Participatory Action Research With Colombian Immigrants Fabricio E. Balcazar Edurne Garcia-Iriarte Yolanda Suarez-Balcazar University of Illinois, Chicago This article describes a participatory needs assessment process in which Colombian immigrants in Chicago collaborated with university researchers to identify their common concerns and implement self-help efforts to address some of their most pressing needs. A total of 261 Colombians completed a needs assessment survey, and 46 attended a public forum in which the issues were discussed and groups of volunteers were organized to coordinate and plan actions to address identified needs. Groups of volunteers conducted the research and developed a guide to health care and a guide to social services in the state of Illinois, which were widely distributed in the community. The participatory methodology appears to have effectively mobilized individuals who volunteered their time to help others—particularly newcomers who often find themselves at a loss to maneuver and understand a complex array of systems and services that are completely unfamiliar. Implications for future research are discussed. Keywords: Colombian immigrants; needs assessment; participatory action research Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences Volume 31 Number 1 February 2009 112-127 © 2009 Sage Publications 10.1177/0739986308327080 http://hjbs.sagepub.com hosted at http://online.sagepub.com 112 Authors’ Note: This study was funded, in part, by a grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), U.S. Department of Education, grant number H1333A040007. The opinions expressed here are the authors’ and not necessarily those of NIDRR. The authors would like to acknowledge the collaboration of the Colombian Consuls of Chicago during the period of the study, Priscila Ceballos and Paulina Gomez, whose support was instru- mental in the execution of the study. In addition, we want to acknowledge the leaders and members of the committees Dr. Carlos F. García, Lil Mejia, Dr. Tatiana Pardo, Claudia García, and Myriam Lucia Hincapié (Health); Oscar Gil, Maria Teresa Giraldo, Marcel Torres, Gloria Velez-Rendon, and Jairo Ospina (Social); and Nettie Lasko, Hilda Lozano, and Bibian Guevara (Immigration). We also appreciate the collaboration of the many Colombian residents who participated in the survey and meetings described in this study. Please address correspondence to Dr. Fabricio E. Balcazar, Department of Disability and Human Development (M/C 626), University of Illinois at Chicago, 1640 West Roosevelt Rd., Chicago, IL 60608; e-mail: fabricio@uic.edu.