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<\/a>In the open, sunlit workspace of Trinity College\u2019s new downtown campus at 10 Constitution Plaza, teams assemble in the Liberal Arts Action Lab\u2014an educational partnership between Trinity and Capital Community College that debuted last spring\u2014to discuss some of the biggest challenges facing the city of Hartford and to conduct research to develop possible solutions.<\/p>\n
Members of one team look up at a large screen, where Action Lab Director Megan Brown demonstrates how to use geographic information system (GIS)<\/em> mapping tools to help them investigate the connection between housing conditions and health outcomes in the area known as the North Hartford Promise Zone. Along with Community Solutions, a nonprofit working to end homelessness and the conditions that create it, the students on the team will use GIS data and results from a blight survey to produce interactive maps. The project ultimately will serve as a resource for Community Solutions as it works to garner support and funding while focusing attention on areas that are most in need of resources.<\/p>\n The Action Lab connects faculty members, staff members, and students from Trinity and Capital with community partners, which include neighborhood groups, nonprofits, government agencies, and similar bodies. Not all of the work is done at Constitution Plaza. One team spent several days collecting data at a courthouse; others conducted interviews with Hartford residents in their neighborhoods. Each project addresses an issue of importance to the city.<\/p>\n The broad goals of the Action Lab are to strengthen the city and its role in the region, spark social innovation, and support civic engagement and sustainability. \u201cI think that making research useful is very important, and it helps students when they can see the impact their research is having on the outside world,\u201d says Brown. \u201cWhile the students are getting exposure to the city, which gets them to care about Hartford in some new ways, they are learning about how to do high-quality research and work with community partners.\u201d The proposals for semester-long projects come directly from the community partners. \u201cWe want to work on the projects that are most important to the city,\u201d Brown says. A board of Hartford-area residents reviews the proposals and helps select projects to pursue.<\/p>\n During each semester, students from Trinity and Capital take two courses together at the Action Lab. \u201cOne is a research methods course where we talk about how you actually do this kind of engaged research, how you make research useful, how you answer questions about the world and solve problems,\u201d Brown says. \u201cThe other course is their Hartford research project, where they are working in their teams, oftentimes directly with their community partners, under my guidance and that of their faculty fellow.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Professor of Educational Studies Jack Dougherty, Trinity\u2019s Action Lab faculty director, Brown is uniquely suited to this work. The recipient of a Ph.D. in geography from the University of Washington in Seattle, an M.A. in public policy from Johns Hopkins University, and a B.A. from Wesleyan University, Brown has taught undergraduate courses in subject areas including social justice and statistics and has collaborated with community and labor organizations in Baltimore and Seattle. \u201cWe are so fortunate to have an Action Lab director who has spent equal time working with urban nonprofit organizations and academics,\u201d Dougherty says. \u201cIt\u2019s equally rare to find an academic who has cross-cutting experience in teaching research methods as diverse as statistical analysis, oral history interviewing, and GIS mapping.\u201d In addition, Dougherty adds, Brown is adept at listening to the community partners and helping them refine their project ideas.<\/p>\n The Action Lab already is establishing partnerships outside of the semester-long projects. In the spring, the nonprofit Connecticut Data Collaborative announced that it would begin leasing office space at 10 Constitution Plaza and would work with the Action Lab to continue helping community organizations and governmental agencies use public data to improve their planning and decision-making. The Action Lab and the Connecticut Data Collaborative together have received a 500 Cities Grant funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to research connections between housing conditions and health in local neighborhoods, among other goals involving the use of public health data.<\/p>\n The Action Lab concept was developed by Tim Cresswell, Trinity\u2019s dean of the faculty and vice president for academic affairs. \u201cThe classical origin of liberal arts education in ancient Athens as education for free people of the city\u2014or citizens\u2014was always about the skills needed to operate as citizens,\u201d he says. \u201cIn ancient Greece, it may have been to prepare individuals to serve in the military or on a jury. Today, it means working on sticky, real-world problems, such as persistent inequality or climate change. The Liberal Arts Action Lab will help Trinity lead the way in reconnecting liberal arts to real-world problems, both inside and outside of the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n Cresswell notes that Capital is an ideal partner for this project, not only because of its proximity to Trinity\u2019s new space downtown. Since its move to Main Street in 2002, Capital has increased its footprint in Hartford communities through a variety of programs, including social work service-learning projects, nursing and health career clinical placements in hospitals, and business apprenticeships with area corporations.