Loka Alert 5:4 (24 July 1998) COMMUNITY-BASED RESEARCH: "THE PEPSI CHALLENGE" by Dick Sclove and Madeleine Scammell Friends and Colleagues: This is one in an occasional series of electronic postings on democratic politics of research, science and technology, issued free of charge by the nonprofit Loka Institute. If you would like to be added to, or removed from, the Loka Institute's E-mail list, please send a message to: . PLEASE PASS THIS ALERT ON TO OTHERS WHO WOULD BE INTERESTED, AND INVITE FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES TO SUBSCRIBE TOO. Thank you! This Loka Alert announces the publication of Loka's 18- month study, "Community-Based Research in the United States -- Including Comparison with the Dutch Science Shops and the Mainstream American Research System." Beneath our summary of the report (below), you will find important updates and information about how you and your organization can become involved in -- and benefit from -- Loka's broader project to establish a worldwide Community Research Network. ** NEWS FLASH!! ** There's a marvelous front-page story based on Loka's new study in today's (24 July) _Christian Science Monitor_ newspaper. The article is titled "No Ivory Tower: Rise of the Street-Level Think Tank." Link to it from the Loka Institute's new homepage: ** LOKA'S HOMEPAGE ADDRESS ** http://www.loka.org Cheers to all! --Dick Sclove & Madeleine Scammell The Loka Institute, P.O. Box 355, Amherst, MA 01004-0355 USA Tel. +(413) 559-5860; Fax +(413) 559-5811 E-mail: Loka@amherst.edu ***************************************************************** CONTENTS (1) "Community-Based Research in the U.S." (Summary, plus comments from U.S. Congress and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation)........................ (3 pages) (2) How To Download (No Charge!) or Order the Full 150-page Report................................ (17 lines) (3) Updates on the Community Research Network (CRN) -- including How You Can Benefit & Participate, Loka Press Conference, CRN Job Announcement, and New Grant Awards)........................... (3 pages) (4) About the Loka Institute (including Internship Opportunities)................................. (1/2 page) ***************************************************************** (1) COMMUNITY-BASED RESEARCH IN THE U.S.: "THE PEPSI CHALLENGE" [The following 3-page summary highlights some of the major findings from: _Community-Based Research in the United States_ (Amherst, MA: The Loka Institute, July 1998). The full 150-page report also includes detailed profiles of 12 U.S. community research centers -- ranging from the Childhood Cancer Research Institute and the JSI Center for Environmental Health Studies in Massachusetts to Neighborhood Planning for Community Revitalization in Minneapolis and the Applied Research Center in Oakland, and more. Please see the full report for examples and a wealth of detail vital to anyone involved in -- or aspiring to initiate -- community-based research. The full report is also suitable for classroom use. You'll find instructions below on how to download (at no charge!) or order the full report.] COMMENTS ON LOKA'S NEW REPORT ON COMMUNITY-BASED RESEARCH: U.S. Congressman George E. Brown, Jr., ranking minority member, House Science Committee: "This is what many of us in the policy arena have been advocating for some time, a better mixing of the scientific community and the general public. What is needed is a higher visibility for these efforts so that they may multiply. The Loka Institute is to be commended for its efforts." *** From "Rise of the Street-Level Think Tank," front-page article in the _Christian Science Monitor_, 24 July 1998, based on Loka's new study: "Many analysts regard [community-based research] as an increasingly important vehicle for solving seemingly intractable local problems that often fly beneath the radar of the more established research industry. 'It's a fundamentally important approach,' says Anne Petersen, senior vice president for the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Mich., and former deputy director of the National Science Foundation. 'In the post- cold- war era, we've talked about the need to turn our attention to social issues.... The community-based research organization is one effective route for that.'" *** Dr. Daryl Chubin -- professor, author, & Division Director, National Science Foundation: "The need for a network of community-based researchers and partners is palpable. The Loka Institute should be lauded for assembling this collection of case studies." *** COMMUNITY-BASED RESEARCH IN THE U.S. (Summary) by Richard E. Sclove and Madeleine L. Scammell The United States is blessed with abundant resources, wealth and dynamism, and yet burdened with profound social and environmental ills. "We can put a man on the moon," goes the old saw, but why can't we empower distressed communities and groups to help understand and address their own problems? The answer, it turns out, is _not_ that no one knows how to facilitate such empowerment; the organizations examined in this study do it every day. The answer is that we aren't properly investing the resources readily available for building the social infrastructure -- a nationwide community research system --that would make empowerment-through-mutual-learning universally accessible. "Community-based research" is research that is initiated by communities and that is conducted for -- and often directly with or by -- communities (e.g., with civic, grassroots, or worker groups throughout civil society). This research differs from the bulk of the R&D conducted