Community Collaborations

JDP students in front of Cathedral

Consistent with our mission, the Center on Race and Social Problems funds, initiates, and collaborates to design, implement and evaluate applied research-to-practice interventions, nested in communities of color. Unlike traditional research done on communities, CRSP faculty develop and conduct research and intervention projects in partnership with communities. Our partners include young people, parents, schools, congregations, youth serving organizations, and community development agencies.

Our current projects focus on a range of social issues that disproportionately impact communities of color. Some of the goals that our current projects seek to accomplish include the following:

Eliminate racial disparities in school discipline practices
Improve birth outcomes among African American mothers
Provide low-income young people access to higher education
Prepare African American parents to support their children’s academic success
Increase the availability of safe spaces for youth development
Teach young people how to engage new media tools to rewrite the narrative of their neighborhoods
Equip residents to promote equitable development and resident driven community revitalization, versus gentrification
Address the intensive emotional, behavioral, and academic disruptions tied to students’ trauma history

Just Discipline Project

The Just Discipline Project is a research-to-practice initiative designed to advance achievement for all students by implementing and evaluating school-based relational climate and restorative practice programs.

Pitt-Assisted Communities & Schools (PACS)

The mission of PACS is to mobilize University of Pittsburgh resources in ways that enrich the lives of Homewood children and youth, while simultaneously advancing the university's commitment to transformative teaching, learning, and community impact.

Research for Equity & Power (REP)

The REP Project has been actively engaging youth and adult Homewood residents since July 2019 to explore resident’s definitions of civic engagement, agency, and activism, particularly around the issue of equitable development and resident-driven community revitalization.

SPIN Project

The SPIN Project, a NIDA funded project, seeks to engage youth in identifying safe and risky spaces in their neighborhood, to understand the relationship between exposure to these spaces, stress and substance use and work to increases youth access to safe spaces while addressing spaces that are potentially risky.

DREAMs Project

DREAMs, a trauma-informed project, aims to enhance struggling students’ behavioral and academic outcomes by addressing the unique social and emotional needs related to trauma exposure.

Parenting While Black (PWB)

Parenting While Black (PWB) is an interactive program and curriculum that provides primary caregivers with tools to simultaneously support their children’s healthy development and their own wellness.