<\/p>\n As chair of Capital\u2019s Humanities Department and director of its Hartford Heritage Project\u2014an initiative that uses the city in its curriculum\u2014Jeffrey Partridge has long believed that place-based education and the service learning model embraced by the Action Lab work to everyone\u2019s advantage. \u201cThe community organizations get help on researching issues and solving a problem; the students get to apply concepts that they\u2019re learning in the textbook to a real situation and actually impact the community; the colleges, with place-based education, increase student engagement; and whatever community the students end up living in\u2014Hartford or elsewhere\u2014they will have learned the value of contributing and seeing themselves as agents of change,\u201d says Partridge, who serves as Capital\u2019s Action Lab faculty director. \u201cWe all win when that happens.\u201d<\/p>\n Students from Trinity and Capital have found that teaming up with peers from the other institution brings new insights to the work. Trinity student Giana Moreno \u201920, who worked on the Creative Placemaking project in the spring, says, \u201cIn my group, I was able to hone critical thinking skills and learn from individuals who have lived in Hartford for their entire lives. They push and encourage me to think differently about how I provide suggestions and what it means to be a team member.\u201d<\/p>\n Capital student Aulona Zeka, also a member of the Creative Placemaking team, says, \u201cIt is interesting and productive to see how everyone thinks about a given topic or project. I believe the setup of the classroom also gives a sense of freedom to speak. We learn from the professor, and we also learn from each other, and what we have to say is equally respected.\u201d<\/p>\n Trinity public policy and law major Max Eichner \u201920, who spent the spring semester working on the PILOT Messaging project, says he appreciated the level of collaboration among those involved. \u201cSince we\u2019re all working together to solve a problem or address an issue, the Action Lab is more of a professional environment than a traditional college classroom,\u201d he says. One of the strengths of the program, Eichner notes, is how it connects students to people and issues outside of an academic setting. \u201cThe work is driven by a purpose, and there are real consequences to everything you do here. That does sound a bit intimidating at first, but it\u2019s a good motivator for people to push themselves outside of their comfort zones,\u201d he says. \u201cThe things we do really do impact people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n Moreno, a Posse Scholar, hopes the Liberal Arts Action Lab and Trinity\u2019s other community-based programs inspire students to be actively involved in the city, especially around the Summit Street campus. \u201cIt is important for students to be a part of the Greater Hartford community,\u201d she says. \u201cIf we want a great relationship with Hartford, let\u2019s prove it.\u201d<\/p>\n Eichner adds, \u201cIt\u2019s a rewarding experience to let people know that Trinity cares what goes on outside of the campus and cares about the communities that the college is a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n For more information on the Liberal Arts Action Lab, please visit <\/em>action-lab.org<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n In spring 2018, the inaugural semester of the Liberal Arts Action Lab, 16 students from Capital Community College and Trinity College were divided among five research project teams:<\/p>\n Eviction<\/strong> Mapping Northeast Hartford Promise Zone <\/strong> PILOT Messaging<\/strong> Creative Placemaking<\/strong> Community Partner: Steven Raider-Ginsburg, HartBeat Ensemble<\/a><\/p>\n Parent Engagement <\/strong> The Liberal Arts Action Lab has enrolled nearly two dozen students from Capital Community College and Trinity College for the fall 2018 semester. All students are meeting together in the \u201cAction Research Methods\u201d course on Monday afternoons and are participating on one of four Hartford research project teams: <\/strong><\/p>\n Food Stories<\/strong> Homeownership <\/strong> Opportunity Youth <\/strong> Sustainable Foods <\/strong> New collaboration at Constitution Plaza spurs innovation and civic engagement By Andrew J. Concatelli In the open, sunlit workspace of Trinity College\u2019s new downtown campus at 10 Constitution Plaza, teams assemble in the Liberal Arts Action Lab\u2014an educational partnership between Trinity and Capital Community College that debuted last spring\u2014to discuss some of the biggest challenges … <\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>Completed spring projects<\/h3>\n
\nStudents learned about the eviction process in Hartford and worked with the Connecticut Fair Housing Center to design and implement a survey project. Students investigated how Hartford residents came to face eviction, their experiences with the eviction process, and the immediate and long-term ramifications of the evictions on their families.
