This section provides links to descriptions of community-based research centers, papers, courses, independent work, and success stories.
We invite you to submit your own activities for inclusion in these listings. Please email Denise Keller, Project Coordinator, National CBR Networking Initiative (dkeller@princeton.edu) with your submission.
Searchable Databases
You may search for profiles of CBR papers and courses produced as part of the 1997-2003 community-based research project funded by the Corporation for National Service.
link: http://www.bonner.org/campus/cbr/profiles.taf
We will be updating these databases with more recent CBR paper profiles from our current Learn & Serve-funded initiative. We also be modifying this online database to allow you to submit your own course or project profiles.
We will be compiling stories of successful community-based research partnerships here.
Posted on Public Engagement blog by Victor Bloomfield on May 9, 2007
Chip Peterson, a geographer in the University of Minnesota's Learning Abroad Center and a member of our Council on Public Engagement, sent me an interesting Op-Ed piece entitled “Community Geography” from the March 2007 issue of the AAG (Association of American Geographers) Newsletter. The article was authored by Don Mitchell from Syracuse University.
The article describes how the Executive Director of a hot food program in downtown Syracuse contacted the Geography Department to ask whether the department could help to create a “Syracuse Hunger Project” (SHP) to “map the face of hunger in the city”. He suspected that the locus of hunger in the city had shifted over time, but that the social services needed to respond had not followed that shift. The piece goes on to describe how a GIS course was reoriented to make the issue a class project, and how, when
… the students’ maps were presented to SHP meetings, the whole tenor of the conversation changed. Those who had been working on hunger forever began to look at the problem in a new way. They saw that indeed thee were large-scale shifts in the geography of poverty … without a similar shift in service provisions. But even more importantly, they began to apprehend the importance of finer-scale geographies… This resulted in … a raising of critical questions about how entitlement programs like food stamps intersect with the social geographies of the city. … In instance after instance, the maps grounded what had heretofore been quite abstract discussions, providing a specific focus for discussion and debate.
full blog entry: http://blog.lib.umn.edu/victor/publicengagement/2007/05/community_geography.html
The National Community-Based Research Networking Initiative is please to announce that it has selected eleven institutions of higher education to receive funding for innovative community-based research projects. Of nearly 100 proposals, these projects were selected for their innovation and anticipated contributions to the field of community-based research (CBR), which engages faculty, students, and community stakeholders in research projects that aim to affect social change. Each is built on the foundation of a strong existing CBR program that will provide the infrastructure necessary to involve students, faculty, and community partners in innovative research projects that will be developed, documented, and shared through grant funding.
In being awarded innovation grants, these institutions join the National CBR Networking Initiative, a larger network of community-based research practitioners funded by Learn & Serve America and spearheaded by Princeton University and the Bonner Foundation. This Initiative is coordinated by Princeton University’s Community-Based Learning Initiative and will generate a range of best-practice tools and resources, including websites, manuals, and data valuable to students, faculty, and the community. Innovation subgrantees, whose projects are described below, will make significant contributions to this network as they develop and share new models for community-based research, as well as tools and resources to support other institutions in implementing them.
Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina
Innovation: A junior-year, multidisciplinary CBR seminar that carries out a long-term, single-partner research project and feeds into a senior CBR thesis program.
The traditional nature of the academy—both its calendar and disciplinary approach to research—present challenges for all involved in community-based research projects. Community needs can rarely be understood in the context of a single academic discipline, nor can they be identified and resolved in the course of a single semester or year. There is inadequate time for students to develop and hone their research skills, and their learning experience is not authentic, constricted by the rigid boundaries of the semester schedule and their academic disciplines.
Appalachian State University will address these issues with the launch of a multidisciplinary seminar that feeds into its established CBR senior thesis program. The course will engage college juniors from a variety of academic departments in a single CBR project with the nearby Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP). Through the course of the seminar, students will work with each other, faculty, and BRP staff to identify research needs, develop and implement research procedures, analyze data, and establish resources and recommendations. As a team, they will develop the skills and multidisciplinary perspectives necessary to strengthen the independent CBR they will carry out as part of their senior theses in the year that follows. Meanwhile, the BRP will benefit from the multidisciplinary approach and a long-term institutional commitment that will allow each seminar to build upon the research of the seminar that preceded it.
With grant funds, Appalachian State will implement and institutionalize the seminar and establish a website, blog, manual, and other resources to share this innovative developmental model with other institutions.
Bates College, Lewiston, Maine
Innovation: Academic-year and summer CBR student fellowships as part of civic engagement developmental model.
Responsive to both the evolving needs of the surrounding area and the developmental needs of students, Bates College’s Harward Center for Community Partnership (HCCP) has a long history of sustained community partnerships beneficial to both campus and community. This work continues to grow with the introduction of CBR Fellowship opportunities within the context of their larger student civic-engagement fellowship program.
HCCP CBR fellows will have access to funding, faculty, and HCCP support during the summer and the academic year to develop proposals for and carry out substantive, collaborative community-based research projects. A CBR fellowship will often be the culminating project in a student’s civic engagement trajectory, making it a valuable developmental experience. These upper-level students will also have experience in research methods and community partnerships, allowing them to expand and deepen existing HCCP partnerships to strengthen campus-community connections. Finally, CBR Fellows will have an impact on other students as part of a larger cohort of HCCP participants sharing their own, and learning from others’, knowledge about the surrounding community and partner organizations through shared orientation, training, and reflection activities.
As CBR Fellows, students will benefit from and enrich a vibrant network of campus-community partnerships, experience the close mentorship of faculty, and become part of a growing cohort of students engaged in community work through HCCP. As Bates and Lewiston benefit from this innovative work, so too will the national CBR community, as Bates develops and shares training, support, and reflection materials for other institutions to support similar programs.
