Past Events Sponsored by the Institute for Community Research

Find an event by year:

2007 |  2006  |  2005  |  2004  |  2003  |  2002  |  1990-2001

2006

December 12, 2006

HIV Forum to Focus on Housing Status and HIV Risk Among Active Drug Users 

December 9, 2006

Dinner, Discussion and Dance Event to Celebrate Peruvian Culture

December 2, 2006

La Peña Chilena: Two Chilean Cultural Activities in Hartford

December 1, 2006

ICR Executive Director Discusses AIDS Research Trends on NPR

In recognition of World AIDS Day, ICR Executive Director Margaret Weeks, Ph.D., appeared on National Public Radio’s program “Where We Live” on Friday, December 1, 2006. Dr. Weeks is an expert on women's issues, gender, substance abuse, AIDS prevention, and health, both in the U.S. and China. The conversation with host John Dankosky, executive director John Merz of the Connecticut AIDS Resource Coalition and reporter Tina Brown of the Hartford Courant focused on the stigma of HIV diagnosis and the lack of attention the disease receives now because of advances in treatment. Dr. Weeks also discussed her research on HIV among women in the United States, and female initiated prevention methods such as microbicides. Dr. Weeks is Principal Investigator of ICR projects Sustained Safer Behavior (Female Condom Use) in High-Risk Women to Prevent HIV, Microbicide Acceptability for HIV/STD Prevention Among Female Sex Workers in Southern China, and The Longitudinal Study of the RAP Peer Intervention for HIV Prevention. She has been working in HIV/AIDS prevention research since 1989.

November 30, 2006

ICR Researcher Presents Intervention to UConn Graduate Students

On Thursday, November 30, 2006, Dr. Sarah Diamond, Scientific Director of

ICR's Xperience Intervention Study, spoke at UConn, for the Center for

Health Intervention and Prevention (CHIP) lecture series. Her talk, entitled

"Use of Social Marketing, Branding and Interactive Voice Response

Technology in an Intervention with Urban Youth," presented findings from the

first year of the Xperience intervention study led by Dr. Jean J. Schensul (PI),

with the assistance of Rey Bermudez (Intervention Director) and Dr. Leslie Snyder (Co-PI and Director of UConn's Center for Health Communications and Marketing). Xperience Hartford is an intervention for Hartford area youth ages 14-20 that organizes live entertainment shows to encourage teens to avoid drugs.

November 14, 2006

Top 10 HIV Issues of 2006 Presented at November HIV Forum

November 11, 2006

War Survivors Tell Personal Stories at Veterans’ Day Forum

November 4, 2006

ICR Hosts Traditional Crafts Marketplace as Part of Hartford Open Studios Weekend

On Saturday, November 4, 2006 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., a variety of local artists from the communities represented in the exhibit Weavings of War: Fabrics of Memory sold their crafts and offered hands-on demonstrations. Master Hmong needlewoman Mai See Her demonstrated her sewing techniques, Peruvian dancer Cattya Cubas displayed and sold traditional artwork made by artisans from Peru, and Ukrainian illustrator Natasha Sazanova sold her whimsical drawings and watercolors. Visitors examined and purchased Hmong embroideries, including story cloths, pillowcases, reverse appliqué wall hangings, small embroidered items, and clothes. The marketplace was free and open to the public and was held at The Institute for Community Research (ICR), 2 Hartford Square West/ 146 Wyllys St, Suite 100 in Hartford. This event was part of Hartford Open Studios Weekend 2006.

October 27, 2006 to January 13, 2007

International Exhibit Weavings of War: Fabrics of Memory Arrives at ICR

Event Schedule

Images from the Exhibit (pdf)

September 21, 2006 to October 13, 2006

Lori Sikorski Exhibits “At Face Value” at The Institute for Community Research

Lori Sikorski, an artist who participated in the New Britain Urban Artists Initiative (UAI) between 1998-2001, has shown her work at UAI exhibits Living Spaces, 10 Cities/10 Years, Focus on Four, Fresh Perspectives, and Selected UAI Artists, as well as other locations throughout Connecticut. After completing the UAI program, Sikorski attended the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, where she is now a drawing instructor. The portrait artist exhibited her newest black and white drawings in the show “At Face Value” at the Jean J. Schensul Community Gallery at The Institute for Community Research, 2 Hartford Square West Suite 100, 146 Wyllys St, Hartford, CT, from September 21, 2006 to October 13, 2006. “These are people from my neighborhood in Brooklyn,” says Sikorski. “When drawing my subjects, I ask them to look directly at me, taking away as many cultural factors as I can, stripping the person down to the bare essentials, and then asking the question: Can we really take each other at face value?” A closing reception took place on Friday, October 13, 2006. Please call ICR Artistic Director Colleen Coleman at (860) 278-2044 x310 if you are interested in purchasing Sikorski's work.

