Social+change+through+community-based+research

**Social change through community-based research** MaDonna Thelen, Director for Service Learning, Dominican University [mthelen@dom.edu] Jacqueline Busch, Educational Coordinator, Circle Urban Ministries [jacquelineb@circleurban.org] Nicollette Cisarik, Student Researcher, Dominican University [cisanico@dom.edu]



**Keywords:** Community-based research, social change, educational enrichment programs, civic engagement program

**Track:** Community partnerships and reciprocity

**Format:** Poster presentation

**Date & time: ** Thursday 3:20-4:30 **Location: ** Salon 4 / Salon 9

**Summary:** Community-based research (CBR) can advance social change if partnerships are built on parity with mutual benefits and responsibilities shared equitably. CBR serves as a good model for advancing social transformation since social change demands studying the underlying causes and attempted solutions for social problems. This presentation will address how CBR attempts to address social change through a case study of a community-based research project with a student researcher, community partner and faculty member. The case study focuses on the value of educational enrichment programs in an educationally underserved neighborhood.

Educationally underserved neighborhoods struggle to meet the many needs of their children. Do enrichment programs help students become better learners? Stay in school longer? Reduce dropout rates? This is the problem that Circle Urban Ministries was attempting to address. The research they needed was beyond the scope of their capacity. Through the benefits of a community-based research program at Dominican University’s Social Justice and Civic Engagement program, this question turned into a mutually beneficial project. As universities turn their attention to potential collaborations to achieve social transformation through employing various pedagogies, community-based research emerges as highly beneficial.

**References:** There were no references provided with this proposal.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">[|Thelen-Social change through community-based research .pdf]
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">Please click here to access a PDF file of this page: **

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">**Please join the conversation about this session! To do so, please click on the "Edit" tab at the upper right, scroll back down to here, and lead the comment with your name.**