Community-Engaged Science for a Healthier Montbello

Walk audit participants cross an intersection in Denver’s Montbello neighborhood, February 2022.

Community-Engaged Science for a Healthier Montbello

Hannah Craig & Pam Jiner

To get from Denver’s Montbello neighborhood to the nearest greenway is no easy feat. Assuming one is able to make the journey by foot, the walk will take the better part of an hour. To speed things up, a public bus stop or two dot the route but riders must stand, uncovered while they wait for a ride. Cars whizz past, and the noises from the road make it hard to hold a conversation. The journey proves inhospitable for most, the task not valued by the energetic systems that rule this part of the neighborhood.

Infrastructure and design changes, particularly ones that benefit the health of the Montbello community, like an enjoyable pedestrian journey to a nature trail, have lagged behind the social, political, and economic shifts that have occurred in the neighborhood since it was built in the 1960s. Today, the multicultural, linguistically diverse community with veteran and older adult populations, has a relatively low median household income and experiences certain poorer health outcomes than other areas of Denver, such as rates of COVID-19 (1,2,3). A significant percentage of residents are located more than one mile from the nearest supermarket, and the neighborhood is considered a medically underserved area (4, 5).

Pam Jiner, a 45-year resident of Montbello and an award-winning community leader, is well acquainted with the physical realities of the neighborhood and the reciprocal relationships they have with community health outcomes. Several years ago, she set out to make some changes. Using the community-based participatory research methods (CBPR) and digital tool outlined in the evidence-based Our

Voice Initiative developed by the Stanford Prevention Research Center, Pam gathered community members, or “citizen scientists”, and began collecting data.

They used the Our Voice digital application, the Discovery Tool, which is downloaded by each citizen scientist and used to collect geotagged photos, narratives, ratings, and walking maps of the neighborhood. It coalesces a unique combination of data (qualitative perceptions of the built environment as well as quantitative geographical information) to tell a collective story of people and place.

Pam and Montbello citizen scientists then analyzed their aggregate findings from the Discovery Tool, prioritized needs, and used the data to generate recommendations for change. Four years of collective action later, they ultimately secured miles of sidewalks, crosswalks, and other pedestrian infrastructure along a central neighborhood street, increasing access to public transportation, greenspace, health care, and a variety of businesses.

In October 2021, I began walking, learning, and working with Pam and community members, gaining experience with community-engaged research at the intersection of health and the built environment. As a first-year Master of Public Health student, the new neighborhood infrastructure and its potential to positively impact health outcomes is compelling, but I’m also intrigued by the process—the way the Discovery Tool and CBPR process create new information flows through social networks, building skillsets, connections, and capacities (data collection, stakeholder mapping, cost benefit analysis, etc.) along the way.

What are the ripple effects of this communityengaged process, and how will it impact people and the environment in the long-term? Could the generative aspects of this process be integrated with other methods for quantifying human-environment interactions to yield even more impactful change for healthier communities and sustainable environments?

As I approach these questions through our work in Montbello over the next several months, I look forward to uncovering and understanding the synergies of this work in Montbello and how they can be leveraged for continued human-environment progress in the neighborhood. For more context on this work, I interviewed Pam briefly on these topics in March 2022.

Tell me about community health in the neighborhood. From your point of view, what are the strengths, and what problems does the community experience?

“The ways that many neighborhoods have been built can be isolating for certain populations, We are extremely diverse, and I think that’s where our strength lies—the fact that we can come together, build, connect, and unite our community—that, to me, is our biggest strength.

Some of the problems that we face health-wise are the financial strains on our community and neighborhood infrastructure. We are a low income community, and our infrastructure needs to be improved because it’s affecting our community’s health. Unsafe streets, incomplete sidewalks, the absence of stop signs—basic traffic and pedestrian access needs to be looked at.

Grocery stores are also a big thing. We have been advocating for a full-service grocery store that provides us with more healthy options. Through that advocacy, we have a new store coming to our community. Through the planning process, we got together with developers, and we told them what we would like to have in our community, like a sit-down restaurant. That’s something that we don’t have. Everything is fast food. We would like for the new development to be designed so that residents can bike to it, walk to it, have access without putting their bodies in harm’s way.”

What connections do you observe between community health and the built environment?

"The ways that many neighborhoods have been built can be isolating for certain populations, including older adults, people in wheelchairs, children, people who speak different languages. There’s a whole gamut of things that are isolating.

Montbello has been here for decades, and we are just now speaking out about things that we’ve all been tired of for 40 years. I think that’s why I garnered my community behind me. I knew my voice would not be heard. Why don’t we have sidewalk or safe routes to school? Why aren’t our schools safe? It’s like we have to prove ourselves worthy of amenities that most communities get automatically.”

What have you found to be the most effective strategies in your work? How have you observed decision-makers responding differently when you have data in hand?

“The biggest thing is getting community members involved. They talk about it with their families. Everybody calls their representatives, and City Council gets involved. We come together to let everybody know what we’re concerned about.

It took four years of advocating for sidewalks along sections of Peoria Street to get decisionmakers to come out for a community walk audit. We did a presentation of all the data we had gathered. City Council presented. We told the history. We said, “This is our normal, and we’re tired of it. It’s hard on our bodies and our minds. It’s humiliating. It’s degrading. Every time we walk, with our handicapped, with our kids, we wonder why this isn’t a complete street.”

What are your visions and goals for Montbello? What would a healthy community look and feel like for you?

“If we get everything done that we’re working on—grocery stores with fresh produce, sit-down restaurants that are pedestrian-friendly, bicyclefriendly, and electric vehicle-friendly, playgrounds built into shopping centers with benches and coverings, lower traffic speeds— that is a great start.

In my vision, everybody would be outside. You wouldn’t be able to drive down a block without seeing people playing outside, walking, biking, hanging out. We’re going to get benches put all around the community so that if you are walking, you can sit and relax. We’re going to have plants and more traffic lights.

I see an active community. I see places where people can gather and connect. My vision is people are waving, talking, and laughing on street corners. I want everybody to feel included and connected.”

For more information, or to continue the conversation, please contact Hannah at Hannah.craig@cuanschutz.edu.