Berea College, Berea, Kentucky
Innovation: Three-year, interdisciplinary project that connects multiple courses and multiple community partners to address the many facets of a single community issue.
A community’s energy needs are complicated, as they are affected by and have an impact on the local economy, environment, policies, and citizenry. Consequently, their study is rich in research opportunities, but also presents complex challenges for faculty and students who aim to collaborate with the community to translate research into action. Such “spiderweb” issues, in which multiple issues are intricately interconnected, cannot be neatly divided by academic year or discipline, and parts of the research process might often be replicated because of lack of awareness of existing community efforts or lack of communication between partners sharing common interests. Connecting community stakeholders and research in various disciplines becomes key to developing a comprehensive and efficient issue assessment and strategic plan for the future.
Berea College is making these connections though its three-year CBR project in Madison County, KY, where state per capita use of electricity is about 40 percent higher than the national average and where the use of electricity has a disproportionate impact on the environment, since 97 percent of the electricity used is generated from coal-fired power plants. Their Energy and Empowerment CBR plan connects multiple community partners with each other to identify and respond to shared research needs through a needs assessment in year one, an energy alternatives assessment in year two, and analysis and dissemination of information and recommendations in year three. Berea faculty from multiple disciplines develop five to eight courses a year in collaboration with these partners to teach courses that yield CBR projects in response to these needs and have a cumulative, significant impact.
Innovation grant funds will support these courses, a project coordinator, and an annual gathering of all stakeholders to share research results, as well as the development of trainings, workshops, and communications templates for other institutions seeking to comprehensively address the “spiderweb” issues in their communities.
Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts
Innovation: Community-based research courses where students combine ground-level data collection with public policy analysis to highlight systemic causes of and remedies for community problems.
While they are sometimes byproducts of a larger research process, policy reform and structural change are rarely the focus of traditional CBR projects, which often address the immediate needs of local community organizations through needs assessments, program evaluations, and local infrastructure reviews. However, at Northeastern University, community-based research courses combine ground-level data collection with policy analysis to highlight the systemic causes of (and potential remedies for) community problems—and share information about those relationships with the larger community.
Northeastern’s Community-Based Research Initiative features courses that combine graduate and undergraduate students in collaboration with community partners to address significant policy issues of local relevance. Students take a broad approach to the research process, examining policy while also collecting numerical data and interviewing all key stakeholders to provide a spectrum of viewpoints on policy change. From beginning to end, the focus of the research project is the generation of reports for public education purposes, and student research is gathered into reports that present thorough historical backgrounds, issue analyses, descriptions of existing policy, literature reviews, and comparisons of alternative proposals. These reports are shared with community collaborators as well as lawmakers, journalists, advocacy groups, and the media through mail and the web to ensure that the project’s reach is as thorough as the research.
With grant funds, Northeastern will develop new projects; institutionalize this public policy-oriented approach to CBR by engaging senior faculty; and export its research, instruction, and dissemination models through a website, faculty training workshops, and other resources so other institutions can approach CBR at organizational, community, and policy levels.
Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas
Innovation: A two-year model of three concurrent research methods courses in different disciplines addressing a single issue from multiple perspectives, in which the year one cohort’s research findings are integrated into the second year’s research design.
Concurrent research methods courses in sociology, anthropology, and urban studies will address a single issue of local significance from multiple perspectives, employing a diverse range of methodological approaches that includes point-in-time surveys, oral histories, observations, interviews, and Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping. Together, students in these courses will present their data to local organizations to provide a comprehensive picture of the issue, and faculty, students, and community organizations will use this data to design further research during a second year of concurrent coursework. This two-year model deepens and broadens the research provided to community partners while also helping students appreciate the complexity of social issues and understand the value of a multidisciplinary approach to addressing them.
Trinity University piloted the program during the Spring 2007 semester, working with the San Antonio Regional Alliance for the Homeless (SARAH), a coalition of municipal, county, and non-governmental agencies pooling their efforts and resources to identify the characteristics of the homeless and better coordinate services for them. This spring, students in the anthropology seminar will carry out focus groups with members of the SAMMinistries Homeless Families Transitional Housing Program, the qualitative results of which will inform the design of a survey students in the sociology seminar will carry out in the spring 2008. In the process, the two-year research model will be refined and a manual established so that it can be replicated as a research project in collaboration with the University’s Upward Bound program—and by other universities seeking to build long-term, interdisciplinary CBR projects.
Tufts University, Somerville, Massachusetts
Innovation: Year-long course for undergraduate students and community stakeholders to facilitate the well-being of the surrounding immigrant community through service and needs assessment.
Tufts University’s unique course, “Community Health: Theory and Practice,” erases the line between community and classroom by welcoming community members into an undergraduate research seminar as they work together with students and faculty in assessing the needs of and services for the local immigrant community. Members of the Immigrant Service Providers Group (ISPG), a coalition of organizations providing services to Somerville immigrants, will collaborate with Tufts faculty to design and implement a year-long study that will enhance their work, determining to what extent immigrants are aware of opportunities available to them and what barriers and opportunities (including immigration status) affects utilization.
Stipends, a convenient schedule, and a certificate of completion ensure that the collaboration won’t end with course design, but continue through the semester, as these incentives have been established in response to the needs expressed by community partners. During the course, both students, community partners, and faculty will be trained—and train each other—in local community issues, participatory research methods, study design, and research ethics to ensure a fully collaborative project that addresses the needs of the community and offers all participants a view of immigration issues at both the local and national levels and from a variety of perspectives offered by each member of the coalition.