At Face Value Gallery Page

October 10, 2006

Hartford Activist Discusses HIV and the Transgender Community

October 1, 2006

Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program Issues Call for Artists

The Southern New England Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program issued a call for master traditional artists in Connecticut, Rhode Island, or Massachusetts who want to teach their art form to an apprentice from their community or ethnic group, in one of the other states. Now in its ninth year, this innovative program is designed to foster the sharing of traditional (folk) artistic skills and cultural knowledge through the apprenticeship learning model of regular, intensive, one-on-one teaching by a master artist to a student/apprentice. The Program creates this opportunity specifically for individuals with a common heritage. The deadline for applications was October 1, 2006. For more information please contact Lynne Williamson, Director, Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program at (860) 278-2044 x251 or Lynne.Williamson@icrweb.org.

View Pictures from the 2005-6 Apprenticeship Program

Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program (CHAP)

September 2006

Researcher Presents Extensive Work with Older Adults around Connecticut

Kim Radda, RN, MA, has conducted extensive community-based research on the health and mental health of older adults. Kim is currently Project Director on V.I.P.: Vaccinate for Influenza Prevention, an intervention working with peer health advocates to increase flu vaccination rates among residents of senior housing in Hartford, CT. On September 14, Kim went to Cromwell, Connecticut with members of the resident peer health advocacy committee to present their work at the 2006 Connecticut Annual Influenza Update Conference. On September 22, 2006, Kim and Intervention Facilitator Elsie Vazquez presented the Project VIP at this month’s Research in Aging Rounds at the University of Connecticut Center on Aging. After discussing work on flu prevention, Kim and Statistician Emil Coman presented methods and results from Improving Access to Mental Health Services for Older Hartford Residents at the Institute of Living’s Continuing Medical Education Grand Rounds on October 4, 2006. This recently completed ICR study focuses on depression and anxiety and barriers to treatment in a multiethnic population of older adults.

September 2006

ICR Receives Supplement to Increase Female Condom Promotion among Primary Health Care Providers in Hartford

This summer, the United States National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded The Institute for Community Research (ICR) a grant entitled "Engaging Clinical Health Care Providers in Female Condom Promotion." Funded through the NIH's Office of AIDS Research, the supplemental project to Sustained Safer Behavior (Female Condom Use) Among High Risk Women will investigate the challenges that primary health care providers experience in educating their clients on HIV prevention. This formative research includes a survey of 100 providers and in depth interviews with 30, as well as focus groups conducted in four clinical settings. After identifying organizational, social/cultural, personal and other barriers, project staff will design components to an intervention that increases female condom acceptability among primary health care providers, so that they can in turn promote the female condom as an effective method of HIV/STI prevention to their patients.

September 14, 2006

Xperience Hartford Hosts Final Drug-Free Entertainment Show of the Summer

For the fourth time this summer, Xperience Hartford hosted a live show for youth ages 15-20 as part of an intervention research study that supports young people’s decision not to use drugs or alcohol. Xperience members who enroll in the study attended the performances and received promotional items with drug-prevention messages and prizes, while socializing with other peers who choose not to use drugs. The shows spotlighted local singers, rappers, poets, dancers, and more. “It just keeps getting better and better,” says Rey Bermudez, Intervention Director. “Each time I see the show I am just amazed by the talent.” The final performance for the summer took place on Thursday, September 14, 2006, at Christ Church Cathedral, 45 Church St. in Hartford. Doors opened at 5 pm and the show started at 5:30 pm. Anyone ages 15-20 who is not yet an Xperience member was invited to come to the show and enroll. For more information about Xperience Hartford please visit www.xperiencehartford.org or call Rey Bermudez at 860-278-2044 x262 or Sarah Diamond at 860-278-2044 x305.

