Background Many Latinos are insufficiently active, partly due to neighborhoods with little environmental support for physical activity. Multi-level approaches are needed to create health-promoting neighborhoods in disadvantaged communities. Methods Participant “citizen scientists” were adolescent (n=10, mean age=12.8±0.6 years) and older adult (n=10, mean age=71.3±6.5 years), low income Latinos in North Fair Oaks, California. Citizen scientists conducted environmental assessments to document perceived barriers to active living using the Stanford Healthy Neighborhood Discovery Tool, which records GPS-tracked walking routes, photographs, audio narratives, and survey responses. Using a community-engaged approach, citizen scientists subsequently attended a community meeting to engage in advocacy training, review assessment data, prioritize issues to address and brainstorm potential solutions and partners. Results Citizen scientists each conducted a neighborhood environmental assessment and recorded 366 photographs and audio narratives. Adolescents (n=4), older adults (n=7) and community members (n=4) collectively identified reducing trash and improving personal safety and sidewalk quality as the priority issues to address. Three adolescent and four older adult citizen scientists volunteered to present study findings to key stakeholders. Conclusions This study demonstrated that with minimal training, low-income, Latino adolescent and older adult citizen scientists can: 1) use innovative technology to gather information about features of their neighborhood environment that influence active living, 2) analyze their information and identify potential solutions, and 3) engage with stakeholders to advocate for the development of healthier neighborhoods.

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LETTER A previously published case study by Buman et al. (2011) in Translational Behavioral Medicine described the Neighborhood Eating and Activity Advocacy Team (NEAAT) Study, in which an ethnically diverse group of older low-income "citizen scientists" received advocacy and skills training to empower them to collaboratively gather, review, prioritize, and disseminate data about features of their neighborhood environment that help or hinder active living and healthy eating [1]. Although active involvement by the NEAAT Study research team ended in 2011, the older adult citizen scientists have continued to use the team-oriented engagement skills they learned during the initial phases of this study to advocate for improvements in their neighborhood and to partner with key allies, including local policy makers. The sustained information sharing and problem solving has encouraged officials of this ethnically diverse, lower-income city to more coherently focus on creating an age-friendly community, and resulted in the allocation of significant government dollars for built environment improvements and public health inclusion in the city's general plan. The voices of the older adults were incorporated in a Senior Advisory Committee resolution adopted in 2012, which identified a range of issues relating to active living, including sidewalk repair, off-leash dogs, parking issues, and open-space concerns. Over the past 2 years, the City's Planning and Engineering Divisions have (a) reviewed the streetscapes and pathways around the senior residents' US Department of Housing and Urban Development Section 8 funded housing site to create a safer walking environment and improve access to the nearby senior center, (b) received a US$1,000,000 grant from the Strategic Growth Council to update the general plan and zoning code so that public health is targeted in future planning, (c) appropriated US$400,000, through the City Council, to complete the environmental analysis of the aforementioned plans, and (d) implemented a comprehensive community sidewalk inventory and repair program, incorporating shade trees to encourage walking by residents. Among the challenges that have been described in translating research into practice are the absence of culturally appropriate language and approaches that fully "speak" to residents, community businesses, organizations, and decision makers alike, minimal mechanisms for sustainability within the community setting and structure, and distrustful