ETHNOGRAPHIC APPROACH TO COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION AND HEALTH EMPOWERMENT

The purpose of this article is to address pertinent issues relative to the association between community organization and health empowerment methods in ethnic communities of colour. It seeks to address these is sues by utilizing ethnographic procedures for documenting community he alth concerns and by advocating for empowerment for people of colour a nd their participation in coalition partnerships. Increasingly the imp ortance of citizen participation in the planning, assessment, and impl ementation of community-based health initiatives has been identified a s essential for effective health promotion and disease prevention prog rams. This article argues for the utility of a community organization approach for achieving health empowerment, and subsequently decreasing the excess deaths in communities of colour. The interface of ethnogra phic procedures, community organization, and development of community- owned action plans for programming health interventions is discussed.