Sustaining a Community-based Air Quality Research Project through Multiple Iterations to Support Action at the Local Level and Improve Public Health

Community-based research incorporates the perspectives and expertise of residents, often resulting in locally relevant data and recommendations - this is what makes it so valuable and worthwhile. We would like to share the story of our work studying radon in an underserved community. Our partnership, between Taking Neighborhood Health to Heart, researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder, and AGU's Thriving Earth Exchange, began four years ago. The first iteration of the project, while fairly modest in scale, fully utilized participatory methods at all stages of the research. Conducting the project in this manner, which included taking time in the early stages to clarify objectives and discuss potential results ensuring equitable follow-up actions were available, helped to set the stage for scalable work and a lasting partnership. Unexpected results from the pilot phase motivated continuing this work. For example, we found that 12 out of 15 homes sampled had radon levels above the EPA's "action level", and that most participants had never been advised to test for radon (despite its prevalence throughout Colorado and importance as the leading cause of lung cancer in nonsmokers). The successful completion of the pilot helped us to obtain support from the CU Boulder for a second iteration of the project - allowing us to scale-up and collect more data. This work then enabled us to pursue larger, more conventional funding sources, resulting in a successfully funded US EPA grant last fall. In addition to expanding the number of homes tested for radon, this allowed us to conduct educational events, distribute free kits, collect survey data to improve understanding of barriers to testing and mitigation of high radon, and convene a coalition of residents interested in addressing local environmental and public health concerns into the future. Through our collaborative efforts we designed a project providing immediate and lasting benefits to the community. We will share project results, including: statistics of resident exposure to radon, how best to support testing/mitigation of radon in this particular community, and planned actions to disseminate and implement these strategies to build community capacity into the future. We also hope that reflections and lessons from our work can help other partnerships grow as has ours.