ANCHORED TO PLACE AND ROOTED IN COMMUNITY

In a virtual meeting in mid-January, a few people engage each other in good-natured teasing—the kind that comes with familiarity and common cause. The easy-going banter fills the few minutes before 9:00 am, when the business of this gathering commences and the talk turns to research. But even the business discussion this morning will be lighter, accompanied by a sense of relief.

The health equity project they have been developing for months, and will soon submit for foundation funding, is undergoing its final edit. At that point, one of the attendees observes, they will be able to take a few weeks off from 9:00 am meetings. That isn’t likely, though, since the group has already identified three new phases of the work ahead.

They call themselves a team: faculty, staff, and a community partner. They have a comfortable work rhythm—listening, encouraging, questioning, floating project ideas that are informed by different disciplines, expertise, and experiences. The result is what some would see as a synergy of effort and perspective. Each member of the group will do a part to bring about equitable health outcomes for local individuals and communities, but all have committed to the holistic framework. Their endeavor is longterm and important.

Convened by the Urban Institute for Racial, Economic, and Environmental Justice, the team is an outgrowth of the Institute’s vision of a productive collaboration among diverse disciplines and between the university and community partners. Indeed, partnering is the Institute’s core activity; “it animates our mission,” says Jan Furman, the Institute’s director. “We reach out continually to individuals, organizations, and agencies in Greater Flint to find ways to work together in authentic partnership.” This CommunityBased Participatory Research (CBPR) framework has become a best practice in translating research into action, a process which starts with a community’s understanding of its lived experience of a problem and ends with the cocreation—community and university—of a solution. All partners are involved in all phases and aspects of research ideation, design, decision-making, power-sharing, and dissemination of findings—an approach that differs from the traditional research processes focused on contributing to the researchers’ fields of knowledge. CBPR’s focus is investigating and changing oppressive social systems. It is action research that serves the aims of social justice.

Patrick McNeal champions this more inclusive approach to research. As a member of the health equity team, McNeal brings decades of experience in building bridges across and within community organizations and with the university. McNeal serves as Director of the North Flint Neighborhood Action Council (NFNAC). The NFNAC brings together residents, block club and neighborhood association leaders, organizations, and community stakeholders in some of the most economically disenfranchised areas of Flint to plan, implement, and sustain comprehensive revitalization efforts that improve the lives of residents. NFNAC provides residents with the loudest voice in change and reminds them of the community’s importance when discussing neighborhood decisions. A believer in lifelong learning, McNeal has earned both a master’s in educational leadership and a Master of Divinity. He also serves his community as a certified mediator, life coach, and Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation practitioner.

We reach out continually to individuals, organizations, and agencies in Greater Flint to find ways to work together in authentic partnership.

For him, CBPR translates as “nothing about us [the community] without us.” McNeal and a colleague first reached out to the Urban Institute in early spring of 2021 about working together on a Kellogg Foundation global competitive challenge. A diverse team of scholars and residents did enter the competition, but as director Furman explains, two months was not sufficient time to put in place all the pieces of an exceptionally strong research-practice proposal. Still, she reckons, their team finished in the top third of global competitors, and they learned much. Significant, as well, is the relationship, based on common goals and interests, that developed between the Institute and McNeal’s organization.

The Institute centers research and practice that moves beyond single-discipline solutions to problems. Research team members approach a vexing question from different perspectives and then focus, jointly, on the best answer, which is always complex. In every instance, the research is oriented not just across disciplines, but across academic cultures, such as collaborations between and among health, engineering, natural science, social science, and the humanities. Engaging with each other and with those who have lived experience of an existing issue builds mutual learning and the production of new kinds of knowledge that inevitably transcend discipline specificity. Quality of life indicators, like health equity, for example, demand these transcendent orientations. The research-practice team knows that in order to address the social determinants of health (economic stability, education, health care access and quality, neighborhood and built environment, social and community contexts [US Department of Health and Human Services, Healthy People 2030]), their diverse frames must lead to novel concepts, methodologies, and designs. Their solutions and interventions must break new ground.