in the United States, most of which -- at a total cost of over $200 billion per year -- is performed in response to business, military, or government needs or in pursuit of academic interests. RESEARCH THAT MAKES A DIFFERENCE: This study presents 12 case studies of U.S. community research centers (one-third are located at universities and the others are independent nonprofit organizations). Concrete changes that have occurred as a result of community-based research projects conducted by these organizations include: A new health program in Chicago for refugee women; a system for providing police service more equitably in the Jacksonville, Florida area; and replacement of poisoned drinking water with a safe water line into a rural Kentucky community, together with a legal judgment requiring establishment of an $11 million community health fund. From these cases, the study develops the most comprehensive overview that exists to-date of the U.S. community research system, comparing it with the institutionally more mature community research system that exists in the Netherlands, as well as with the mainstream U.S. research system. The report's analysis is organized in terms of 18 findings, among them: RESEARCH THAT IS USED: Community-based research processes differ fundamentally from mainstream research in being coupled relatively tightly with community groups that are eager to know the research results and to use them in practical efforts to achieve constructive social change. Community-based research is not only usable, it is generally used and, more than that, used to good effect. RESEARCH THAT BUILDS SOCIAL CAPITAL: Community-based research builds new social relationships and trust, as well as heightened social efficacy. It may thus provide one constructive response to the growing concern that American civil society is in crisis and unraveling. UNMET DEMAND: There is significant demand for community- based research, and much of it is not being met. The Loka Institute has so far been able to identify about 75 U.S. community research centers, estimating crudely that the total number of community research projects conducted annually in the U.S. is somewhere between 400 and 1,200. For there to be as many community research centers per capita in the U.S. as already exist in the Netherlands, the U.S. would need 645 centers conducting about 17,000 studies annually. COST-EFFECTIVE: Compared with conventional research, community-based research is cost-effective. A typical community research project costs on the order of $10,000, constructively addresses an important social problem, provides tangible benefits to groups that are often among society's least advantaged, produces secondary social benefits (such as enhancing participating students' education-for-citizenship), and produces little or no unintended social or environmental harm. INADEQUATE FUNDING: Most U.S. community research centers find their work chronically constrained or even jeopardized by an inadequate funding base. This study's rough estimate is that both the U.S. and the Netherlands currently spend on the order of US$10 million annually on community-based research, which means that calculated as a fraction of each nation's respective total R&D expenditure, the Dutch are investing in community-based research at 37 times the U.S. rate. DEMAND OUTSTRIPS GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS. For example, during the two-year period 1995-1996, funding limitations permitted the Environmental Justice Community-University Grants Program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to support only 16 of 156 proposals submitted. THE U.S. CAN AFFORD MORE: The United States not only needs more community-based research, but can also easily afford it: o THE PEPSI CHALLENGE: In 1994 Pepsico announced that, following two years of market research conducted among 5,000 people, it would spend a further $50 million to reinvent its Doritos-brand tortilla chip--intensifying the flavor on the outer surface, rounding the chip's corners, and redesigning the package. Pepsico's principal concern was to ensure that Doritos maintain market dominance in the face of growing competition from the new "restaurant style" corn chips. (News coverage of this story neglected to mention that the leading "restaurant style" chip, Tostitos-brand, also happens to be a Pepsico product.) The expenditure of more than $50 million to ensure that Pepsico's Doritos outsell Pepsico's own competing Tostitos, represents approximately five times the total annual U.S. investment in community-based research. A SOCIETY THAT CAN AFFORD $50 MILLION TO REINVENT THE DORITOS CHIP CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT'S THE NEW "PEPSI CHALLENGE"! o WELFARE FOR MR. WIZARD: In 1997 the U.S. federal government spent an estimated $21.7 billion for R&D conducted at government laboratories, including anachronistic Department of Energy nuclear weapons and nuclear power laboratories that are widely acknowledged to be struggling to identify missions that would justify their continued existence. That $21.7 billion is more than 2,000 times greater than the U.S. investment in community-based research. THE COMMUNITY RESEARCH NETWORK (CRN): While there are community research centers in the United States, compared with the Netherlands they are few and far between, and relatively inaccessible to the groups that could most benefit from them. Since 1995 the Loka Institute's Community Research Network (CRN) project has sought to establish U.S. capabilities comparable to those of the Dutch system. Initial CRN activities have included