ICR Founding Director Takes Writing Sabbatical at UCLA

Jean J. Schensul, Senior Scientist and Founding Director of ICR, spent the academic year 2006/7 at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), where she held the position of visiting professor, teaching ethnographic methods and action research in the Graduate School of Education and Information Sciences. Dr. Schensul continued her affiliation at ICR, where she has been working full time since leaving the position of directorship, using the time away as a writing sabbatical. Her writing focused on older adults and mental health, emerging urban adult life style and substance use, MDMA use among adolescents, and multilevel intervention science. Several ICR books are also in the works, including one on critical issues in collaborative community-based research with ICR staff, and a second on youth participatory action research with Marlene Berg. Dr. Schensul will also be revising the Ethnographer's Toolkit with Margaret LeCompte (U. Colorado, Boulder). She returns to ICR on a full time basis, in July 2007. Dr. Schensul can be reached at her email addresses: jschensu@aol.com, and jean.schensul@icrweb.org, and on her cell phone at 860-836-9507. 

September 12, 2006

HIV Forum: The HIV Epidemic in Connecticut Prisons

August 17, 2006

Xperience Hartford Holds Third Live Entertainment Show Downtown

Xperience Hartford held its third live entertainment show of the summer on Thursday, August 17, 2006 at Christ Church Cathedral, 45 Church St. in Hartford. Doors opened at 5 pm and the show started at 5:30 pm. Xperience Hartford is an intervention study that presents local artists at shows for youth (ages 15-20) in Greater Hartford who are non or low level drug users. By enrolling in the drug prevention study, Xperience members can attend the performances and receive prizes free of charge, while socializing with other young adults who choose not to use drugs. Anyone ages 15-20 who is not yet an Xperience member can come to the show and enroll. For more information about Xperience Hartford please visit www.xperiencehartford.org or call Rey Bermudez at 860-278-2044 x262 or Sarah Diamond at 860-278-2044 x305.

August 11, 2006

Summer Youth Research Institute Present Findings on Teen Stress

August 2006

American Anthropological Association Elects ICR Founding Director to Three-Year Post

Jean J. Schensul, Senior Scientist and Founding Director, ICR, has just been elected to a three year term on the Long Range Planning Committee of the American Anthropological Association (AAA). The American Anthropological Association is the largest organization representing the interests of American anthropologists in the U.S. and internationally, with over 11,000 members. A principal aim of the organization is to lead a coherent approach to advancing anthropology as a discipline and an applied profession, and to building the public visibility of the field. Dr. Schensul holds the designated applied anthropology slot on the committee, which also includes representatives of archeology, linguistics, cultural anthropology, physical anthropology, a minority representative, and the presidents, current and elect. The AAA Long-Range Planning Committee is responsible for developing and recommending long-range goals and three-year objectives to help guide governance, program, budget and fund-raising priorities for the Association. Dr. Schensul is a former president of the Council on Anthropology and Education, the educational division of the AAA, and the Society for Applied Anthropology, an independent organization representing applied and practicing anthropologists and their work.

July 24-28, 2006

Researchers Present "Alcohol, Sexual Risk and HIV in Mumbai, India" to National Conference

In a panel organized by Jeffrey Samet, M.D., entitled "International Perspectives on Alcohol and HIV" at the 29th Annual Meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism, July 24-28, 2006, in Baltimore, M.D., Jean J. Schensul presented a paper entitled "Alcohol Use, Sexual Scripts and HIV among Men in Mumbai, India." The panel, supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), was one of only a few such sessions at the conference accompanied by a simultaneous poster presentation of the paper contents. The paper/poster was based on an NIAAA-funded experimental study designed to discover links between alcohol consumption and HIV in the target population of vulnerable unmarried and married men in urban Mumbai. Contents included a review of research methodology, and preliminary results of GIS mapping, cognitive mapping, and indepth interviews with key informants and drinking men. Paper/poster co-authors included Drs S.K. Singh and Kamla Gupta, both senior faculty at ICR's partner institution, the International Institute for Population Sciences, Deonar, Mumbai, India, and Marlene Berg, M.U.P. all of whom presented the poster, and Ellen Cromley, Ph.D. of the Institute for Community Research. Dr. Gupta is the national coordinator of the 2006-7 National Family Health Survey, an all-India survey of health and the first to test for HIV in a representative national sample. Data for the paper/poster were collected by a team of 6 public health researchers hired by IIPS and trained by the U.S./India senior researchers. The study Alcohol, Sexual Risk and HIV Prevention in Mumbai, India uses an innovative mix of qualitative and quantitative research methods to examine the intersection of alcohol abuse and sexual risk taking in Mumbai to discover what pathways lead to increased risk of HIV infection. Formative data are in the process of being used to develop an intervention to combat HIV in India, which is now confronted with over 5.1 million HIV infections - more than in any other country in the world.

