From Research to Action: Five Years of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) and Collaborative Network-Building with Immigrant-Serving Organizations In New Mexico

Background and Purpose: Immigrant families with young children face substantial barriers to services, including language access and fear of immigration enforcement. These challenges are especially pronounced in the New Mexico borderlands with high rates of poverty, rural isolation, and a large, diverse immigrant population. When immigrant communities cannot safely access services or participate in knowledge production, their needs go unaddressed, weakening the democratic processes that depend on the inclusion of those most affected by policy. CBPR offers a foundation for rigorous, community-rooted inquiry that redistributes who defines problems and shapes solutions. Yet translating multi-year CBPR findings into collective action and lasting change remains understudied. This presentation describes methods and lessons learned from the five-year Strengthening Border Families (SBF) study and the multidisciplinary collaborative it catalyzed as a form of democratic action.

Methods: The SBF study engaged multiple stakeholder groups across four phases from 2020–2024 using a mixed-methods CBPR design. Phase one gathered perspectives from approximately 50 leaders of community organizations and government representatives through qualitative interviews. Phase two conducted surveys and focus groups with 80 frontline practitioners from 35 Doña Ana County agencies. Phase three collected surveys and five focus groups with 240 immigrant caregivers sampled across Doña Ana County, including rural communities and colonias, complemented by a resource mapping project with 58 organizations. Phase four administered a statewide needs assessment with 48 organizations and follow-up focus groups with 12 participants to shape the design of a statewide network. Throughout, four community partner organizations representing early childhood services, immigration legal services, community organizing, and family support contributed to study design, data collection, and dissemination, with support from a broader community advisory group. Data collection in phase three was led by a Community Research Consultant and field interviewers with deep community ties who were immigrant parents themselves.

Results: Findings consistently identified shared barriers to service access, including language, transportation, cost, fear of immigration enforcement, and lack of awareness of available services. Providers and families called for training on trauma-informed and culturally responsive practices, clearer information about immigration-related policies, stronger referral networks, and language access support. A statewide needs assessment confirmed strong demand for a peer-learning network prioritizing resource sharing, training, networking, and joint advocacy. Findings informed the 2025 launch of a Multidisciplinary Collaborative for Practitioners and Organizations Serving Immigrants in New Mexico, which held its inaugural statewide convening, attended by approximately 60 organizational representatives.

Conclusions and Implications: The Collaborative's co-design and launch demonstrate how rigorous CBPR can advance the common good by moving from research to collective action in service of democracy. Methodological lessons include the value of sequential stakeholder engagement, community partner integration, and needs assessment in co-designing action. Early implementation has required ongoing adaptation — rethinking the Collaborative's role to include provider wellness support, lowering barriers to participation, and navigating expansion to rural and under-resourced communities at a time when many organizations are stretched thin. These adaptations offer important lessons for how community-rooted networks can remain responsive when the communities and practitioners they serve are themselves under threat.