The course will become a model for other institutions wishing to engage community members in classroom learning opportunities while also developing tools for recruitment, instruction, and evaluation resources and tools for community needs and resource assessments to support similar projects.
University of California, Berkeley, California
Innovation: Student-facilitated and graduate student-guided seminars that support undergraduate non-profit and public sector interns in developing local and national policy briefs relevant to their work.
The University of California at Berkeley’s Cal Corps Public Service Center sustains a culture of service on campus through a variety of programs, including the Cal in Berkeley Internship (CIB). CIB is a student-led internship program that connects UC Berkeley students with internships in the City of Berkeley government, Berkeley Unified School District, and East Bay nonprofit organizations. While interning 10 hours per week, students also attend a weekly seminar facilitated by two student leaders (who also recruit community partners and student applicants). With its innovation grant, CIB will incorporate community-based research into the seminar, allowing students to work in teams to develop policy briefs related to their internships and with feedback from community partners. Grant funds will ensure quality issue briefs and extend CBR’s reach to the graduate level by funding 10-12 public policy master’s students to serve as readers for the briefs, offering written critical comments and guidance to the undergraduate students.
Through the course of the grant, this prototype will be evaluated, refined, and applied to another Cal Corps program, Cal in the Capital (CITC), which supports students in Washington, D.C.-based internships. Using this student-led model, students in the CITC program will also work in teams to develop policy briefs with a national scope, while CBR practitioners nationwide can use the tools and resources generated to develop their own student-facilitated seminars and graduate mentorship programs in supporting policy-oriented CBR.
University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont
Innovation: A two-semester interdisciplinary graduate seminar co-instructed by three faculty members.
CBR’s reach will extend to the graduate level with the University of Vermont’s community-based research initiative, a year-long seminar co-facilitated by faculty from Nursing and Health Sciences, Community Development and Applied Economics, and Natural Resources. An interdisciplinary method will provide three community partners with comprehensive research and students with an understanding of the range of skills and knowledge needed to solve multidimensional problems, and a two-semester approach ensures sufficient time to identify and clarify research needs and carry out projects in line with community needs and student learning objectives. The first semester will be devoted to development and planning, as interdisciplinary groups team with community partners to develop a CBR proposal; during the second semester, the project will be carried out and evaluated and the research disseminated.
Three community partners will collaborate with faculty in the development of the course: Burlington Community and Economic Development Office (a municipal department committed to fostering economic vitality and preserving and enhancing neighborhoods, quality of life, and the environment), People in Partnerships (a collaborative group of community organizations developing and implementing local strategies to achieve well-being outcomes), and the New England Grassroots Environment Fund (a Montpelier-based organization that supports long-term civic engagement in initiatives that create and maintain healthy, just, safe, and environmentally sustainable communities). Resources for course development in collaboration with community partners will grow out of this process, as well as graduate-level CBR curriculum development tools and planning and project management guidelines to support other institutions in adopting a two-semester, interdisciplinary approach to CBR.
University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin
Innovation: A science shop model that utilizes information technology courses and work-study positions to assess the information needs of local organization, prescribe solutions, provide a network of solutions, and evaluate the success of those solutions.
The collection, management, and analysis of information can have a profound impact on an organization’s operations: with sound data, agencies can adjust and develop programs, solicit funding, and influence policy change. However, amid more immediate community demands, thoughtful and thorough data collection often falls to the wayside. While the non-profit organization DANEnet serves provides non-profit organizations in Madison, Wisconsin, with technical support, training, and consulting, it doesn’t have the capacity to meet the overwhelming information needs of the surrounding non-profit community.
Students and faculty at the University of Wisconsin will collaborate with DANEnet to build upon these services through a developmental “science shop” model that results in a sustainable pool of students to diagnose and address information needs. In the first year, a student seminar will document the available technology resources in Madison; this information, in combination with training and support from DANEnet, will allow work-study students to conduct diagnostic and prescriptive research assessments with local organizations in the following year. By the third year, this cohort of students will provide training and support to a new cohort, building a sustainable program—and a model for other schools seeking to combine CBR with information technology, including an interview tool for use with organizational staff, course syllabi, and instructional and training resources.
Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, North Carolina
Innovation: Two entrepreneurship courses collaborating with local government, non-profit organizations, and businesses to create, establish, and evaluate a post-disaster community revitalization plan over three years.
In the wake of a natural disaster, nothing is certain—including the roles that key community stakeholders can play in the revitalization efforts. However, Western Carolina University’s community-based research revitalization project will create a model that other colleges and universities can use in addressing the needs of their communities following significant disasters. With grant funding, Western Carolina faculty and students will work together with nearby Canton to develop and implement a revitalization plan. The small North Carolina town was ravaged by Hurricanes Frances and Ivan in 2004, and the impact has been long-lasting, as is the case in many communities that experience disaster—unemployment rises, property values decrease, and teachers, business-owners, and citizens leave at an alarming rate.
Teams of students in two entrepreneurship courses, Entrepreneurship Consulting and New Venture Creation, will work on various projects to provide the town with comprehensive revitalization support. In the first year, teams will collect information and best practices on community revitalization; in the second, teams will use this information to create a downtown revitalization plan. Meanwhile, other teams in these courses will provide consulting services to individual businesses and work with Haywood Community College students to develop a plan for a Museum of the Art and Science of Papermaking, a tourist attraction to draw visitors to downtown. In the final year of the grant, students will evaluate the program, using qualitative data to determine how the plans have impacted the social, economic, and educational infrastructure of Canton.
