University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work Associate Professor Mary Ohmer and Jason Beery of the UrbanKind Institute have received a $305,818 grant from AmeriCorps for their Research for Equity and Power (REP) project. Community researcher Donnell Pearl will assist with the project.
This project builds on Dr. Ohmer's work on REP to expand civic engagement around equitable development/equity issues by working with current REP communities to apply their Equitable Development Playbook through community projects in existing REP neighborhoods (Homewood and Hazelwood), and working with community partner UrbanKind Institute to connect residents from REP, Homewood Children's Village (HCV) Leadership Institute, and UrbanKind's Equitable and Just Greater Pittsburgh (EJGP) to participate in Advocacy and Organizing Training and identify and act on an equity issue that affects multiple communities, and forming a Regional Resident Steering to guide this project.
The team will use Community Based Participatory Research and qualitative and quantitative methods to assess the following research questions related to AmeriCorps funding priorities in the areas of society and communities: (1) In what ways does engaging residents around equitable development and equity issues and training them in advocacy and organizing skills impact their levels of civic engagement? (2) How does strengthening resident civic engagement around equity and equitable development issues increase residents' perceptions of their ability to influence changes in equity in local communities and at a regional level? (3) How does furthering resident civic engagement strengthen networks at a regional level? and (4) How can participatory approaches be used for long-term, sustainable, and impactful policy change?