The Nuevo South Community Research Initiative
Ricardo B. Contreras
David Griffith
East Carolina University
Merida, March 2010
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Program
Theory
Method
Projects
Conclusions, lessons learned, and challenges
The central goal of the NSCRI is to develop a sustainable
engaged research partnership with grassroots
organizations and providers working with/serving the
Latino community of eastern North Carolina and the
southeast. This implies the following:
 To conduct research on subject-matters of relevance to
community partners.
 To work with community partners in applying research findings
to program implementation.
 To develop strategies and methodologies articulating action
and research.
 To become a space for practice, program, and policy reflection
and analysis.
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Applied anthropology
 Make research useful to communities
 Research problem shaped by community needs
Community engagement
 Sustainable relationship university-community
 Balanced reciprocity in relationship
Participatory action-research
 Action and research are intertwined
 Community participation in research activities
 University partners participate in action projects
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Within the university
 Build synergy around the need to conduct collaborative research on issues
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related to the Latino community.
Partner with faculty from different colleges and departments on specific
engaged research projects.
Incorporate students in service-learning activities through formal internships,
course-work, theses, or volunteering.
Constitute a space for analysis and reflection on applied research, Latino issues,
and community engagement.
Build website to socialize the NSCI beyond the local community.
With the community
 Identify grassroots community groups or formal organizations that would
benefit from partnering with the university on action-research activities.
 Develop strong links with community organizations supporting them in grant
writing, project implementation, and applying research findings to action
processes.
 Work with community organizations to identify areas for action-research .
 Conduct research activities in constant dialogue with community partners.
Engagement model:
 Study was conceived and implemented by university partners
 Study findings are translated into applications in partnership with local
grassroots organizations.
 The project:
 To examine Latino entrepreneurship practices and culture in new
destination communities
 To implement intervention processes to strengthen Latino
entrepreneurship in the studied communities.
 Funded by the US Department of Agriculture.
 Coverage area: North Carolina and Iowa
 Applications:
 Community workshops
 Training activities with youth
 Educational material development & work with public schools
 Website
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Engagement model:
 Study was conceived and implemented in collaboration with local
community organization.
 University partners wrote the funding proposal.
 Fiscal agent was the community organization.
 University partners in charge of program evaluation and report writing.
 The project:
 To develop youth groups in four communities of eastern North Carolina.
 Funded by the Civic Education Consortium of North Carolina.
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 Coverage area: two counties in eastern North Carolina.
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Applications:
 The project itself was an application: establishment of youth
 Formative research in the form of process evaluation.
 Encourage youth to develop their own initiatives (dance groups, garbage
collection)
 Awareness of the potential for empowerment among both youth and
parents
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Engagement model:
 Study was conceived and implemented in collaboration with local community organization.
 University partners wrote the funded proposal.
 Fiscal agent is the community organization.
 University partners in charge of program evaluation and report writing.
 In practice, although not planned, university partners in charge of program implementation.
The project:
 To develop a community health advisor program to promote physical activity and healthy nutrition
in the Latino community of Pitt County.
 Funding from the Pitt Memorial Hospital Foundation.
 Coverage area: Pitt County
Applications:
 Train a group of five Latino women as community health advisors.
 Promote physical activity and healthy nutrition through the women’s natural social networks.
 Formative research in the form of process evaluation.
 Deepening of partnerships within the university (e.g. for future research and community outreach).
Engagement model:
 Study was conceived and is being implemented by university partners.
 University partners wrote the funded proposal.
 Proposal presented to community organization for feedback.
 Fiscal agent is the university.
 The project:
 To study leadership in the Latino community of eastern North Carolina
through the examination of the histories of 15 Latino civic leaders.
 Oral history as a method.
 Funding from the North Carolina Humanities Council.
 Coverage: eastern North Carolina.
 Applications: (in collaboration with grassroots organizations)
 Activities to celebrate the Latino contributions to their local communities
 Role models to Latino youth
 Collection at the university library
 A “Latino Social History House”
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Engagement model:
 Study was conceived by university partner.
 Fiscal agent is university partner.
 The community engagement process is the object of study.
 The project:
 Goal: To study the theory, practice, and community impact of
the NSCRI engaged research program.
 Funding from the university office of community engagement.
 Coverage: the projects implemented by the NSCRI.
 Applications:
 A model of engaged research with the Latino community.
 Recommendations on engaged research through policy briefs.
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Research-Practice Relationship
Roles participants
Methodology
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Research and practice can be articulated in different ways,
and still be engaged research:
▪ Research to identify need or areas for intervention (needs
assessment/asset mapping).
▪ Research to illuminate interventions (formative
research/evaluation).
▪ Research not immediately connected to practice but whose
findings will either be translated into interventions or serve to
identify the need for interventions (“traditional” research).
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University partners:
 Project-related roles:
▪ Write proposals for community organization for intervention
projects
▪ Assist in the implementation of projects (with varied levels of
involvement)
▪ Research and report writing
 Collaboration-related roles:
▪ Cultivate relationships with community partners (engagement)
▪ Identify new partners
▪ Socialize the need for engaged research in the university
community
▪ Involve faculty and students
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Community partners:
 Project-related roles:
▪ Linkage with community participants
▪ Organization of community events: e.g., forums, focus
groups, health fairs
▪ Project administration (with varied levels of
involvement)
 Collaboration-related roles:
▪ Connection with funding sources
▪ The politics of collaboration
There is a tension between the informality of the
grassroots community organization and the
formality of the university partners.
 This tension is a matter of cross-cultural (mis)
understanding.
 The university partner needs to approach
collaboration from the perspective of the
“ethnographer”: student of a culture (challenging in
an action-research context).
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Engagement is a form of participant observation:
 Effort to blur the boundaries that separate the academic from the
community world.
 Break down with verticality in the academic-community relationship.
 Trust.
 Dynamic process of attachment and detachment.
Engagement is challenging:
 Us learning the culture of the community; them learning the culture of
the university.
 Culture: the values, beliefs, and practices that structure community
work and project management/administration.
Engagement implies risks:
 Unwanted involvement in community conflicts.
 Making informal certain aspects of the relationship that must remain
formal.