COMMUNITY ORGANIZING FOR HEALTH PROMOTION IN THE RURAL SOUTH - AN EXPLORATION OF COMMUNITY COMPETENCE

Community organizing, an approach to health promotion that has the pot ential to address the social and environmental roots of poor health wh ile maintaining a high degree of citizen participation and control, is a promising strategy for addressing the health needs of the rural Sou th. This study, through qualitative analysis of 11 in-depth interviews with community organizers, examines how community organizing is being used for health promotion in rural North Carolina. It explores the me chanisms through which community organizing efforts increase community competence, which include strengthening contacts between people, prov iding an organizational framework through which people can receive ski lls training, unifying communities behind a common mission, maintainin g community control, and creating opportunities for success.