Journal article
Measuring community power: A scale to measure collective self-determination, Embodied Earth Care and Connection, and Ubuntu among urban farmers and gardeners
Journal of agriculture, food systems, and community development, v 14(2)
01 Apr 2025
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Participation in community farming and gardening increases and improves social support, collective agency, care, and resistance in many historically exploited communities. Black- and Brown-led food justice organizations have expressed the need for an instrument that captures what is most important to them: information on how their programs impact land-based knowledge, spirituality, collective agency, resistance, and mental health. This study used a survey instrument to develop a scale using exploratory factor analysis. Participants were recruited with the help of key partners and influencers from U.S.-based agricultural networks. The final analyzable sample contained 363 respondents. The scree plot, parallel test, and eigenvalues all supported a five-factor structure as most appropriate for the data. These five inter-related factors explain a concept called “Agricultural Community Power” and refer to Collective Self-determination, BodyMind Community Care, Land-based Spiritual Wellbeing, Embodied Earth Care and Connection, and Ubuntu/Interdependence. This model had adequate internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.93). The Agriculture Community Power Scale (AgCPS) is a tool that (1) can be used for program evaluation and (2) is better aligned with the values, priorities, and impacts of many community-rooted environmental organizations. AgCPS moves food justice evaluation away from standard metrics (such as BMI and fruit and vegetable consumption) and toward metrics of community care, collective agency, land-based spirituality, and community power.
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Details
- Title
- Measuring community power
- Creators
- Ashley Gripper - Drexel UniversityTori Cowger - Harvard University
- Publication Details
- Journal of agriculture, food systems, and community development, v 14(2)
- Publisher
- Lyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food Systems
- Number of pages
- 14
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Environmental and Occupational Health
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001505192100033
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-105004812090
- Other Identifier
- 991022050746904721
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- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Agricultural Economics & Policy
- Development Studies