“So, This Is Actually Going to Somebody, Right?”: Critical Reflections on Participatory Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Peer Support Group for Parents From Historically Marginalized Communities

Community-engaged, participatory approaches to designing and evaluating public health initiatives center the experiences, perspectives, and knowledge of community members at every stage of the process. A peer support group for racialized and minoritized parents under 25 years of age in the northeastern United States was designed, facilitated, and evaluated with the participation of peer leaders who shared expertise and strategies for navigating complex albeit imperfect bureaucratic systems on which they depend for social services. This paper explores key tensions between the experiences and expectations of peer leaders and the academic researchers involved in the project, and examines the limitations of culturally responsive evaluation to address the structural constraints of the neoliberal university.