Canton will benefit tremendously from this long-term investment, as will the students who come to understand the impact of natural disaster and the complexity of community revitalization. In the process, tools and resources will be developed to support other CBR courses and programs in natural disaster recovery and community revitalization.
Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington
Innovation: Research seminar assessing needs of and policies relevant to underrepresented minorities, with focus on effective public communication.
Although Latinos are the fastest growing minority group in Washington State, their levels of political representation are extremely low. Consequently, opportunities to apply the resources of public policy to address their distinctive social problems are not as actively pursued as they otherwise might be. With the research and communications support of a research seminar at Whitman College, a coalition of organizations that serves Latinos is addressing this deficit. Throughout the 400-level course, students work with the organizations that comprise the Walla Walla Latino-American Forum to identify their needs, answer key analytical questions that have a direct bearing on organizational and public policies, and synthesize their findings into common resources and a widely inclusive account of social and political conditions for Latinos in Washington State, called The State of the State for Washington Latinos.
The course places significant emphasis not only on research, but on the effective communication of that research. Students communicate with their partners throughout the semester, but then hold a final group meeting with all students and partners to discuss and address the challenges of communicating findings to all Washington residents. The discussion leads to a press conference, an informational session with state government officials, and a public meeting for Latino organizations, the media, local community leaders, and the entire Whitman campus.
With grant funding, Whitman College’s research seminar will continue to address and communicate the policies affecting and needs of Latinos, but will also expand into new issue areas, develop benchmark indicators, extend its network of partners, and cultivate ties with other campuses interested in community-based research projects. It will strengthen and build its communications program, carrying out additional public meetings, exploring web-based meeting technologies, and develop print and web-based resources in Spanish. Additionally, it will develop an online handbook and toolkit to allow other CBR practitioners to communicate research findings effectively—and support partners in doing so as well.
By Sarah Foote
By graduation, a typical Yale student has devoted thousands of hours to both studies and extracurricular community service. For most Elis, these two pursuits remain apart: Students attend class during the day and volunteer for outside organizations on their own time. But an innovative program known as the Community Based Learning Initiative is blurring this distinction by offering the unique opportunity to earn course credit for community service research. This semester, two Yale College courses are offering Community Based Learning sections: “Inequality in American Democracy” with Jacob Hacker and “New Haven after Urban Renewal” with Paul Bass, JE ’82.
The Initiative was launched in 1997, when Princeton University received a grant to provide service-minded students with the opportunity to apply knowledge gleaned from their coursework to real-world situations. Instead of engaging in traditional volunteer work, though, Community Based Learning students work with organizations to conduct research projects that the program has identified as pertinent to students’ studies, as well. Princeton’s inventive idea proved infectious, and in the decade since its birth, the Community Based Learning Initiative has grown to include numerous universities from across the nation; Yale joined their ranks in 2003.
Full article: http://www.yaleherald.com/article.php?Article=5177
excerpted from Minnesota's Private Colleges,
At Macalester College, service to society is an integral part of the school’s mission. This focus is evident in its multifaceted Lake Street Global Borderland project with the Minnesota Historical Society and several partners from the Lake Street area in Minneapolis. During the past three semesters, 12 Macalester classes from a wide range of departments have participated in projects to document and tell the community’s history. The Lake Street corridor is one of the most racially, ethnically and economically diverse areas of the Twin Cities and includes many immigrant and refugee communities. The work will culminate in a major historical exhibition, “Lake Street Intersections,” which will open in fall 2007 at the Minnesota History Center.
Students have been involved in the project in many ways, depending on which course they took. Laura Zeccardi, as part of the course “Public History: Making History Matter Beyond the Academy,” is researching the story of the Sears Building site and its transformation into the Midtown Global Market. She interviewed former Sears employees and neighborhood residents to get a better sense of the impact of the site. “People have many memories around Sears and when I interviewed them, they realized that their stories and history fit in a larger context.” Zeccardi says that the positive focus of this project has meant a lot to residents who’ve so often seen the Lake Street area portrayed in negative terms. She also says that delving into pubic history for the first time has been a real learning experience. “Using the History Center for primary research, learning how to do oral history and putting together an exhibit has been really great.”
Zeccardi will graduate in the spring with a double major in history and music and is already applying for graduate school in public history. “I enjoy looking at history, not just from books, but by bringing in the people who were involved.”
Other Global Borderland projects have included:
When a service learning experience works well, students gain new knowledge, develop practical skills and begin to understand civic responsibility — and the community reaps the benefits of access to and relationships with academic institutions.
Link to full story: http://www.mn-colleges.org/publications/stories/2006_12/service_learning.php
In the program’s two years at Macalester, twelve classes have produced over 75 varied research projects on the ever-changing Lake Street neighborhood
By Anna Waugh, Staff Writer, The Mac Weekly
Two years ago, Benjamin Filene, the Senior Exhibit Developer at the Minnesota Historical Society, met with Macalester’s Community Service Office staff and George Latimer of the Urban Studies Department to develop civic engagement projects that would benefit both institutions and the greater public.
This conversation has turned into the Lake Street Initiative, which so far has produced approximately seventy-five student research projects over the past two years, which have focused on topics ranging from histories of local Lake Street businesses to biographies of women who live and work in the Lake Street community.
“It takes a lot of energy to get out of the classroom,” said Paul Schadewald, Associate Director of the Civic Engagement Center. He said that is why he has a lot of respect for the professors who have taken on the Lake Street Initiative.
Twelve classes have focused on Lake Street over the past three semesters, with topics ranging from history to art to environmental studies. In some of the classes students worked directly with Lake Street community organizations, while others researched a particular aspect of Lake Street and presented a display.