July 13, 2006

Local Youth Artists Perform in Downtown Hartford

Drug prevention study Xperience Hartford presented talented local rappers, poets, actors, dancers, and singers to perform on Thursday, July 13, 2006. Doors opened at 5:00 pm and the show started at 5:30 pm at Christ Church Cathedral, 45 Church St, Hartford. Any youth (ages 15-20) from Hartford who is a non or low level drug user is still eligible to become a member of the Xperience project, and may then attend a series of live entertainment shows for free. The July 13 performance was the second of five drug-free Xperience shows that took place in Hartford over the summer of 2006 and the spring of 2007. For more information please call Rey Bermudez at 860-278-2044 x262 or Sarah Diamond at 860-278-2044 x305.

June 2006

Hartford Teens Hired to Conduct Action Research For the Summer

Twenty Hartford teens have begun working at the Summer Youth Research Institute (SYRI) at The Institute for Community Research (ICR) in Hartford. During the six-week program, the Youth Researchers will choose an issue that affects them and their peers, learn social science research methods in order to collect information about their issue, analyze their data and explore how they can use their findings to effect positive change. In addition to Prevention Research Educators Chiedza Rodriguez and Damion Morgan, the teens this summer will work with two former Youth Researchers - Rashida Copes and Maritza Lopez. "It is very good to be back for another summer at ICR," says Rashida, a music major at Temple University. "It's exciting to have the opportunity to facilitate the program I was once in and evaluated." ICR has been conducting, supporting and promoting youth-led community-based participatory action research for over 15 years. SYRI is supported by Summer Youth Employment funding from Capital Workforce Partners and the Connecticut Department for Mental Health and Addiction Services.

June 16, 2006

Hartford Animation Institute Reception Presents Research on Youth Drug Use through Comic Art

View Panels

June 15, 2006

Xperience Hartford Hosts First Live Entertainment Show in Downtown Hartford

Xperience Hartford is holding a series of 5 live entertainment shows featuring rap, poetry, acting, singing, and dancing as part of a three-year drug prevention study aimed at supporting young adults decision not to use drugs. Xperience Hartford involves youth and researchers who work with local artists through the summer to build drug prevention messages into the live performances. The first show took place on Thursday, June 15, 2006, from 5-8 pm at Christ Church Cathedral, 45 Church Street, Downtown Hartford. Youth who enroll in the intervention can attend the next four entertainment shows in Hartford, all of which are free. Youth can sign up for the project anytime between June 15th and July 12, 2006. For more information about Xperience Hartford, including how to sign up, please visit www.xperiencehartford.org or contact Rey Bermudez at (860) 278-2044 x262 or Sarah Diamond at (860) 278-2044 x305.

June 13, 2006

HIV Forum: Nutritionist Presents Holistic Approach to HIV/AIDS

View Photos from the Forum

May 28, 2006

Laotian Food and Water Festival Bus Tour

May 4, 18, 25, 2006

Prison Arts: The Power To Transform Lives

Exhibit Opening Invitation (pdf) | Selected Images from the Exhibit

View Photos from this Event Series

May 10, 2006

Researchers Present Findings on Youth Drug Use to Medical Students

On Wednesday, May 10, 2006 at 12:00 pm, staff from The Institute for Community Research presented Rollin' and Dustin': Pathways to Urban Life Styles in the Academic Lobby of The University of Connecticut Health Center (UCHC). The exhibit, thirteen 3’ x 9’ panels produced by the Institute for Community Research (ICR) and the Hartford Animation Institute, depicts the results of a decade of ICR’s research on the lifestyles and drug use of young people in Hartford. The display panels focus on two drugs, “ecstasy” and "dust.” The panels use cartoon characters to tell the stories of youth and the effects of drugs on their lives and their communities. The project and the two studies on which it is based were funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. This event was sponsored by the UCHC chapters of the American Student Medical Association (AMSA), the Student National Medical Association (SNMA), Community-Based Education and the Center for Community Health Studies, Department of Community Medicine and Health Care. The panels next traveled to the Hartford Animation Institute, which hosted an opening reception on Friday, June 16, 2006, from 5-8 pm, at 1443 Main Street in Hartford. For information about the studies, contact J. Schensul at 860-278-2044; for more information about the exhibit, or to show the exhibit, contact Colleen Coleman, 860-278-2044, ext. 310.