preparing publications, organizing national and international conferences, creating Internet discussion forums for community-based research, designing a searchable Internet compilation of community research centers worldwide, and related activities. (See below for further information about the Community Research Network.) Loka's work has also inspired efforts to establish community research centers in Israel, South Korea, and a new network of community research centers across Canada that has just been jumpstarted with a $2.25 million government grant. THE BOTTOM LINE: To create a U.S. community research system that would provide service as comprehensively and accessibly as does the Dutch system would cost on the order of $450 million annually. That is about 45 times current U.S. investment in community-based research; even so, it would still represent less than 1/4 of one percent of total U.S. R&D expenditure (from all sources, public and private). * * * [The Loka Institute's study of "Community-Based Research in the United States" was supported by a grant from the ASPEN INSTITUTE NONPROFIT SECTOR RESEARCH FUND; by general operating support awarded to the Loka Institute by the JOHN D. AND CATHERINE T. MACARTHUR FOUNDATION, the ALBERT A. LIST FOUNDATION, the MENEMSHA FUND, C.S. FUND, and the NEW-LAND FOUNDATION; by the donation of office space by HAMPSHIRE COLLEGE; and by the generosity of the Loka Institute's growing family of INDIVIDUAL DONORS. The publication and distribution of the report has been supported by the W.K. KELLOGG FOUNDATION and the BENTON FOUNDATION.] ***************************************************************** (2) HOW TO ORDER OR DOWNLOAD A COPY OF "COMMUNITY-BASED RESEARCH IN THE UNITED STATES" To order a printed copy of the full 150-page report, "Community-Based Research in the United States," send your request -- including your name, mailing address, and E-mail address -- plus a check drawn in U.S. dollars to: The Loka Institute, P.O. Box 355, Amherst, MA 01004 USA. The cost is $19.00 (for shipping within the U.S. & Canada) or U.S.$26.00 (for shipping to other nations). Please contact the Loka Institute for bulk order discount rates. You may also download a free copy of the full report or its 10-page executive summary via the Loka Institute's Web page: . Visit the Loka web page or contact us also to order other Loka publications, including our popular: "Doing Community-Based Research: A Reader" (12 articles, plus forewards by Lois M. Gibbs of the Center for Environmental Health & Justice and by Jim Sessions of Highlander Research & Education Center, and an extensive bibliography). ***************************************************************** (3) UPDATES ON LOKA'S COMMUNITY RESEARCH NETWORK (CRN) PROJECT: (a) LOKA PRESS CONFERENCE The Loka Institute released its new study of "Community- Based Research in the U.S." on July 22 at a Washington, DC press conference and at a follow-on meeting with nonprofit groups, government officials, and foundation officers. More than 70 people attended these events, which took place at the Benton Foundation's Richard M. Neustadt Center. Speakers included CAROLYN RAFFENSPERGER (Science & Environmental Health Network, and Chair of Loka's Board of Directors), LARRY WILSON (Yellow Creek Concerned Citizens of Kentucky), WALDA KATZ-FISHMAN (Project South) and Loka staff members Madeleine Scammell and Dick Sclove. (JOURNALISTS: For additional information contact Dick Sclove, Tel. +413-559-5860, E-mail ; or Steve Wattenmaker, Tel. +202-955-1276, E-mail ). ****************************************************** (b) LEARN ABOUT & CONTACT OTHER COMMUNITY RESEARCH CENTERS WORLDWIDE The Loka Institute has begun to assemble a searchable compilation of Community Research Centers. Over the next two years we will be working diligently to expand the list, but it already includes information about more than 70 community research centers and programs worldwide. There's a link to the list (known as the "CRN Database") from the Loka Institute's homepage at . IF YOU PARTICIPATE IN, OR KNOW ABOUT, A COMMUNITY RESEARCH CENTER OR PROGRAM THAT IS NOT YET INCLUDED IN OUR LIST, PLEASE LET US KNOW. You can add an entry to the list yourself via the CRN Database link on the Loka homepage . ****************************************************** (c) LOKA'S "SCISHOPS"/COMMUNITY RESEARCH NETWORK LISTSERV IS NOW MODERATED -- INTERNATIONAL SUBSCRIBERS ENCOURAGED Do you want to discuss this Loka Alert and other issues concerning community-based research or the creation of a worldwide Community Research Network (CRN)? E.g., how about strategizing together about ways of using Loka's new report to secure more funding for community-based research and for related social-change activities? Subscribe to the Loka Institute's Community Research Network E-mail discussion forum by sending the E-mail message text: subscribe CRN-list to . Leave the subject line of your message blank. Loka's CRN-list began life 3-1/2 years ago as the "scishops" list. The new improved version is moderated to prevent posts inappropriate to the list's purpose, and to compile multiple messages that are on the same theme into a single post. When you subscribe, please send a message introducing yourself to other subscribers. Many collaborations have resulted from these self- introductions. (Previous posts to the list are archived under the "Listserv" section of the Loka Web site .) (The Loka Institute gratefully acknowledges a generous contribution from the science shop at the Danish Technical University [DTU], which is supporting our ability to moderate the