Towards a Model of Engaged Research

1. The Nuevo South Community Research Initiative Towards a Model of Engaged Research Ricardo B. Contreras David Griffith East Carolina University Merida, March 2010

2. Goal of the Presentation • Program • Theory • Method • Projects • Conclusions, lessons learned, and challenges

3. The Program The central goal of the NSCRI is to develop a sustainable engaged research partnership with grassroots organizations and providers working with/serving the Latino community of eastern North Carolina and the southeast. This implies the following: • To conduct research on subject-matters of relevance to community partners. • To work with community partners in applying research findings to program implementation. • To develop strategies and methodologies articulating action and research. • To become a space for practice, program, and policy reflection and analysis.

4. The Theory • Applied anthropology • Make research useful to communities • Research problem shaped by community needs • Community engagement • Sustainable relationship university-community • Balanced reciprocity in relationship • Participatory action-research • Action and research are intertwined • Community participation in research activities • University partners participate in action projects

5. The Method • Within the university • Build synergy around the need to conduct collaborative research on issues related to the Latino community. • Partner with faculty from different colleges and departments on specific engaged research projects. • Incorporate students in service-learning activities through formal internships, course-work, theses, or volunteering. • Constitute a space for analysis and reflection on applied research, Latino issues, and community engagement. • Build website to socialize the NSCI beyond the local community. • With the community • Identify grassroots community groups or formal organizations that would benefit from partnering with the university on action-research activities. • Develop strong links with community organizations supporting them in grant writing, project implementation, and applying research findings to action processes. • Work with community organizations to identify areas for action-research . • Conduct research activities in constant dialogue with community partners.

6. The Projects Ethnography of community engagement

7. The Projects: Latino Entrepreneurship Study • Engagement model: • Study was conceived and implemented by university partners • Study findings are translated into applications in partnership with local grassroots organizations. • The project: • To examine Latino entrepreneurship practices and culture in new destination communities • To implement intervention processes to strengthen Latino entrepreneurship in the studied communities. • Funded by the US Department of Agriculture. • Coverage area: North Carolina and Iowa • Applications: • Community workshops • Training activities with youth • Educational material development & work with public schools • Website

8. The Projects:Youth Civic Engagement • Engagement model: • Study was conceived and implemented in collaboration with local community organization. • University partners wrote the funding proposal. • Fiscal agent was the community organization. • University partners in charge of program evaluation and report writing. • The project: • To develop youth groups in four communities of eastern North Carolina. • Funded by the Civic Education Consortium of North Carolina. • Coverage area: two counties in eastern North Carolina. • Applications: • The project itself was an application: establishment of youth • Formative research in the form of process evaluation. • Encourage youth to develop their own initiatives (dance groups, garbage collection) • Awareness of the potential for empowerment among both youth and parents

9. The ProjectsCommunity Health Advisors • Engagement model: • Study was conceived and implemented in collaboration with local community organization. • University partners wrote the funded proposal. • Fiscal agent is the community organization. • University partners in charge of program evaluation and report writing. • In practice, although not planned, university partners in charge of program implementation. • The project: • To develop a community health advisor program to promote physical activity and healthy nutrition in the Latino community of Pitt County. • Funding from the Pitt Memorial Hospital Foundation. • Coverage area: Pitt County • Applications: • Train a group of five Latino women as community health advisors. • Promote physical activity and healthy nutrition through the women’s natural social networks. • Formative research in the form of process evaluation. • Deepening of partnerships within the university (e.g. for future research and community outreach).

10. The Projects:Oral Histories of Latino Leaders • Engagement model: • Study was conceived and is being implemented by university partners. • University partners wrote the funded proposal. • Proposal presented to community organization for feedback. • Fiscal agent is the university. • The project: • To study leadership in the Latino community of eastern North Carolina through the examination of the histories of 15 Latino civic leaders. • Oral history as a method. • Funding from the North Carolina Humanities Council. • Coverage: eastern North Carolina. • Applications: (in collaboration with grassroots organizations) • Activities to celebrate the Latino contributions to their local communities • Role models to Latino youth • Collection at the university library • A “Latino Social History House”

11. The Projects: Ethnography of Community Engagement • Engagement model: • Study was conceived by university partner. • Fiscal agent is university partner. • The community engagement process is the object of study. • The project: • Goal: To study the theory, practice, and community impact of the NSCRI engaged research program. • Funding from the university office of community engagement. • Coverage: the projects implemented by the NSCRI. • Applications: • A model of engaged research with the Latino community. • Recommendations on engaged research through policy briefs.

12. Conclusions, Lessons Learned and Challenges • Research-Practice Relationship • Roles participants • Methodology

13. Conclusions: Research-Practice Relationship • Research and practice can be articulated in different ways, and still be engaged research: • Research to identify need or areas for intervention (needs assessment/asset mapping). • Research to illuminate interventions (formative research/evaluation). • Research not immediately connected to practice but whose findings will either be translated into interventions or serve to identify the need for interventions (“traditional” research).

14. Conclusions: Roles • University partners: • Project-related roles: • Write proposals for community organization for intervention projects • Assist in the implementation of projects (with varied levels of involvement) • Research and report writing • Collaboration-related roles: • Cultivate relationships with community partners (engagement) • Identify new partners • Socialize the need for engaged research in the university community • Involve faculty and students

15. Conclusions: Roles (continued) • Community partners: • Project-related roles: • Linkage with community participants • Organization of community events: e.g., forums, focus groups, health fairs • Project administration (with varied levels of involvement) • Collaboration-related roles: • Connection with funding sources • The politics of collaboration

16. Conclusions: Roles-Challenges (continued) • There is a tension between the informality of the grassroots community organization and the formality of the university partners. • This tension is a matter of cross-cultural (mis) understanding. • The university partner needs to approach collaboration from the perspective of the “ethnographer”: student of a culture (challenging in an action-research context).

17. Lessons Learned: Methodology • Engagement is a form of participant observation: • Effort to blur the boundaries that separate the academic from the community world. • Break down with verticality in the academic-community relationship. • Trust. • Dynamic process of attachment and detachment. • Engagement is challenging: • Us learning the culture of the community; them learning the culture of the university. • Culture: the values, beliefs, and practices that structure community work and project management/administration. • Engagement implies risks: • Unwanted involvement in community conflicts. • Making informal certain aspects of the relationship that must remain formal.