opinion and analysis article and the views expressed by the author are not necessarily those of the author. Scientific American.
