Colibrí Research Collective at ALAS

Telling the story of our community through research

ALAS Colibrí is a participatory center dedicated to engaging community voices to confront health disparities, structural trauma, and strengths rooted in cultural identity within marginalized communities, particularly those impacted by immigration. We look at statistical data but also a range of sources of qualitative input to understand the effects of systemic injustices on individuals' lives, and forms of resistance and resilience. We use a participatory, action-oriented, and strengths-based approach. Our team comprises community members as well as researchers from esteemed institutions such as Stanford, the University of San Francisco, and UC Irvine, in addition to ALAS staff and community members.

Donate to Research

Community Advisory Board

Colibrí is community-based

and community-led.

Colibrí is centered around our Community Advisory Board (CAB), and researchers report to the CAB Chair to guide research-related programming and decisions. The CAB is a group of community members who provide leadership by creating priorities, selecting collaborations and methods, and strengthening relationships between researchers and the community. We are currently in a phase of training in participatory action research methods and agenda-setting for Colibrí.

CAB Chair: Rocio Avila
CAB Coordinator: Juan Carlos Ruiz-Malagon

Areas of Interest

Cultura Cura: Cultural arts as healing interventions

Immigrant youth mental health

Social-structural drivers of farmworker health and social disparities

Community-centered behavioral health care

Immigration-related stress, trauma and strengths

Structural violence

Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR)

Research as advocacy

Participatory Action Research (PAR)

Featured Projects

Measuring and healing of migration-related trauma in children: Development and validation of the Measure of Immigration-Related Stress, Trauma, and Strengths in Children (MIST-C)

Leads: Belinda Hernandez-Arriaga, Annie Berens

Study phase: Enrolling

In this mixed-methods study, we are developing and validating the Measure of Immigration-Related Stress, Trauma, and Strengths in Children (MIST-C), an interview-based clinical questionnaire. It is designed to identify stressors, trauma, and healing processes affecting the psychosocial wellbeing and mental health of immigrant, asylum-seeking, and refugee children. The tool adopts a strengths-based and trauma-informed approach. It will undergo pretesting and piloting at clinical and community sites in multiple geographic locations nationally for psychometric validation. The tool will support clinical, advocacy, and community-centered research goals.

If you are part of an organization or clinic and would like to learn about participating in the pilot of the tool, please contact the team.

Gun violence, farmworker well-being, and reduction of workplace violence for farmworkers

Leads: Belinda Hernandez-Arriaga, Juan Carlos Ruiz Malagon
Study phase: Enrolling

This qualitative study explores the impact of gun violence, workplace violence, and other occupational safety threats on the mental and physical health and well-being of farmworkers. A tragic mass shooting event on one of the farms near ALAS in 2023 drew national attention to community violence affecting farmworkers. However, the impacts of this event are embedded in a broader social and historical context shaping complex trauma and strengths. This qualitative study investigates lived experiences of workplace safety threats, exposure to violence, and related experiences to inform social action. Results of this study have been shared with local and state politicians, and with members of Congress at the U.S. Capitol.

Contact the lead investigator to learn more.

Understanding the role of cultural arts in healing and psychosocial wellness processes for youth

Leads: Belinda Hernandez-Arriaga, Nancy Ewen Wang, Ryan Matlow
Study phase: Completed

These qualitative studies investigate the effects of cultural arts programs on the well-being and mental health of immigrant youth. We have conducted interviews and focus groups to explore natural leadership resources and cultural richness of both parents and youth, as well as how cultural arts programs contribute to their well-being and mental health. We're particularly interested in understanding how these programs influence identity, family dynamics, and community well-being. This work aims to guide interventions and stimulate further exploration into the role of strength-based, culturally-grounded programs in mental health and educational settings that honor traditional indigenous healing practices. This body of work underscores the healing and community-building potential of cultural arts, while also highlighting the pressing need to address the psychological impacts of children and parents' documentation status on well-being in the United States. The findings will inform program development and policy priorities to support this community and bridge social and health disparities.

Contact the lead investigator to learn more.

