Findings Staff Report | March 24, 2022
At the University of Cincinnati, we believe that interdisciplinary, community-engaged research can lead us to solutions to real-world problems.
That’s why we created the Community Change Collaborative, which connects and amplifies our research with the greater community, and why C³ began issuing grants for pilot research funding a few years ago.
The theme of this year’s grants is “Equitable Cities.” Three research action teams were chosen to address a pressing need in Cincinnati and/or other urban communities. Awards were for up to $20,000, with a $50,000 cap in total awards.
Watch for C³ and other Funding Opportunities to open again next fall. Plus, hear from academic year 2020-2021 C3 awardees during R+I Week 22, next Tuesday, March 29. Find details on those presentations on our Research Week website.
Community Change Collaborative grant awardees:
Nancy A. Jennings
School of Communication, Film, and Media Studies
and Sarah E. Schroeder, School of Education, Instructional Design and Technology
Project: Media Literacy, Storytelling, and Change
“With a focus on youth development and community cohesion through media, we aim to build individual and community identity, to drive trust and to increase tolerance and cross-cultural understanding. Through media analysis and creation, we enhance critical thinking and life skills to make a difference in our community and share stories to authentically learn about one another. By bringing generations and marginalized groups together through partnerships, we build bridges of friendship, trust and respect.”
Johanna W. Looye
School of Planning
Project: Students Taking Ownership of Safety on an Urban Campus
“This project proposes to partner with UC-related women’s and LGBTQ groups to employ a cellphone mapping app that tracks respondents’ perception of the safety of specific spaces on and around campus ... The methodology emphasizes the research team working shoulder-to-shoulder with the student groups in identifying problems, selecting software, collecting, analyzing and interpreting data and developing and implementing action plans to address the issues.”
Janet Moore
College of Law
Project: Tackling Root Causes
“By intervening in the U.S. criminal justice crisis through collaborative transdisciplinary research, this project will benefit society by addressing a wicked problem that undermines democratic self-governance, personal and public health and progress toward economic and racial justice. Aiming to replace silos that divide academic disciplines, academic institutions from neighboring communities, and community organizers from system insiders, this project seeks to advance nonreformist reforms that simultaneously address problems in existing criminal legal systems while reducing the need for those systems by supporting the development of healthy, self-governing people and communities.”