View the exhibit: Rollin' and Dustin': Pathways to Urban Life Styles

Pathways to High Risk Drug Use among Urban Youth

Urban Lifestyles: Club Drugs, Resource Inequities and Health Risks in Urban Youth

Presentation: The Diffusion of Dust into the Northeast (2003)

May 9, 2006

HIV Forum: Methamphetamine Use Increases HIV Risk

April 28, 2006

ICR Prevention Research Educators Honored in Hartford and New Britain

Damion Sincere Morgan received an award as a Committed Adult to Children in Hartford (CATCH) from the City of Hartford's Department of Health and Human Services. Sincere is a Prevention Research Educator in ICR's Youth Action Research Institute. He was honored Friday, April 28, 2006 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Hartford. Along with Sincere, Youth Action Research Institute Coordinator Chiedza Rodriguez, Associate Director for Training Marlene Berg, and Central Connecticut State University Associate Professor of Anthropology Evelyn Newman-Phillips were also be honored by the New Britain Board of Education for a collaborative Participatory Action Research training project at Pulaski Middle School. The four were acknowledged at New Britain's Annual Public Recognition Night, on Monday, May 22, 2006, at 7:00 pm at New Britain High School. The awards celebrate individuals and organizations who have significantly contributed to schools and students in New Britain.

April 22, 2006

Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program Bus Tour: Finnish Culinary Adventure

Press Release: CHAP Bus Tours

Selected Photos of Featured Artists and Art Forms

April 11, 2006

Peer Health Advocates Take HIV Prevention to the Streets

April 2006

Drug Users and Researchers Work Together Against HIV

March 25, 2006

Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program Bus Tour: Tibetan Arts & Culture

Selected Photos of Featured Artists and Art Forms

Read more about this and other CHAP events

March 25, 2006

Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program and Manchester Community College Team Up to Explore Connecticut Ethnic Communities

New Intervention Study Seeks Artists to Promote Drug Prevention Among Connecticut Youth

Xperience Hartford is a new intervention study aiming to help Connecticut youth (ages 16-20) avoid marijuana, alcohol and ecstasy, particularly in club and party settings. The three-year project, which will sponsor live entertainment shows in Hartford, New Haven, and Bridgeport, is now recruiting artists to build drug prevention messages into their performances. The 150 youth who sign up to participate in the intervention can attend the shows in their city free of charge and will receive promotional materials with the Xperience logo and with prevention messages. This intervention is based on research from previous ICR studies Urban Lifestyles: Club Drugs, Resource Inequities and Health Risks in Urban Youth and Pathways to High Risk Drug Use among Urban Youth. For more information about Xperience Hartford, including information about how to sign up as a youth or an artist, please contact Rey Bermudez at (860) 278-2044 x262 or Sarah Diamond at (860) 278-2044 x305.

March 14, 2006

The Female Condom -- There¹s More than Meets the Eye

March 1, 2006

Teens Open Job Center at Weaver High School

February 26, 2006

AIDS Activist Presents Comic Art Posters Produced With Active Drug Users

On Monday, February 27, 2006, Francisco Ibáñez-Carrasco, Ph.D., visited The Institute for Community Research from Vancouver, Canada. Dr. Ibáñez-Carrasco is an AIDS activist, novelist, professor and community-based researcher. He led two workshops and discussed “Breaking the Cycle,” a project using comic art to raise awareness about challenges drug users face when they leave prison. Designed for community based researchers, activists, service providers, teachers, students, and artists who work in the field of HIV/AIDS, the workshops are part of the ongoing exhibit and event series “Rollin’ and Dustin’: Pathways to Urban Life Styles.”  The workshop took place from 6:30-8:00 pm. For more information please contact Colleen Coleman at (860) 278-2044 x310 or colleen.coleman@icrweb.org. 

February 16, 2006

The Institute for Community Research Presents Findings on Youth Drug Use Through Comic Art

February 14, 2006

STOPAIDS Mobile Theater Provides Interactive HIV Education Experience

January 2006

Award-Winning Curriculum Now Available on CD

Empowered Voices, ICR's award-winning participatory action research curriculum for girls, is now available on an interactive CD, which became available in January 2006.  A 5 year collaboration among ICR researchers and two after school programs in Hartford, CT, the Urban Women Against Substance Abuse project was the basis for the curriculum.  Funded by the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Empowered Voices helps girls to avoid risky behavior such as drug use and early sex by encouraging identity development, increasing mother-daughter communication, teaching research skills, and promoting community action.