\nFaculty Fellow: Serena Laws<\/a>, Trinity
\nCommunity Partners: Salmun Kazerounian and Erin Kemple, Connecticut Fair Housing Center<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>
\nStudents learned GIS mapping tools that allowed them to investigate the connection between housing conditions and health outcomes. Working with Community Solutions, students then used GIS data and results from a blight survey to produce interactive maps.
\nFaculty Fellow: David Tatem<\/a>, Trinity
\nCommunity Partners: Kathy Del Beccaro and Nadia Lugo, Community Solutions International, Inc.<\/a><\/p>\n
\nStudents learned about an important component of local governance in Hartford: Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT), a program that address the budgetary problems that the City of Hartford faces because a high percentage of the city\u2019s land parcels are owned by government or nonprofit institutions and are therefore not subject to taxation. By producing and testing a variety of messaging products, students studied which messaging strategies are best at convincing non-Hartford residents to support full payment of PILOT funds.
\nFaculty Fellow: Abigail Fisher Williamson<\/a>, Trinity
\nCommunity Partners: Wildaliz Bermudez and Jason Ortiz, Hartford Court of Common Council<\/a>; and Erin Boggs, Open Communities Alliance<\/a><\/p>\n
\nStudents took a close look at the Nook Farm area of Asylum Hill (which includes the Mark Twain House, Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, and HartBeat Ensemble\u2019s Carriage House Theater), connecting the historical significance of this site for creative and intellectual pursuits with current studies in \u201ccreative placemaking\u201d\u2014development projects that leverage the power of the arts, culture, and creativity to serve a community\u2019s interest while avoiding gentrification. Students created an \u201casset map\u201d for the neighborhood to help arts organizations leverage the unique strengths of the area.
\nFaculty Fellow: Tim Cresswell<\/a>, Trinity<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nStudents learned best practices for engaging immigrant and refugee parents on topics related to their children\u2019s education. Working with the Hartford Public Library\u2019s Immigrant Youth Project, students researched current immigration and refugee settlement patterns throughout Hartford and worked with library staff on engaging program participants\u2019 parents and guardians in dialogue around goals and objectives.
\nFaculty Fellow: Daniela Ragusa<\/a>, Capital
\nCommunity Partner: Nancy Caddigan, Hartford Public Library<\/a><\/p>\nFour for the fall<\/h3>\n
\nStudents are learning about the state-specific policies that shape our food system and completing a digital storytelling project that uses personal narratives\u2014\u201cfood stories\u201d\u2014to illustrate the importance of the policies that shape how and what we eat.
\nFaculty Fellow: Sarah Moon, University of Connecticut
\nCommunity Partner: Meg Hourigan, Connecticut Food System Alliance<\/a><\/p>\n
\nThe homeownership rate in Hartford hovers around 23 percent. Many low-income Hartford residents, especially people of color, have difficulty accessing financing that would allow them to build equity through real estate investment. Students are researching the programs that currently exist to encourage homeownership in the city and investigating the real estate financing landscape to determine what gaps exist to answer this question: How do we develop tools to build equity in real estate for low-wage earners in Hartford, specifically people of color?
\nFaculty Fellow: Jack Dougherty, Trinity
\nCommunity Partner: Jeff Devereux, Breakfast Lunch & Dinner<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>
\nIn Hartford, 6,000 youth between the ages of 16 and 24 are neither in school nor working. In this project, students are learning about the many agencies that serve these youth and working to develop a comprehensive data repository including information from 15\u201320 organizations that currently do not report data to the Hartford Opportunity Youth Collaborative. In addition to collecting and analyzing data, students are designing a survey to find out how the data can be useful to the many organizations that work with these youth.
\nFaculty Fellow: Alyson Spurgas, Trinity
\nCommunity Partner: Julie Geyer, Capital Workforce Partners<\/a><\/p>\n
\nThe Hartford Office of Sustainability is interested in promoting local food to Hartford residents. In this project, students are learning about local food sources and comparing the carbon emissions and costs associated with local vs. nonlocal food. Students are creating an index of local food sources and creating marketing materials that promote local food to residents.
\nFaculty Fellow: Christoph Geiss, Trinity
\nCommunity Partner: Shubhada Kambli, Office of Sustainability, City of Hartford<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"