Other Projects

Community-embedded approaches to child behavioral health care: Coastside PRIMES

Leads: Tina Buysse, Annie Berens

Study phase: Enrolling

Coastside PRIMES (Promoting Resilience at the Intersection of community, legal, Medical, and Educational Supports) is a clinical initiative that aims to address the inadequate and inequitable access to developmental-behavioral pediatric (DBP) care for racially marginalized and largely immigrant communities. In this feasibility study, we are using mixed methods approaches to explore experiences and outcomes, including wait times, patient/family satisfaction, and staff/community views on feasibility, to inform a novel trauma-informed care program that is sensitive to the distinctive needs of this community. The PRIMES clinic integrates educational advocacy, case management community-supported telehealth, in-person DBP care, and access to legal aid. The program is a collaboration between ALAS, San Mateo County Legal Aid’s Family Advocacy Program (FAP), and Stanford Children’s Health Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics (DBP).

To learn more, please contact the team

Olvidados entre la cosecha: A qualitative approach to understanding social needs and health disparities through farm workers' perspective

Leads: Juan Carlos Ruiz Malagon, Belinda Hernandez-Arriaga
Study phase: Completed

Farm workers are integral to the agricultural industry but are systematically excluded from health and social resources. Such exclusion has created economic, social, and health disparities. This qualitative study explores farmworkers’ experiences and narratives related to social disparities and their priorities for social transformation. This study was conducted in partnership with a farmworker community organization on the San Mateo County coastline. After co-designing study methodology with farmworker advocates, we conducted testimonios with farmworker advocates from our non-profit partnership and semi-structured interviews with farmworkers from California’s central coast. A constructivist grounded theory approach was utilized, and four core themes emerged: (a) Racialization and Dehumanization; (b) Social Welfare and Basic Needs; (c) Cultural Wealth and Community Agency; and (d) Violence and Trauma. Findings underscore the importance of centering lived experiences to inform program development and policy priorities and to bridge social and health outcome gaps. They also highlight the role of grassroots organizations to improve farmworker lives. Study praxis resulted in an emergent methodological frame that we term community-situated activist research. Citation: Ruiz Malagon, J. (2023). Olvidados Entre la Cosecha: Understanding Social Needs and Health Disparities through Farm Workers' Perspectives. Stanford Digital Repository.

Available at https://purl.stanford.edu/vs740rq1605 https://doi.org/10.25740/vs740rq1605.

There is a Monster in my House, Cultura Cura Uncovering 11 Milliones de Sueños: Understanding the Emotional and Psychological Experiences of Undocumented and Mixed-Status Youth and Finding Healing Spaces

Lead: Belinda Hernandez-Arriaga
Study phase: Completed

This qualitative study explored the emotional experiences of mixed-status and undocumented youth and the healing potential of the Mexican cultural arts for this community. The study uses testimonio as a methodology to document the chronic fear and undocu-trauma experienced by these youth, arising from societal violence and trauma that remains hidden in their homes but is present in their daily lives. The study highlights the power of cultural arts to heal and create community, as well as the urgent need to address the psychological consequences of being an undocumented or mixed-status child in the United States. Ballet folklórico, Mariachi, education, culture, social work, and social justice action serve together as temascals of healing in the context of community. These approaches created a space for the youth to reclaim their identities, heal societal wounds, and find strength through using the cultural arts as resistance and power. The study emphasizes the cultural citizenship of youth, rooted not in papers but in character, leadership, community service, comunidad, orgullo y alegria, danza, mariachi y folklore. The study's findings provide implications for program development and policy priorities to aid this community and bridge social and health outcome gaps. Citation: Hernandez-Arriaga, B. M. (2017). There is a Monster in my House, Cultura Cura Uncovering 11 Milliones de Sueños: Understanding the Emotional and Psychological Experiences of Undocumented and Mixed-Status Youth and Finding Healing Spaces.

Available at

https://repository.usfca.edu/diss/351

Collaborators

ALAS is building a multi-disciplinary coalition of researchers and change-makers working at the intersection of health disparities, structural trauma, cultural wealth, and cultural identity among marginalized and racialized communities, particularly those with links to immigration journeys.