Collaborative Research for Community Empowerment
From Our Neighborhood News, Spring 2024
Northwestern’s Alliance for Research in Chicagoland Communities (ARCC) works to catalyze and bolster research partnerships between academics and communities, with a philosophy centered on honoring the expertise of communities that are closely connected to prevailing issues — and empowering them to take the lead in research endeavors.
“Research is a powerful way of understand ing our world,” says Jen Brown, cofounder and director of ARCC. “When driven by affected communities, research increases the value for those communities.”
At the heart of ARCC’s mission is the belief that research is a potent vehicle for making sense of the stories of our world. Brown emphasizes the crucial role of research in enabling communities to articulate their own narratives.
“The collaborative community research approach asks, at each step of the process, who is making decisions, who holds the power, and what has changed because of the collaboration,” she says. “Our goal is ensuring communities are driving the work, including how findings can be shared so the people who participated can benefit from what was learned.”
Though ARCC collaborates with research teams across Northwestern, its focus is on health and equity issues, embracing a comprehensive definition of health that encompasses such aspects as transportation and workforce equity — recognizing health as fundamental for robust and thriving communities.
“We believe health is a primary building block for communities of all kinds and a shared priority across many communities and populations,” Brown says. “Not only are most issues determinants of physical, mental, or emotional health, but health contributes to other parts of people’s lives. For instance, how can you have great education outcomes without health? They support each other.”
Just as ARCC believes communities should drive research, the same is true for its own programs. Guided by a steering community that includes representatives from community and faith-based organizations, public agencies, and Northwestern faculty and staff, its initiatives are tailored to create partnerships, build collaborative research capacity, and advocate for effective research outcomes.
Lisa Daniels, executive director of the Darren B. Easterling Center for Restorative Practices, led an ARCC seed grant partnership focused on supporting the mental health of Black women who have lost children to gun violence or incarceration. “ARCC’s belief in and funding for our program from its inception has been a cornerstone of our success,” she says.
Brown says it’s pivotal for ARCC to ensure that research transcends the academic realm and translates into practical impact. Projects such as collaborating with Chicago community media outlets to disseminate research findings in accessible ways underscore the goal of engaging a wider audience beyond traditional academic circles. The center also confronts historical issues of research misconduct and inequity, striving to dismantle ingrained dynamics that have marginalized communities.
“Many times, a lot of harm has been wrought through research that’s been done unethically, disrespectfully, and hasn’t had a lot of impact,” Brown says. “People doing research haven’t always had a shared understanding of the people it’s done on, rather than done with and for.”
And as researchers are often awarded for publishing and obtaining grants, there is less recognition for things like policy testimony or developing a technical manual or training. ARCC is working to change systems so they “are not in service of research but the opposite,” Brown says.
FOR GUIDELINES TO APPLY to the ARCC seed grant program, visit bit.ly/ARCCgrants.