The Hispanic/Latino community in the Fox Ridge Manor Apartments, Wake County, North Carolina : an action-oriented community diagnosis : findings and next steps of action

During the 2002-2003 academic year, five students from the University of North Carolina’s School of Public Health conducted a community diagnosis for Hispanic/Latino residents of Fox Ridge Manor, an apartment complex in Southeast Raleigh. The AOCD process is used to help understand the many sides of a community, including its norms, values, culture, power structure, history, and patterns of communication (Eng and Blanchard, 1991). The goal is to develop an insider’s view and understanding of the community through extensive fieldwork (Steckler et al., 1993). Eng and Blanchard (1991) highlight the basic steps of the AOCD process the Fox Ridge team followed: 1. Specify target population. 2. Review secondary data sources. 3. Conduct windshield tours. 4. Interview local service providers. 5. Interview key community informants. 6. Tabulate the results for the secondary data and primary data. 7. Present the findings back to the community. With the guidance of a preceptor from Wake County Cooperative Extension, the team engaged in a resident-focused research process that combined publicly available secondary data with primary data from interviews and field notes. The community diagnosis process was aimed at describing life in Fox Ridge’s Hispanic/Latino community; with a focus on the strengths and challenges its members share. This document opens with a description of our experiences as outsiders in Fox Ridge. Our findings in this process have been shaped both actively and passively by our biases as observers, so this section traces the brief evolution of our perspectives as recorded in our field notes. A description of the Fox Ridge Hispanic/Latino community based on secondary data follows, along with an overview of recent research findings about the community. Secondary data include sections on health, housing, education, employment and income, language, recreation, and transportation. Next, methods for primary data collection, including interviews and focus groups, are discussed. A thematic summary of primary data follows, comparing the perspectives of service providers and residents. Themes that emerged from our primary data collection include: Language as a barrier to all aspects of the lives of Latino/Hispanic residents in Fox Ridge. Lack of communication between parents and school personnel. Lack of recreational opportunities for Fox Ridge residents, both children and adults. Lack of transportation. Discrimination of Latino/Hispanic residents by landlords, service providers, police, etc. Race relations between African American and Hispanic/Latino residents. Effect of immigration status on service eligibility. The demographic change of Fox Ridge. Lack of access to health services and other social services. Lack of employment opportunities. Housing/maintenance issues. Community functioning. Community problems, such as gang activity, substance and alcohol abuse, and domestic violence. The results of primary data collection presented to community members and service providers at the Fox Ridge community forum are reviewed including the planning process and outcomes. All of the themes determined by the primary data analysis were presented, although the focuses of the community forum were childcare/recreation, knowing your rights, and the presence of gangs. Participants in the forum decided to focus on developing a childcare center in Fox Ridge and agreed to meet to discuss possible ways of accomplishing this goal. The document concludes with the team’s recommendations for future outsider approaches.Master of Public Healt