Conference: Overview Attendees Agenda Keynote Address AM Panels PM Panels Panelists & Papers Galleria of Posters, Music & Art Evaluation

Morning Panels: Stakeholders in Community Driven Research   Concurrent morning sessions examined the role of key stakeholders - faculty, students, and community leaders - in building effective partnerships for community-based research and learning. The Role of Faculty in Community Driven Research Over 25 faculty members from a dozen higher universities held a round-table discussion on "The Role of Faculty in Community-Driven Research" moderated by Dr. Kerry Strand (Hood College). First, Dr. Judith Freidenberg (U-Md) opened with a presentation of her experiences in CoRAL's 2004 Faculty Fellows Learning Circle, summarizing the group's discussions of cross-disciplinary considerations for curriculum development and classroom implementation of service-learning and CBR. As follow-up, the FFLC summer committee will develop a standardized questionnaire to assess attitudinal and behavioral outcomes of student service-learning experiences across all participating campuses. Second, Dr. Shelly Habel (Georgetown U) and undergraduates Nicole Richardson and shared their experiences partnering with Ward 4 Ron Brown Middle School as a requirement for Habel's "Race and Ethnic Relations" sociology course. The partnership focused on short-term, applied assignments and community-based projects to explore the social institutions of education, government, media, family and religion, as well as the development of a community asset map. Third, Dr. Katharine Kravetz (American U.) shared a shared a teaching technique to help students translate what they have learned about democracy and social justice to real life. With labels lined along the wall - "Community Organizing," "Community Development," "Business," "Litigation," "Advocacy" and so on - Kravetz asks her students to stand under the term they believe represents the best venue for transforming communities and promoting social justice. Facilitating a discussion of their reasoning, she then has them stand under the term representing the career field they are planning to pursue - and comment upon why the two line-ups seldom coincide. Dr. Kravetz explained that this exercise has immediate applications because it enables students to think about their life choices and make real-life connections. The final presentation by Dr. Sam Marullo (Georgetown U.) detailed the ways in which undergraduates in his year-long "Project DC" course develop CBR projects that bridge classroom theory with practical applications for the host CBO. Long-term projects addressed information gaps in access to food resources and affordable housing mapping. The Role of Students in Community Driven Research Moderated by Georgetown University senior Kim Patterson, "The Role of Students in Community Driven Research" session explored the distinctions between charity and community-based learning and research, the challenges of sustainability in student-led CBR and the motivation to "leave a footprint that lasts a lifetime" in undergraduates' adopted DC community. Sociology graduate student Amy Engelman (University of Denver) discussed how "participation in community-based research has provided me with a tool to connect and integrate theory and practice in a manner that allows me to utilize my skills and emerging expertise to empower and give voice to marginalized people and communities." Overcoming her initial skepticism, Engelman found her CBR experience to be an eye-opening and mutually rewarding one for her community research partners in Denver, Colorado. Bringing the discussion closer to home, student fellows from CoRAL's 2004 Washington Civic Engagement and Leadership Fellowship Program unveiled implementation plans for PHASES (Peers Helping Area Students Engage in Service), their student-led initiative to empower DC high schoolers by providing them with seed money to implement neighborhood development projects that engage them in their communities.  The Role of Community Partners in CDR The "Role of Community Partners in CDR," moderated by Dr. Deanna Cooke (Georgetown University) examined the essential contributions of community members and activists to successful community-driven research. Dr. Tahi Reynolds (DC VOICE), and Dr. Ana Patricia Rodriguez (UMd) spoke about their experiences as CoRAL's 2004 Partners in Urban Research Seminar (PURS) participants. PURS is creating a research agenda, co-developed and -led by community organizations and university researchers, that includes research methodology to study positive change in the public schools. Dr. Susan Sanow (Virginia Tech University) discussed the analytical and adaptive capacity needs of the nonprofit sector and how perceptions of 'useful research' vary significantly among academics, nonprofits, and foundations. She also discussed Virginia Tech's approached to community-driven research, especially with "action-research" projects undertaken by graduate students in collaboration with local nonprofits. Similarly, Dr. Nick Cutforth (University of Denver) presented on how faculty and students have collaborated with their counterparts at Regis University to undertake "Making Connections-Denver." This multi-site Anne E. Casey-sponsored initiative aims to document resident-driven community change. Their project will extend five to seven years and involves teams of students and residents working together as researchers to document individual and community transformations and systems change. Clark McKnight, Shella Fon, and Walda Katz-Fishman of Project South DC presented the results of CDR collaborations with CoRAL and Trinity Towers on affordable housing and the forces of gentrification and displacement. Working closely with community leaders in the rapidly-gentrifying neighborhood of Columbia Heights, Project South lends support to tenants in the fight to maintain affordable housing options. With the help of faculty partners and students, Project South has made progress in ensuring that long-time residents are not displaced by neighborhood developments.