In addition to McNeal and Furman, who works in the humanities and is professor emerita of English, the health equity team includes faculty in nursing, public health, education and human services. The Institute currently has four research-practice teams. The teamwork model not only promotes creativity, new knowledge, and insight, but also supports the social, psychological, and professional dimensions of research. Sharing a vision and goals with trusted colleagues is a great benefit of being one of a team. So is sharing the work, especially for faculty eager to implement a research agenda while simultaneously teaching three courses during each fall and winter semester.

Nurturing and supporting students’ spirits and minds is another major aspect of the Urban Institute’s mission. It takes the form, mostly, of undergraduate internships with the Institute and in the city of Flint. This year’s intern cohort is “savvy and fearless,” Furman says, with obvious admiration. Fifteen students—freshman through senior—from diverse cultural backgrounds, pursuing fifteen academic concentrations, representing all the university’s academic units, make up the inaugural group.

Nathaniel McClain, associate director of the Institute and assistant professor of higher education leadership, sees this diversity as the cohort’s superpower. They learn from and teach each other as they enact a mutual vision on different paths. Professor McClain, who has worked closely with the group, points to their unifying theme, social impact. As part of applying to the program, students identify a social challenge they would like to address and the ways they want to have a positive effect on society. As one would expect, each student seeks transformation from a unique perspective using unique strategies. But in the end, they are a community of pioneering innovators.

Urban Institute for Racial, Economic, and Environmental Justice interns, Tiyashia Poole (below) and Cason Konzer (next page) present solutions to real-world challenges.

McClain, Furman, and Mai Lee, the Institute’s experienced administrative lead, have worked intensely to create the optimal conditions for students to achieve their goals. A leadership institute in August of 2021, offered in conjunction with OptiMize, a social innovation group in U-M’s College of Literature, Science, and the Arts in Ann Arbor, introduced principles and practices of successful social innovation. Helping students to “see” the change they imagined through a series of “visioning” exercises, the summer institute gave them the tools and confidence needed to interact with individuals from culturally diverse settings and to create collaborative, sustainable community partnerships. Powerful student-led and implemented projects have blossomed from that summer experience. Each resonates with both historical and contemporary significance. Each begins with a question that speaks to a twenty-first century reality: Is there a disproportionate number of private plasma donation centers in areas with high social vulnerability? How can an Artistic Reality Through Search (A.R.T.S) curriculum empower underrepresented youth to pursue executive leadership positions within the music production industry that increase their entrepreneurial skillset? How can colleges improve students’ mental health services and provide community residents with resources for accessing mental health support? How can elementary educators foster key communal partnerships to develop effective intervention programs that improve students’ reading proficiency? What sustainability efforts are most critical to Flint community’s viability and its residents’ quality of life? How does installation/removal of an urban dam change the species’ attributes within the Flint river’s waterway? How can mindful poetry, utilizing spoken word, influence literacy development and community-building for Flint and Genesee County residents? How can financial literacy initiatives close America’s racial wealth gap by increasing financial wellness for underrepresented groups? How do underserved populations within Genesee County experience the social impact of literacy workshops and/or donation foundation initiatives? What impact does Michigan’s Schools of Choice policy have on the local community? For some questions there isn’t an answer, but for many there is, and interns have been determined in their pursuit.

The Urban Institute is nearly halfway through its second year of operation, but its concept, director Furman says, has been decades in the making. Over the years, conversation about a public-facing center, to support faculty working in concert with city residents to advance quality of life for all, has waxed and waned. It finally came to fruition in November 2020, when months earlier, Chancellor Dutta surmised the time for an institute was at hand and gave the idea a green light. Administratively, the Institute is an academic affairs unit, with strong support from Vice Chancellor and Provost Sonja Feist-Price. A strong proponent of “campus-community collaboration,” which she sees as “foundational to UM-Flint,” the provost points to a “dynamic faculty intentionally working in partnership with members of the Flint community, as well as surrounding areas.”

