It is my pleasure to introduce this themed issue on "Participatory Research and Capacity Building for Community Health and Development." While most of the literature is still dominated by targeted interventions, run by researchers, that have a limited reach (usually affecting change among much less than 100 persons), these community interventions affect the broader social ecology. Even further, there is a growing literature on community-engaged scholarship that calls for this kind of active partnership but often falls far short of its goals (Calleson, Jordan, & Seifer, 2005 ). The articles in this themed issue represent the possibility of collaborations between university researchers, state-level policy makers, and community-based groups to affect widespread changes in the social and physical environment.