Projects from Adrienne Christiansen’s “Women’s Voices in Politics” class were displayed at the Blue Moon Café last December. Projects completed last spring in classes for Chris Wells and Paul Dosh are on display right now at the Resource Center of the Americas. These projects have also been displayed in the communities that students studied.
President Brian Rosenberg said that he believes that the Lake Street Initiative has been valuable to students, and said that often he thinks that off-campus experiences are the “most educational.”
Schadewald agreed, saying he thinks that the project has been a “bridge builder between professors, students, and the sites [that students research.]”
Next spring, the Minnesota Historical Society will combine the information from all of the projects to create a large-scale exhibit that incorporates the student work.
Lake Street is a major thoroughfare connecting Minneapolis and St. Paul. It declined during the ’80s and early ’90s when it was known for its high drug and crime rates. However, the past few years have seen a major revitalization of the neighborhoods along Lake Street and an influx of new immigrant populations.
“So many of the larger stories if you grow up on Lake Street are about the challenges that Lake Street has faced,” Schadewald said. “This project tried to build on the good sides as well.”
These projects are part of a broader goal of the college to connect students with the Twin Cities. “We aren’t in a cornfield,” Rosenberg said. According to the President, projects like this one connect what is going on in the community with what is happening in the classroom, and he says that many curricular grants have been given to faculty members this year who have developed courses that involve aspects of the city.
Link to original article: http://www.themacweekly.com/articles/20061006/10746
The mission of the Institute is to create linkages between Colgate University and the regional community to engage students, faculty, staff and residents in research and a reciprocal transfer of knowledge that will enhance the economic, social and cultural capacity of the area and sustain the environment. These projects provide a model of community collaboration and civic engagement for our students and within higher education. The Institute values scholarly collaboration as a way to support the region.
In the fall of 2003, Colgate launched the Upstate Institute to serve as a resource for organizations and individuals seeking regional expertise or information about Upstate New York. Directed by a senior member of the faculty, the Institute has inventoried the interests of more than 40 members of the Colgate faculty and staff whose work relates to Upstate New York. The Institute will leverage faculty expertise in disciplines as diverse as economics, history, art, literature, geology, and archaeology to create new intellectual capital and energy for the benefit of upstate New York.
Website: http://www.colgate.edu/frameset.aspx?nwURL=http://upstate.colgate.edu
Cornell University PARnet aims to create a self-monitored, community-managed knowledge base and gateway to action research resources, connecting practitioners and scholars with each other, the literature, and other educational opportunities. It seeks to reflect the broad spectrum of approaches that characterize the international action research community. PARnet recognizes that the term action research represents a dynamic, ever-evolving range of practices and applications that are, nevertheless, characterized by a common philosophical foundation. It turns to the community itself to define and shape the concept of action research, first and foremost, through the simple act of contribution.
Contacts:
Paula H Horrigan, Landscape Architecture, phh3@cornell.edu (mailto:phh3@cornell.edu)
Mary Jo Dudley, Associate Director, Latin American Studies Program, mjd9@cornell.edu
The Institute for Community-Based Research engages in projects aimed at informing social change from the grassroots level. Substantive areas of focus include: 1) underemployment and persistent poverty, 2) environment, health and food security, and 3) organizing cooperative alternatives. Housed within the Division of Social Sciences at Delta State University, the Institute is also affiliated with the Center for Community and Economic Development.
A central aim of this effort is to provide an avenue through which DSU students, especially those pursuing a Master of Science degree in Community Development, are able to collaborate with faculty and community organizations to engage in timely and meaningful research.
The Institute works primarily with membership-based community groups (including nonprofit organizations and cooperatives) in Mississippi and other organizations in the region and country. Groups must demonstrate a commitment to active partnerships for seeking solutions to community problems.
Activities of the Institute entail:
Contact:
John J. Green, PhD
Director
Institute for Community-Based Research
Delta State University
Phone: 662-846-4069
Fax: 662-846-4099
E-mail: jgreen@deltastate.edu
Research Service-Learning at Duke includes a new series of courses and community-based research opportunities that allow students and faculty members to pursue academic projects derived from community needs and interests. Students progress through three stages within a chosen pathway.
Contact:
Dr. Vicki Stocking
Research Service-Learning Coordinator
Duke University
102 West Duke
919-660-2417
rslduke@duke.edu
The Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching and Service, which opened its doors in January 2001, is a concrete and imaginative manifestation of that commitment. With origins in the work of the Task Force on Social Justice and work for the Jesuit Colleges and Universities Conference on Justice at Santa Clara, this new Center has a mission that is simple to state but far-reaching in its implications: The Center is guided by that mission as it strives to consolidate and develop work in its key three areas: service, curriculum and research.
First, it incorporates and builds on the vibrant student work of direct service and the learning it fosters, whether from tutoring and mentoring or arts education and job development training.
Second, the Center promotes and helps develop curricular offerings that incorporate community-based work and service to justice. The new Center advances this curricular work through faculty workshops, course development grants, and continued support of conferences that enable more faculty to learn about the pedagogy of service learning and to redesign courses to incorporate it.
Third, the Center serves as a catalyst to consolidate and advance the exciting community-based research projects that have been most recently housed in the Center for Urban Research and Teaching, founded in 1997, and the 1999 program called PURS, Partners in Urban Research and Service-Learning, a collaborative project that brought together ten Georgetown social science faculty and community leaders to develop research projects serving the community.