CRN-list. Loka and the DTU science shop are collaborating with other community research centers worldwide to encourage the evolution of the Community Research Network into a transnational collaborative system.) ****************************************************** (d) COMMUNITY RESEARCH NETWORK: JUNE 1999 CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT Community-based researchers, participatory researchers, grassroots activists, research policy analysts, and anyone else interested in promoting community-based research: The Loka Institute invites you to MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR THE 2ND COMMUNITY RESEARCH NETWORK (CRN) CONFERENCE, TENTATIVELY SCHEDULED FOR JUNE 17-19, 1999 (the location, which will be in the U.S., is not yet finalized). We are currently planning two days for the conference itself, plus an optional 3rd day, co-mentoring workshop. We will announce further conference and workshop details in a future Loka Alert and on the Loka Web page . To participate in planning or co-sponsoring the CRN Conference, subscribe to the CRN-list discussion (see item [c], above) or contact the Loka Institute directly . ****************************************************** (e) JOB ANNOUNCEMENT: PROJECT ASSOCIATE with The Loka Institute's Community Research Network Project The Loka Institute seeks a full-time project associate for our COMMUNITY RESEARCH NETWORK (CRN) project. The CRN will enable civic, grassroots, worker, and nonprofit organizations, historically disenfranchised groups, and local governments to have systematic access to knowledge that is responsive to their needs and that helps them to effect constructive social change. (The CRN will gradually become a worldwide system, but this project is focused initially on building the CRN within the U.S.) The CRN project associate should have excellent written and verbal communication skills; competency and enthusiasm working with computers and the Internet; and a sense of humor. Experience with nonprofit, community-based organizations and/or with organizing at the regional or national level; and a keen sense for strategic planning and fundraising is a plus. Loka is situated on a college campus in the beautiful, culturally vibrant Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts. Residence in the area will be necessary. Salary negotiable. A complete position description is available via the Loka Institute homepage at or by E-mailing . To apply, send a cover letter and C.V. to The Loka Institute, P.O. Box 355, Amherst, MA 01004, USA. We are accepting applications on a rolling basis. The position start date is early fall 1998. Loka is an Equal Opportunity Employer. ****************************************************** (f) NEW GRANTS FROM KELLOGG, C.S. MOTT AND MACARTHUR FOUNDATIONS Hiring new staff, releasing reports, organizing conferences and workshops, moderating Internet discussions, and so on...as you have probably noticed, the Loka Institute and its Community Research Network project are definitely on the move. How is this possible, you ask? We are tremendously pleased and grateful to announce substantial new grant awards to the Loka Institute from the Managing Information with Rural American (MIRA) initiative of the W.K. KELLOGG FOUNDATION, the CHARLES STEWART MOTT FOUNDATION, and the JOHN D. & CATHERINE T. MACARTHUR FOUNDATION. These awards, combined with the remarkable generosity of Loka's growing family of individual donors, are what make the CRN and other Loka initiatives possible. Please contact the Loka Institute (E-mail Or Web ) for information about MEMBERSHIP IN THE COMMUNITY RESEARCH NETWORK or about MAKING A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION TO SUPPORT LOKA'S WORK. THANK YOU! ***************************************************************** (4) ABOUT THE LOKA INSTITUTE The Loka Institute is a nonprofit organization dedicated to making research, science and technology responsive to democratically decided social and environmental concerns. TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE LOKA INSTITUTE, to participate in our on-line discussion groups, to order publications, or to help please visit our Web page: . Or contact us via E-mail at . INTERNSHIPS AND VOLUNTEERS: The Loka Institute has filled its intern positions for the fall of 1998, but we continue to welcome new volunteers. We are now accepting applications for student interns and work-study students for the spring of 1999 and beyond. We are a small but internationally influential nonprofit organization, and the activities in which interns are involved vary from research assistance, writing, organizing conferences, and project development to managing our Internet lists and Web pages, database development, and helping with clerical and other office work, etc. If you are interested in working with us to promote a democratic politics of science and technology, please send a hard copy resume along with a succinct letter explaining your interest and the dates you are available to: The Loka Institute, P.O. Box 355, Amherst, MA 01004, USA. TO LEARN MORE about the Loka Institute's concerns and vision, see Loka founder Richard Sclove's book, _DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY_ -- recipient of the 1996 Don K. Price Award of the American Political Science Association as "the year's best book on science, technology and politics". For a paperback copy, contact your local bookseller, Guilford Press (in the U.S. telephone toll free 1-800-365-7006; or, from anywhere, fax Guilford Press in the U.S. at +1-212-966-6708 or E-mail: ), or order on the Web from . ###