Community Research Teams

*The need:* Communities sense something is wrong but can't prove it.

Communities often know something is wrong (the air smells off, too many people are sick, promises go unkept) but they cannot prove it. This recipe builds community power to investigate by teaching residents the same tools journalists and researchers use: public records requests, data analysis, and documentation, to uncover what is really happening and demand action. Findings are presented publicly with specific demands and amplified through media and organizing. Partner with transparency-minded lawyers, make findings visual, time releases for maximum pressure, and protect vulnerable investigators from retaliation.

How it works

1. Pick something specific the community wants to know.
2. Learn together: how to request records, analyze data, and document properly.
3. Divide the work based on what people are good at.
4. Meet regularly to share findings and figure out what they mean.
5. Present findings publicly with specific demands.
6. Use media and organizing to force responses.

Ingredients

• 8-12 committed people
• someone who knows records law
• basic spreadsheet skills
• phones
• a media partner
• one official who'll respond

Minimum resources: Free with volunteers; $50-100 for records requests.

You'll know it's working when

• hidden info becomes public and actionable
• officials release data to avoid investigations
• residents testify with their own research

Field tips

• partner with transparency-minded lawyers
• make findings visual
• time releases for pressure
• protect vulnerable investigators

Building from (real projects)

• Participatory Investigation Process
• Promise Tracker
• Oakland Lowdown Endless Storefronts
• Hidden Hunger Storybooth
• Networks Beyond Borders

Details

• size: feast
• patterns: making_power_visible, building_civic_muscle
• civic need: agency.power, agency.reparative, belonging.context
• field tips: partner with transparency-minded lawyers, make findings visual, time releases for pressure, protect vulnerable investigators
• source tag: CB
• timeliness: longview, political_season
• ingredients: 8-12 committed people, someone who knows records law, basic spreadsheet skills, phones, a media partner, one official who'll respond
• source note: From the Civic Media Cookbook: 'Producing Civic Media: Recipes to Produce Civic Media Through Participation, Power and Community' — Jihii Jolly and Jennifer Brandel, with the News Futures Working Group (2026).
• how it works: Pick something specific the community wants to know., Learn together: how to request records, analyze data, and document properly., Divide the work based on what people are good at., Meet regularly to share findings and figure out what they mean., Present findings publicly with specific demands., Use media and organizing to force responses.
• building from: Participatory Investigation Process, Promise Tracker, Oakland Lowdown Endless Storefronts, Hidden Hunger Storybooth, Networks Beyond Borders
• min resources: Free with volunteers; $50-100 for records requests.
• need it meets: Communities sense something is wrong but can't prove it.
• practice kind: recipe
• success signals: hidden info becomes public and actionable, officials release data to avoid investigations, residents testify with their own research
• charter alignment: doocracy, community_accountability, reparative
• participatory nature: collective_sensemaking, collective_action
• conceptual ingredients: trust