URL: http://socialjustice.georgetown.edu/
Address: Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching and Service Georgetown University Poulton Hall Suite 130 1421 37th ST N.W. Washington, DC 20057
Phone: 202.687.5330
Email: csj@georgetown.edu
Harvard Prevention Research Center (HPRC) is one of 33 Prevention Research Centers (PRC) funded by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Our mission is to work with community partners to design, implement, and evaluate programs that improve nutrition and physical activity, reduce overweight and reduce chronic disease risk among children and youth. HPRC projects involve community partners in every phase, from brainstorming to evaluation. Our long-term goals are to build community capacity to implement and evaluate effective prevention programs and to advance national knowledge regarding interventions that promote nutrition and physical activity.
Contact:
Harvard Prevention Research Center • Harvard School of Public Health
677 Huntington Ave., 7th Floor • Boston, MA 02115
phone: 617-432-3840 • fax: 617-432-3875 • email:hprc@hsph.harvard.edu
The Center for Urban Research and Learning (CURL) of Loyola University Chicago seeks to promote equality and to improve people’s lives in communities throughout the Chicago metropolitan region. CURL pursues this goal by building and supporting collaborative research and education efforts. These partnerships connect Loyola faculty and students with community and nonprofit organizations, civic groups, and government agencies. Such collaborations link the skills and wisdom present within every community with the specialized knowledge and academic discipline of a vital urban university. Working together, community needs are addressed and the academic experience is enriched.
Contact:
Center for Urban Research and Learning
Loyola University Chicago
Lewis Towers, 10th Floor
820 N. Michigan Avenue,
Chicago, IL 60611
Phone: (312) 915-7760
Fax: (312) 915-7770
Email: curlcomm@luc.edu
Rooted in the Gospel and Catholic social tradition, the Center for Social Concerns of the University of Notre Dame creates formative educational and service experiences in collaboration with diverse partners, calling us all to action for a more just and humane world. The Center for Social Concerns is a component of the Institute for Church Life and the Office of the Provost.
The Center is in the early stages of attempting to link local organizations with undergraduate and graduate students, or faculty members, who will conduct investigations that will address the organizations’ needs. The Center is identifying undergraduates who would like to conduct community-based research as part of an existing course, or as an internship, a senior thesis, or special studies class; graduate students who are interested in such research opportunities as their own work; and faculty members, such as those who have won the Ganey Award or Mini-Grants.
Center website: http://centerforsocialconcerns.nd.edu/
The Center for California Cultural and Social Issues (CCCSI) supports research and education that contributes to the understanding of critical community issues and enhances the resources of community organizations.
Since its founding in 1963, Pitzer College has been committed to teaching students to be responsible citizens of communities both local and global by applying the study of liberal arts to concrete actions that benefit others. With the generous support of two major contributors, the W.M. Keck and James Irvine Foundations, Pitzer established the Center for California Cultural and Social Issues in 1999 to further this commitment through a variety of programs integrating work in the field with work in the class.
CCCSI works with community partnerships, not to dispense "expert" solutions to pre-defined needs, but to identify and engage resources - both human and material - within the community.
Under leadership and the guidance of the Steering Committee, the Center supports innovative community-based projects by offering research awards and fellowships. In turn, the Center's community partners present faculty and students with extraordinary opportunities to engage in applied problem-solving activities.
If you would like to learn more about past projects and funding opportunities, please click here.
Website: http://www.pitzer.edu/offices/cccsi/news_events/index.asp
Princeton University's Community-Based Learning Initiative was founded in 1997.
Engineering Projects in Community Servivce (EPICS) at Purdue University "teams of undergraduates are designing, building, and deploying real systems to solve engineering-based problems for local community service and education organizations." EPICS was founded at Purdue University in Fall 1995 and has completed more than 150 projects since that time.
Community Link is a project of the Public Affairs Program of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.
Instead of leaving crucial tasks undone, you can call on skilled students with social-science research abilities to perform up to 80 hours of work, not for pay, but for academic credit in a specially designed University course. They'll receive complete support from Syracuse University's Public Affairs Program - technical help, faculty advice, even computer time.
http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/paf/CommunityLinks/main.htm
The University Community Collaborative of Philadelphia (UCCP), housed within Temple University's Politcal Science Department, was formed in 1997 to leverage the University's human capital resources to assist neighborhood-based organizations. Its mission is to support the community building efforts of local organizations in the Philadelphia area through action-oriented, community-driven research and technical assistance activities. Faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students are recruited to work on a diverse array of community driven initiatives.
The UCCP focuses its efforts in two primary areas: community economic development and youth civic engagement. Our approach in both areas is one of collaboration and intensive network development across communities, universities, age cohorts, socioeconomic backgrounds, and cities. The underlying objective is to increase the capacity of individuals and organizations to articulate their goals and to access the resources of governmental, economic, and social systems to achieve those goals.
Website: http://www.temple.edu/uccp/
Formally founded in 1972 as the Urban Agent Program, CCRS is the University of Delaware’s focal point for community engagement and action. The need for a program of this type was identified in 1961 when the University of Delaware received a five-year grant from the Ford Foundation to establish the Division of Urban Affairs with the mission of developing a permanent, on-going system of education, research, and service relating to urban problems. The Division of Urban Affairs eventually evolved into today's Center for Community Research and Service. Over the years, CCRS has been known by many names including the Urban Agent Division, Center for Community Development and Center for Community Development and Family Policy. Throughout these organizational changes, CCRS has remained committed to promoting social and economic justice in our local and national communities.
Website: http://www.udel.edu/ccrs/whoweare.html
The Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning (CCESL) supports the University of Denver in developing the knowledge and experience that enables faculty, students and staff to actively participate in the public life of their communities.
