Institute for Community Research

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Health and Mental Health
Education
Arts and Culture
International

NEW!
Urban Women Against Substance Abuse (UWASA), a past project of the Institute for Community Research (1996-2001), has been recognized by the Western Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies (CAPT), the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) as a "Promising Program" for substance abuse prevention. The project also resulted in a curriculum, "Empowered Voices: A Participatory Action Research Curriculum for Girls" that can be used by other organizations and institutions.

Health and Mental Health

Encontrando el Poder Dentro de Tí (EPDT)
U1SPO8813A 10/01/99 - 9/30/01
The goals of this two-year project are to increase the capacity of Hartford's Latino community to deliver best practices in effective parenting and family programs in order to reduce or prevent substance abuse and to disseminate this knowledge for national use. Specifically, the project will identify and document key elements associated with community readiness to select, adapt, and implement proven family strengthening models designed to reduce substance abuse risk factors and increase resiliency factors in Puerto Rican/Latino families with preschool age children in two, low-income densely populated Hartford neighborhoods. Using an action research approach to assess needs, the project will select and modify a proven family strengthening model and then implement and evaluate the adapted intervention. The project is a collaboration between the Institute for Community Research and El Centro de Desarrollo y Reafirmacion Familiar (El Centro), a Puerto Rican/Latino family resource center of the Institute for the Hispanic Family. Funding is by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention.

Education

Building Preventive Group Norms in Urban Middle Schools
1R01 DA12015-01 9/01/99 - 1/31/04
This four-year study will develop and test a substance abuse and sexual risk prevention intervention based on the integration of social construction theory and cooperative learning instructional techniques with 6th and 7th grade middle school students in an urban Connecticut school district. The first year of the study involves rewriting and pilot testing an existing curriculum based on self-control and problem solving, with a small number of classrooms. The second, third, and fourth years will involve introducing the curriculum to 6th and 7th grade teachers, providing ongoing training, consultation, and technical assistance, and assessing the process of implementation. Study outcomes will be measured using the Social and Health Assessment Instrument currently used to measure changes in social development and risk behavior in the school district. The project is a joint effort of the Institute for Community Research, the New Haven Public Schools Social Development Office, Yale University, and the University of Massachusetts. A supplement considers the relative efficacy of social problem solving and social construction approaches for reproductive health and HIV prevention instruction at the sixth grade level. Both studies are funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Building Ethical Communities through Service-Learning
9/30/00 - 6/30/01
The primary goal of this project is to promote ethical, civic and academic growth in Connecticut students using the strategy of service learning. Youth from the Institute for Community Research's National Teen Action Research Center (NTARC) will participate in a service-learning workshop hosted by the Albert Schweitzer Institute and The School for Ethical Education. During the workshop the NTARC team will develop an action plan for a service learning project to be completed over the course of the school year.

Education and Advocacy Project
7/01/00 - 6/30/01 This one-year project, a program of the Institute's National Teen Action Research Center, seeks to enhance and improve teaching and learning through student action research. The project is being pilot-tested in 5th and 6th grade classrooms in four Connecticut school districts (Hartford, Middletown, New Haven, and Windham). Nine teachers are integrating student-driven action research using cooperative learning methods into core curricular activities. Following a one-week summer teacher training institute, staff from the Institute for Community Research work with the schools, principals, and teachers to implement the project. Funding is by the William Graustein Memorial Fund.

Evaluating the National Teen Action Research Prevention Training Program
(National Teen Action Research Center)
Contract #83600 7/01/00 - 6/01/02
This two-year project is designed to evaluate the process and outcomes of conducting action research for prevention with teenagers between the ages of 13 and 19. The project, carried out by adult and youth staff of the Institute for Community Research's National Teen Action Research (NTARC) Center, will assess the efficacy of training youth to conduct their own research on issues of importance to them, and design activities including education and advocacy intended to address these issues in their schools and communities. The program will be assessed in four school communities in the state of Connecticut. Teens trained through the NTARC summer youth research institute will work with other teens in target communities over a yearlong period to develop action research programs on prevention related topics. The program will be evaluated using a pre-post quasi-experimental control group design. Funding is by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention through the Connecticut State Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.

The Sexual Minority Youth Project (National Teen Action Research Center)
Contract #83600 10/01/99 - 11/30/02
This three-year project will use action research with sexual minority youth and their allies to develop and support program and policy changes in four communities around the state of Connecticut. Youth will be recruited and trained by staff of the National Teen Action Research Center in issues of identity, relationships, communications skills, and action research methods. They will develop their own short and long term action plans, and will train other lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual and questioning (LGTBQ) youth and their allies in gay-straight alliances and other locations to develop action research efforts designed to improve learning and social environments for other LGTBQ youth. The project's advisory committee includes representatives of prominent state and national organizations promoting safety and supports for LGTBQ youth. The project fills a unique gap in work with LGTBQ youth and is funded through the Governor's Prevention Initiative for Youth, State Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. An initial grant was from the Gill Foundation.

Arts and Culture

Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Archive Management Project
7/01/00 - 6/30/01
The project will assess documentation materials such as photographs, oral history recordings, and print information collected during ten years of fieldwork research by the Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program of the Institute for Community Research. Appropriate strategies for organization and storage of materials will be designed, and ideas for public programming using the archive materials will be developed. Funding is by the Connecticut Humanities Council.

Polish Traditional Arts in Connecticut
7/01/00 - 4/30/01
This is a fieldwork and exhibition project with Connecticut's large Polish community. The exhibit will explore some of the ways that Polish-Americans preserve and practice traditions from their homeland, through the creation and use of handmade art forms. The project is a partnership between the Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program and the Polish Studies Department at Central CT State University. Support is by the Connecticut Commission on the Arts and the Roberts Foundation.

Southeast Asian Traditional Arts After-School Program
9/01/00 - 8/31/01
Cambodian, Hmong, and Laotian artists from the Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program are leading classes in traditional music, song, dance, and language for Connecticut high school students and other members of their communities. Project partners are Khmer Health Advocates of Hartford, the Lao Saturday School of New Britain, and the Hmong Foundation of Connecticut. Funding is by the National Endowment for the Arts' initiative, Creative Links: Positive Alternatives for Youth.

Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program Infrastructure Grant
4/01/00 - 3/31/01
This one-year grant supports the ongoing work of the ten-year old Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program. The award includes partial salary costs as well as support for essential basic program activities such as archiving, fieldwork, and development o educational services. Funding is by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program
7/01/00 - 6/30/01
This program brings together master traditional artists and apprentices from Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. These three states share many communities with a common history of immigration and occupation, and the program connects artists from the same ethnic or occupational group in one state with a teacher or apprentice in one of the other states. The Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program manages the apprenticeships in partnership with the Folk Arts Programs of the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. This program, now in its third year, is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program Organizational Challenge Grant
7/01/00 - 6/30/01
This one-year grant supports the work of the Institute for Community Research's statewide folk and traditional arts program, especially its activities which expand the participation of artists in underserved or overlooked communities. Funding is by the Connecticut Commission on the Arts.

International