The purpose of this study was to explore the theory and practice of youth engagement in the context of food systems and minority health disparities in order to develop, implement, and evaluate a unique youth engagement project. There is a dearth of knowledge on our capacity to produce new forms of understanding on health disparities and food in collaboration with minority youth. I sought to build knew collaborative through the inclusion of youth as members in what I refer to as a "food environments community of practice" where together we collected and analyzed data on their local food environment. By systematically and iteratively exploring the role of participation and collaborative learning with the use of action research methods, this study attempts to understand how to best engage youth in process of inquiry in order to include youth perspectives to the practices of this field.

Valuable outcomes include insights into how youth perceive health and food systems research tools and practices, as well as how relevant these practices were to the lives of teens. Overall, this project was very limited in creating a greater shared youth/adult understanding on how environmental factors impact minority diet-related health disparities or the larger system in which these disparities are embedded. It also raises important questions about forms of participation, especially youth participation in all aspects of research design and analysis.