UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Social Science Research Institute’s Community-Engaged Research, Action and Partnerships (CERAP) unit recently awarded six seed grants to support interdisciplinary community-engaged research.
According to CERAP co-director and professor of biobehavioral health, Lori Francis, the funding will help develop new or strengthen existing community-engaged research (CEnR) partnerships. The purpose of this seed grant program is to support teams of community partners and Penn State investigators who aim to build equitable partnerships with the long-term goal of co-creating and co-leading a CEnR project.
The following projects were awarded:
Keeping Families First: Co-Creating a Systems Analysis of Child-Family Separation and Stabilization in Rural Tanzania
Project Team
- Katharine Thompson, Assistant Research Professor of Anthropology and African Studies, College of the Liberal Arts
Community Partners:
- The Amani Initiatives;
- The Green Economy;
- The Ministry of Community Development, Gender, Women and Special Groups;
- Local governments of Baraka Village and Esilalei Ward
Keeping Families First will co-design and pilot participatory systems-mapping methods with Tanzanian partners, social welfare officers, and families to understand the latent drivers that lead to children entering orphanage care despite having available caregivers. The project uses a systems approach to understand interlinked stressors, including climate change, biodiversity loss, and livelihood disruption, as distal drivers of child-family separation, with the goal of identifying leverage points to strengthen family-based care and policy.
A Community-Engaged Pilot to Strengthen Coordinated Care for Violence Survivors in Rural Nepal
Project Team
- Supriya Joshi, Assistant Research Professor, Social Science Research Institute
- Sarita Dayali, President, Feminist Dalit Organization Doti-Chapter
- Jessica Thompson, Assistant Professor, College of Health and Human Development
- Jessica Birkenholtz, Professor, College of the Liberal Arts
Survivors of the violence in rural Nepal face fragmented services and limited knowledge of available resources. This community-engaged pilot partners with the Feminist Dalit Organization to convene key service providers in Doti District through participatory action sessions, map the service landscape, and co-develop a referral and visual navigation guide for survivors.
Building a Community-Engaged Partnership to Support Youth Well-Being in Erie County Community Schools
Project Team
Susan Hirt Hagen CORE at Penn State Behrend:
- Megan LaMotte, Associate Director of Research and Evaluation
- James Hodge, Director
- Kristin Hesch, Associate Director of Community Outreach
- Charisse Nixon, Associate Director
United Way of Erie County:
- Mike Jaruszewicz, President
- Meghan Easter, Associate Vice President of Community Schools
- Sara Naughton, Associate Vice President of Data and Evaluation
Penn State’s Susan Hirt Hagen CORE and the United Way of Erie County will partner with support students in Community Schools through targeted mental health programming, staff and family resources, and research-driven evaluation. The project aims to strengthen youth's well-being, identify effective practices, and build a sustainable model for broader impact across Erie County.
Assessing the Acceptability and Developmental Alignment of an Adolescent Compassion Curriculum for Neurodivergent High School Students
Project Team
- Kari Sherwood, Assistant Professor, College of Education
- Blake Colaianne, Assistant Research Professor, College of Health and Human Development, Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center
State College Area School District
This project uses a community-engaged mixed-methods approach to examine whether the Relate compassion curriculum is acceptable and developmentally aligned for neurodivergent high school students. In partnership with the State College Area School District, we will identify where the curriculum fits and where it needs adaptation, laying out the groundwork for a future curriculum adaptation and efficacy trial.
Decolonizing Conservation Research and Curriculum: Community-Engaged Approaches to Land/Territory and Conservation in the Andes and Amazon
Project Team
Penn State
- Belén Noroña, Assistant Professor, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
- Kaitlyn Spangler, Assistant Professor, Rural Sociology, College of Agricultural Sciences
Pachaysana Foundation
- Daniel Acosta, Community Coordinator
- Daniel Bryan, Director of Education and Development
- Chochi Iturralde, General Director
Mushullacta Community
- Leonidas Narváez, Indigenous Researcher
- Mayra Shiguango, Indigenous Researcher
Pintag Community
- Edwin Pilaquinga, Community Researcher
- Mayra Aimacaña, Community Researcher
This project brings together Penn State researchers and Indigenous communities in Ecuador to co-create research and educational frameworks grounded in Indigenous territorial knowledge. Through storytelling, participatory methods, and land-based learning, the partnership advances more equitable approaches to conservation, climate resilience, and community-engaged research.
Strengthening Co Creation and Shared Decision Making for Dengue Prevention in the Peruvian Amazon
Project Team
Penn State
- Kara Fikrig, Assistant Professor, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences and College of Agricultural Sciences
- Francisco Alfredo Reyes Rocha, Postdoctoral Researcher
- Leann Andrews, Assistant Professor, College of Arts and Architecture
- Emily Pakhtigian, Assistant Professor, School of Public Policy
- Chris Skurka, Associate Professor, Bellisario College of Communications
- Margarita Lopez-Uribe, Associate Professor, College of Agricultural Sciences
Prisma
- Rosa Rodriguez, Community Relations Coordinator
- Arnold Noriega, Entomology Coordinator
- Jim Ruiz, Field Team member
- Jonyfer Vergara, Field Team Member
- John Bardales, Field Team Member
- Karen Farroñay, Field Team Member
This CERAP seed project strengthens participatory research capacity in rural Peruvian Amazon communities facing rising plastic pollution and dengue risk. The grant supports training local field partners and co-creating a shared decision-making framework to build community ownership of solid waste systems and sustainably reduce dengue and pollution in remote communities.
The Community-Engaged Research, Action, and Partnerships (CERAP) is led by an interdisciplinary team of community-engaged faculty and researchers who are committed to advancing community health and well-being, equity and justice. Their approach is guided by a model and set of processes that involve community members and university researchers co-creating and co-investigating pressing social issues.