The project brings together community leaders, medical professionals and academic researchers in efforts to reach out to parents and to school leaders. In order to make the most of the group’s diverse set of strengths, it became essential to develop a common language, as each organization came to the table with different perspectives on—and different ways of talking about—the salient issues.

The common language emerged from multiple meetings over a period of time, explained Rucinski, as the group intentionally built a shared understanding and vocabulary.

"The development of a shared language occurred when all partners recognized the centrality of health disparities and the tie to social justice as an organizing principle," she explained. "In the community and in the public health world, we’re focused on justice, and that creates a shared perspective."

Project organizers noticed gaps in the types of information accessible to each member of the group, so they worked to create a shared set of knowledge. Parents in the community did not have ready access to health information in a comfortable environment and needed more knowledge of the causes and opportunities to prevent asthma and obesity. At the same time, researchers in the public health community needed better information about parents’ challenges and perspectives, and about the natural networks used to share information among parents within West Town and Little Village. Healthy Schools Campaign brought to the table information about the policy issues at play and the opportunities to connect with relevant legislation.

"We started with the assumption that everyone came to the table with different knowledge, skills and perspectives," said Davis. Project organizers and parent leaders identified the knowledge that parents in the community had and the knowledge they wanted to gain. The group then invited subject matter experts to present information on relevant issues.

For example, when parents told project organizers that "you can’t make Mexican food healthy," they gathered in the kitchen of a Chicago chef, originally from Mexico, who specializes in healthy organic catering with an emphasis on locally grown food. With his basic principles—such as adding vegetables and reducing fat—as a foundation, they experimented together and created healthy versions of traditional favorites.

Organizers in Little Village and West Town took the knowledge—in this case the cooking ideas and the recipes—back to their communities and disseminated it through the organizing models natural to their organizations.

In the case of the healthy Mexican food, Jovita used the principles and the method as the basis for a healthy cooking class that has now spread to more than 350 parents throughout the city. Parents gather at the class to experiment with ways to make traditional recipes more healthy.

The group’s shared learning experience mirrors the techniques that community groups use to share information in a way that engages parents and creates a supportive environment in which to learn new information, try new things, practice healthy lifestyles, and begin developing new systems.