Civic Engagement as a Catalyst for Community 

Change: 2021 Research Grantee Dialogue.

June 08, 2021

1

Civic Engagement and 

Environmental Stewardship 
2

Melissa Gouge, Ph.D.,

Research Analyst, 

Office of Research and Evaluation/ 

AmeriCorps NCCC

Panel Moderator

Civic Engagement and 

Environmental Stewardship 
3

Carlos Vázquez Rivera, Ph.D. 

Social Community Psychologist

University of Puerto Rico at Humacao 

Department of Social Sciences

2018 Grantee

INARO 

Civic Engagement and 

Environmental Stewardship 
4

Grantee Program Accomplishments

Add Community 

INARO - Montones de Partners Logo

voluntades, transforman 

realidades: Community and 

participation in a socio-natural 

disaster scenario 

Civic Engagement and 

Environmental Stewardship 
5

The INARO project is working with the 

Montones community in Las Piedras town, 

through its voluntary association Jóvenes

del Barrio . The community has experienced 

two hurricanes, Irma and Maria (2017), as 

the rest of Puerto Rico. Our original 

research questions are: (1) What community 

characteristics act to inhibit or promote 

active civic engagement? and (2) What will 

be the community cohesion after the 

experience of a natural disaster? The 

INARO  ́ s Community Research Team (CRT) 

completed the data collection of the 

original project by held 7 focus groups, 

administrated 86 questionnaires and 11 in 

deep interviews for a total of 160 

participants. 

Grantee Program Accomplishments

Civic Engagement and 

Environmental Stewardship 

Add Community 

Partners Logo
6

Civic Engagement and 

Environmental Stewardship 

Suzanne Pritzker, Ph.D.

Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs

University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work

Denae King, Ph.D.

Research Program Manager

Texas Southern University Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs

2018 Grantee

Building Civic Engagement in the Post-Harvey Context:

Exploring Facilitators and Barriers to Civic Activity in Four

Hurricane-Affected Communities in Houston
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Purpose: To work with community partners to 

better understand how residents perceive civic 

engagement and how the disaster experience 

has impacted their civic engagement(CE).

Core Research Questions

1 . How do communities define CE?

2 . What are the barriers and facilitators to CE as 

perceived by community members?

3 . How does Hurricane Harvey impact CE?

4 . How do perceptions of CE differ across 

racially/ethnically and economically diverse 

communities?

Grantee Program Accomplishments

Civic Engagement and 

Environmental Stewardship 
8

Hurricane Harvey: Community Members’ 

Civic Engagement Experiences

Key Takeaways

• Need for clear disaster 

preparedness, response, 

recovery information

• Importance of translated 

Information, accessible in 

diverse languages

• Distrust in elected officials 

related to disaster 

response, short & long 

term recovery assistance

• Influences of multiple 

disasters over time

Grantee Program Accomplishments

Civic Engagement and 

Environmental Stewardship 

Lord, don’t let 

this water 

come in

So many 

organizations 

that gave

Coordination 

was so critical 

Everybody was like 

helping everybody

There was a 

window of 

opportunity

Anchored us 

to the 

community

We had to do 

everything on 

our own

Don’t know where 

to go for help

Pass that 

information 

down

Don’t know 

where money 

went

They ain’t

working for us n

They should take 

initiative to 

implement policies

It’s for sure 

gotten worse
Slow Violence and Environmental Injustice in NV

Jennifer Willett, Ph.D.

University of Nevada, Reno

Jennifer Sims, MSW

Upward Bound

Youth Scientists & Project Leaders

Research for Change

Research for Change

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Civic Engagement and 

Environmental Stewardship 
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Slow Violence:

• Hidden environmental injustices

Research Method:

• Photovoice by Youth Scientists to 

document slow violence in working 

class neighborhoods

Findings to Date:

• Climate disasters

• Infrastructure needs

• Illegal dumping

• Connection to housing crisis

Actions:

• Build support and create solutions with 

our partners

Slow Violence and Environmental Injustice in NV

Civic Engagement and 

Environmental Stewardship 
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Civic Engagement and 

Environmental Stewardship 

Slow Violence and Environmental Injustice in NV
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Sophia George

Student Researcher

Drew University

Neighbors-in-Need CBPAR Project

Franchesca Cifuente, MS

Program Manager, Evaluator, & Researcher

Drew University, Sociology Department

(2018-2021) CNCS Grantee

Civic Engagement and 

Environmental Stewardship 
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To further explore the county’s plan to 

eliminate homelessness in 10 years, a 

team of faculty and students from Drew 

University teamed up with a group of 19 

diverse stakeholders from housing 

agencies, community - based 

organizations, housing voucher 

recipients, and landlords to implement a 

community - based participatory action 

research (CBPAR) project during the 

2018 - 2019 academic year. The 

Neighbors - i n - Need Project utilized a 

mixed methods research design to study 

county’s housing voucher ecosystem in 

Morris County, NJ.