Mission: We lead the campus in embracing the university's vision of "being a great private university dedicated to the public good.” We do this by educating, engaging, and equipping the campus community to address and work toward the resolution of critical community issues. With all of our constituents, we attempt to accomplish real, tangible public work that improves the lives of people in our communities.
Methods
CCESL works toward the vision and mission by building associations through a variety of methods including:
Academic Service Learning is one of the methods we use to work with our constituents. The Faculty Service Learning Committee at the University of Denver has defined service learning as “active learning that links traditional academics with community service.” At DU, service learning is designed to “deepen and expand classroom learning through thoughtful, collaborative engagement with community organizations, agencies, educational institutions and the people they serve.” (Service Learning: Definition and Academic Approval Process, May 2004)
The University of Denver has distinguished itself as a leader in the field of Community Based Research. Community Based Research (CBR). CBR is a collaborative enterprise between academic researchers (professors and students) and community members, which validates multiple sources of knowledge and promotes the use of multiple methods of discovery and of dissemination of the knowledge produced. CBR has as its goal social action and social change for the purpose of achieving social justice. (Strand, Marullo, Cutforth, Stoecker and Donohue, 2003)
The Center uses and Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) approach to community work. ABCD rests on the principle that the recognition of strengths, gifts, talents and assets of individuals and communities is more likely to inspire positive action for change than an exclusive focus on needs and problems. At its core are associations of community members, both formal and informal. (Greene, 2000).
Website: http://www.du.edu/engage/generalpages/about.html
A program of sustained engagement with distressed urban areas through service learning and action research.
Together with residents and community organizations in severely distressed areas, faculty and students from across the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign work on highly tangible and visible projects that address immediate and long-term needs.
Since 1990, this program of mutual learning and assistance has been an important part of the growing neighborhood revitalization movement in East St. Louis, Illinois and more recently four adjacent communities: Alorton, Brooklyn, Centreville, and Washington Park. Aided by the Universityís instructional, research, and public service resources, ESLARP is producing results in communities where residents are mobilizing to address pressing social, economic, and environmental problems.
he Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) is an all-University applied research and technical assistance center that helps the University of Minnesota fulfill its land grant and urban missions by connecting faculty and student researchers with nonprofit organizations, businesses, neighborhoods, local governments, and state agencies in Minnesota. CURA supports research and publishes policy-oriented reports on a wide range of urban and regional issues.
Website: http://www.cura.umn.edu/
University-community partnerships in Canada took a major step forward today with the official launch of an Office of Community-Based Research (OCBR) at the University of Victoria.
The office is the first university-wide initiative of its kind in the country and is attracting national and international interest from other institutions seeking closer research ties with community groups.
The OCBR will create and support research partnerships that enhance the social, environmental and economic well-being of communities. It will be a focal point for university faculty and students who are doing or wish to do community-based research, and an open door for community groups to access UVic research partners. It will also make evidence-based recommendations for new policies, programs and practices to meet community needs.
In most academic research, the idea for the research comes from a scholar and is driven by questions of science and intellectual thought. Community-based research themes or questions originate in the communities themselves, are carried out collaboratively with community groups, and are focused on action-oriented solutions.
UVic has a rich history of community engagement, says Dr. Valerie Kuehne, UVics vice-president external relations. This new research initiative affirms that commitment and places us in a national leadership role. Its an exciting opportunity to demonstrate what great things can be achieved when communities and universities work closely together.
With many of the social, environmental, health and economic issues facing us today we need research that engages those who are working on the front lines, says Dr. Budd Hall, director of the OCBR. Issues in Victoria, such as homelessness or climate change, are best understood and acted upon when those working to find solutions are driving the research.
The OCBR was created after two years of consultation with community groups and First Nations in the Victoria region and across Vancouver Island. It is guided by a 16-member steering committee composed equally of university and community members, and an 11-member advisory committee of national and international experts and practitioners.
UVic has a large number of nationally and internationally respected leaders in community-based research in fields such as environmental studies, health promotion, coastal studies, assistive technologies, Indigenous and cultural studies, and education.
The OCBR will have a special focus on partnerships with First Nations communities. Aboriginal studies at UVic and elsewhere is one of the fields where the commitment to community-based research is strongest, says Hall.
Although the concept of community-based research is not new, universities and communities, as well as research funders and governments, are increasingly interested in mobilizing research knowledge to solve societal problems.
UVic has made a commitment to civic engagement, placing it at the forefront of Canadian universities, says Hall. Were working with others across the country and around the world to promote community-based research as a new source of energy for local, national and international well-being.
For examples of successful UVic-community-based research partnerships, a list of upcoming OCBR activities, and information on two significant partnership agreements with the OCBR, see the attached backgrounders.
For more information on the Office of Community-Based Research visit www.uvic.ca/ocbr.
Backgrounders:
Reseach in Action: Examples of CBR http://communications.uvic.ca/releases/release.php?display=back&id=99
New Partnership Agreements to be Signed http://communications.uvic.ca/releases/release.php?display=back&id=100
Up Coming Activities of UVic's OCBR http://communications.uvic.ca/releases/release.php?display=back&id=101
Self-Help Network is internationally recognized as a leading self-help group clearinghouse and as a Center for Community Support and Research of Wichita State University dedicated to serving Kansas self-help groups, community coalitions, networks of community members and non-profit health and human service organizations. Our history and special interest is in working with those who are often not given a “seat at the table” when community change is being considered. Our philosophy is based in Robert Greenleaf’s concept of Servant Leadership. As servant leaders we are dedicated to working with Kansans to help them accomplish their desired end-in-mind for positive community change.