In practice, the Institute works closely with the Office of Research and its director, Ken Sylvester, who participates in all the Institute’s working groups. Sylvester’s doctoral training in the social sciences, his understanding of private and federal research funding and knowledge of Michigan research collaboratives and initiatives is expansive, Furman explains. That and more gets shared and discussed during the weekly sessions attended by directors Furman and McClain and others. As often as not, these become planning meetings, and anyone with a project or partnership idea is welcome to take part. That includes UM-Flint alumni. She imagines a circumstance in which the influence of alumni is broad and deep and includes collaborating on community interventions, establishing endowments, providing internships, mentoring students, and sponsoring events. Much is possible if one takes an interest.

Connect With Us!

To engage with the Urban Institute for Racial, Economic, and Environmental Justice, write to Jan Furman, Ph.D. at jfurman@umich.edu, Nathaniel McClain, Ed.D. at namcclai@umich.edu, or Mai Lee at mailee@umich.edu.

URBAN INSTITUTE AFFILIATE FACULTY

BENJAMIN GAYDOS, M.F.A.

Benjamin is a Detroit-based designer, filmmaker, artist, and educator. He conducted research in design and anthropology at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he received an MFA in Visual Communication/ Design, and his experiments in design, sound, film, and video have been exhibited internationally. Ben has presented his work at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Harvard University, and MIT’s Media Lab, among many other institutions. He is co-founder and principal of goodgood, which has offices in Boston and Detroit; founding editor and creative director at Flint Magazine; a producer and designer for Sensate Journal at Harvard University; and co-founder and programmer at Mothlight Microcinema in Detroit. Ben is chair of the Department of Art & Art History and associate professor of design at the University of Michigan-Flint, where he directs the Community Design Studio, a unique student learning lab for community-led social impact design.

LISA LAPEYROUSE, PH.D.

Lisa is a mixed-method researcher, who has dedicated her research career to the study of social determinants of health and health inequities experienced by Latinx populations and other vulnerable groups. Her research has been presented at prestigious scientific conferences, including the American Public Health Association’s Annual Research Conference, and can be found in refereed journals, Public Health Reports, the American Journal of Health Promotion, Behavioral Sciences, and others. She earned her Ph.D. in Health Behavior and Health Education and a certificate in Women’s Health and Reproductive Health from the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health. Since joining UM-Flint in 2012, she has directed her research efforts to address local health issues such as the Flint Water Crisis and its impact on the local Latinx community. She is the Principal Investigator for the 2019 Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPER)-Latinx; Beyond Rhetoric: Confronting and Combating Racism in Genesee County, Michigan; and Coronavirus Vaccination Intentions Among Vulnerable Populations in Genesee County, Michigan. Cathleen teaches auditing, financial accounting, and governmental and not-for-profit accounting. Having earned her Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky with an emphasis on behavioral accounting, she has published in practitioner and academic journals, including Auditing: A Journal of Practice and Theory, Behavioral Research in Accounting, and The Journal of Accountancy. She has received several awards for her service and community engagement, including Outstanding Faculty Advisor Award—Beta Alpha Psi (2019), School of Management Outstanding Service Award (2017), Civic Engagement Course Implementation Grant—University of MichiganFlint (2014), Internal Revenue Service Award (2008), Community Partnership Project Development Funding Grant—University of Michigan-Flint (2006 and 2007), and she was nominated for Michigan Campus Compact Campus-Community Partnership Award for VITA Program (2013). She has worked with the IRS to run the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program in Genesee County for twenty-two years. Annually, she and her students help approximately 400 individuals and families file their federal, state, and city income taxes, resulting in approximately $300,000 in refunds.

TOKO OSHIO, PH.D.

Toko studies child development, from infancy through youth, taking an ecological perspective that emphasizes interactions between people and their environments. Her primary research interest is the socio-emotional development of children and youth and how that development is shaped in contexts where crucial interactions happen, particularly in families, schools, and communities.

JEREMIAH WADE-OLSON, PH.D.

Jeremiah is a political scientist, who studies discrimination in contemporary American prisons. With a Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky, his research has been published in the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory and Public Administration Review. His book, Punishing the Vulnerable: Discrimination in American Prisons focuses on the many vulnerabilities that incarcerated Americans face, such as poverty, mental illness, and racial discrimination. The book details how African American, American Indian, and Latinx inmates receive harsher punishments, including solitary confinement, and fewer rehabilitative programs, such as substance abuse treatment and mental health counseling.