Neighbors-in-Need CBPAR Project

Civic Engagement and 

Environmental Stewardship 
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• Created a Pilot Intervention Program

• Engaged multiple stakeholders: 

• Housing agencies (Family Promise, Mental Health Association of 

Essex and Morris County, Monarch Housing, Morris County Housing 

Authority), 

• Community-based organizations (Atlantic Health Systems and 

Madison Baptist Church)

• housing voucher recipients as community researchers

• Developed a Public Engagement Campaign 

• Communicate and educate state and local elected officials, 

property owners/managers, faith-based communities and 

grassroots organizations about our research findings and mobilize 

support

• Launched a Four-part Webinar series

• Design a digital curriculum toolkit about the 

CBPAR research approach

• Held Trainings led by CAT members

• Dissemination of Efforts

Grantee Program Accomplishments

Civic Engagement and 

Environmental Stewardship 
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Penn Loh

Senior Lecturer and Director of 

Community Practice

Tufts University Dept. of Urban & 

Environmental Policy & Planning

2018 Grantee (w/ Dudley Street 

Neighborhood Initiative)

Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI)

Civic Engagement and 

Environmental Stewardship 
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How can civic engagement strengthen 

community capacity for control over land 

use and economic development in 

Boston's Dudley neighborhood?

Since mid - 2017, DSNI and City of Boston have been collaboratively leading a 

planning process for redevelopment of key 

sites in Upham’s Corner, known as the 

Upham’s Corner Implementation process. 

The goal is to catalyze development of an 

arts and innovation district and create 

economic opportunities for existing 

residents while preventing displacement. 

The sites include the DSNI - owned former 

bank building, as well as the City - owned 

Strand Theater, a former Bank of America 

building acquired by the City to build a 

branch library, a municipal parking lot, 

and several privately owned sites 

adjacent to the Strand and Bank of 

America.

Grantee Program Accomplishments

Civic Engagement and 

Environmental Stewardship 
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• Supported DSNI in co - facilitating community 

planning process, with multi - stakeholder 

advisory group from 2018 - present.

• A team of 9 youth leaders conducted their 

own action research in summer 2019 to further 

build youth vision around the redevelopment 

of DSNI’s building.

• Conducted 18 key stakeholder interviews.

• Published a website with tools to orient new 

participants to the Upham’s Corner 

Implementation process: 

h ttps://sites.tufts.edu/uit / .

• Published in Shelterforce in September 2020: 

https://shelterforce.org/2020/09/28/planning -

a n - arts - district - with - art - and - fighting -

displacement - with - community/

• Supported DSNI’s developer selection process 

in spring 2021.

Civic Engagement and 

Environmental Stewardship 

Grantee Program Accomplishments
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Panelist Discussion and Q&A

Penn Loh, Ph.D.

Associate Chair/ Senior 

Lecturer

Director of the Master of 

Public Policy Program 

and Community 

Practice

Tufts University

Suzanne Pritzker, Ph.D.

Associate Dean for Academic 

Affairs and Associate Professor

University of Houston

Carlos Vazquez Rivera, 

Ph.D.

Social Community 

Psychologist 

University of Puerto Rico at 

Humacao

Jennifer Willett, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

University of Nevada, Reno

Civic Engagement and 

Environmental Stewardship 

Melissa Gouge, Ph.D.,

Research Analyst, 

Office of Research and 

Evaluation/ AmeriCorps 

NCCC

Sophia George

Student Researcher

Drew University

Franchesca

Cifuente, MS

Program Manager, 

Evaluator, & Researcher

Drew University, 

Sociology Department

Dr. Arthur Pressley

Associate Professor of 

Psychology & Religion

Drew University 

Theological School
Closing Statement

Tuesday, June 8, 2021 – Thursday, June 10, 2021

Civic Engagement as a Catalyst 

for Community Change: 

2021 Research Grantee Dialogue

19

Mary Hyde, Ph.D.

Director, 

Office of Research and Evaluation