With an interdisciplinary staff of nearly twenty, we have expertise in a variety of topics including community collaboration, strategic planning, evaluation/outcome research and leadership development. When working with others we take a generalist approach by bringing tools and strategies that are useful regardless of the topic and draw upon best practice approaches of community psychology, social work, business, and public health.
Living in the academic world of Wichita State University and working extensively in communities across Kansas, we have come to appreciate the powerful combination of theoretical and research knowledge found at a university coupled with the experiential knowledge of Kansas community leaders. We intentionally draw upon those tools and share them with our partners. We believe that every Kansan has valuable experience and strengths worth sharing with others and so seek intentionally to identify and partner with others also passionate about creating thriving Kansas communities.
The Research and Evaluation Team includes research associates who develop, implement, and report findings of community-based research and evaluations for nonprofits, community coalitions, government agencies, schools, and other grassroots causes. As a nationally recognized expert on community-based research we recognize that every project and organization is unique. Therefore, the Research and Evaluation team uses those methods that are most appropriate to answer the questions of interest and ensure the future success of programs and projects. The Research and Evaluation team offers a wide-variety of best-practice methods, including:
Contact:
Self-Help Network Center for Community Support and Research
Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Wichita State University, Department of Psychology
1845 Fairmount, Box 201
Wichita, KS 67260-0201
The Centre for Research and Education in Human Services is an independent, non-profit organization with over 20 years experience in community research, program evaluation, needs assessment and planning. In all Centre work, we use a participatory, action-oriented approach.
The Centre is committed to social change and the development of communities and human services that are responsive and supportive, especially to people with limited access to power and opportunity.
Demonstrating leadership through research, education and community involvement, the Centre stimulates the creation of awareness, policies and practices that advance equitable participation and integration of all members of our community.
Contact:
Centre for Research and Education in Human Services
73 King St. W., Suite 300
Kitchener, ON N2G 1A7
Phone: (519) 741-1318
Fax: (519) 741-8262
E-mail: general@crehs.on.ca
The Institute for Community Research conducts research in collaboration with community partners to promote justice and equity in a diverse, multiethnic, multicultural world. We engage in and support community-based research partnerships to reverse inequities, promote positive changes in public health and education, and foster cultural conservation and development.
Communities worldwide are working to access resources and develop the skills needed to direct and control their own futures. Through the use of community-based research, ICR is narrowing the gap between research and practice by working with real communities on real issues.
Contact:
The Institute for Community Research
Two Hartford Square West, Suite 100
Hartford, CT 06106-5128
860.278.2044 fax 860.278.2141
Email: info@icrweb.org
The mission of Just Connections is to invigorate grassroots democracy among residents of distressed mountain communities by creating and using models for participatory research and service in support of self-sustaining communities that offer equitable access to resources for local citizens.
Just Connections defines participatory research as a process which places researchers and apprentices at the service of communities seeking help with the exploration of local assets, needs, and opportunities, as well as with the planning, enaction, and evaluation of development programs. This research model admits that the core knowledge about a situation resides in the community itself, and thus community members are the most qualified to bring meaning to the application of research skills. We believe that participatory research entails an equal partnership between campus and community.
Website: http://www.ferrum.edu/aca/justconnections/index.htm
"Harnessing the power of research to advance social justice in the District of Columbia"
The Community Research and Learning (CoRAL) Network is a consortium of community-based organizations and higher education institutions in the Washington DC metro area engaged in community-based learning and research to promote positive social change and advance their social justice missions in the national capital region.
CoRAL's programmatic focus is on professional development of university faculty, civic engagement and leadership development among undergraduates, and capacity-building for non-profit service agencies to effectively utilize CBR results to improve service delivery and broaden public awareness.
The CoRAL Network started off as a project at Georgetown University with a five-year grant awarded by the Bonner Foundation in 1997 to the university's Volunteer and Public Service Center (which is now the Center for Social Justice, Research, Teaching, and Service). The project goal was to help encourage the use of Georgetown's resources and research abilities to further the social change efforts of local community-based organizations and thus strenghthening university-community ties.
URL: http://www.coralnetwork.org/network/history.html
The Colorado Community-Based Research Network (CCBRN) connects university students and faculty with community organizations needing research and information.
We believe that higher education is uniquely positioned to help address pressing issues within our local communities such as environmental threats, school and educational decline, growing crime rates, immigrant issues and economic inequality.
One goal is to expand the current range of university scholarship to include research that goes beyond “social inquiry,” and serves as a catalyst for real change and action within our communities.
The CCBRN also believes that community-based research is a unique tool for preparing students for lives of civic engagement and social responsibility. It allows them to apply the skills and knowledge gained in the classroom in situations that expand their understanding of the world, increasing their commitment to our democratic society.
Website: http://www.ccbrn.org/
Neighborhood Planning For Community Revitalization (NPCR) builds partnerships between community-based organizations, and local colleges and universities around community building activities. The research and technical needs of community organizations are matched with the support of student assistants and faculty leadership. NPCR has been promoting community university partnerships in the Twin Cities since 1993.
NPCR, a program of the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) at the University of Minnesota, distinguishes itself from other CURA programs as the only one that is made up of a consortium of ten metro-area colleges and universities. Student researchers from multiple institutions enable community organizations to access a greater pool of resources and expertise from a variety of departments—expanding research possibilities and creating valuable connections to area institutions, students, and faculty. NPCR’s coordinating council ensures that students from all of these institutions receive the same research opportunities as those at the University of Minnesota.
NPCR’s Goals
Website: http://www.npcr.org/
The mission of the CBRNO is:
The goals of the CBRNO are:
Website: http://www.spcottawa.on.ca/CBRNO_website/home_cbrno.htm