Through their eyes: Enriching civic environmental stewardship in marginalized communities with photovoice

Civic environmental stewardship (CES) is a widely used approach that engages community actors in caring for, restoring, and governing urban environments to address linked ecological and social challenges. Yet opportunities to participate in CES remain unevenly distributed, and engagement in historically marginalized neighborhoods can be complicated by cumulative environmental burdens, disinvestment, and concerns that unpaid “volunteer” stewardship shifts public responsibility onto residents. In this case study from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, we examine photovoice as an arts‐based, participatory method that can foster CES in marginalized communities. Participants took photographs in response to prompts about environmental care and neglect, interpreted images through facilitated dialogue sessions, and cocurated two public exhibitions. Beyond showing that the photovoice process supported conditions for meaningful engagement identified by previous scholarship, the study revealed additional elements that may foster CES in marginalized neighborhoods. Specifically, participants developed three practice‐based skills (intentional attention, collective interpretation, and public storytelling) that strengthened their capacity for effective stewardship. Our findings suggest that photovoice expands our understanding of what is necessary to cultivate CES in marginalized communities. Alongside a participatory photovoice protocol that CES organizations can adapt, we contribute to CES theory by proposing hypotheses about the development of foundational skills and capacities for stewardship.