Community Learning Research Fellows Partner with 哈特福德 Organizations on Real-World Issues

博彩平台网址大全的学生 Community Learning Research Fellows program partner each year with local organizations to participate in hands-on, community-centric research work that goes beyond the classroom. 社区学习总监 艾丽卡克罗利 说, “The fellows apply their research skills to real-world issues that 哈特福德 community partners are working on. This program is for students with previous academic or co-curricular community engagement experience. 这让他们变得强壮, collaborative relationships with community partners and their faculty advisers, strengthen their research skills, and develop a publicly viewable web page to share their work with their partner and more broadly.”

Research fellows work independently or in groups on semester- or year-long partnerships. Community partners in the past have included non-profits, 政府机构, 教育机构, and neighborhood advocacy groups. This semester, fellows are working with the 哈特福德土地银行, CT妇女教育 & 法律宣传基金 (CWEALF) 幼儿CT办公室, 全民联盟，和 哈特福德 and West 哈特福德 public libraries. The students all attend a seminar every Friday w在这里 they learn research methods and the basics of conducting research. 在一周内,y do their own research in conjunction with their community partners and faculty advisers.

同学们，简·邓巴23岁, an urban studies and public policy and law double major, 和Sulemaan Khalid ' 23, an urban studies major and history minor, 以及他们的指导老师, Postdoctoral Fellow in Urban Studies 劳拉·德尔珈朵我是本学期的合作伙伴 哈特福德土地银行, a non-profit that stewards the rehabilitation of vacant, 被遗弃的, tax-delinquent, or distressed properties in the city. The students worked with Arunan Arulampalam, CEO of the 哈特福德土地银行, to get data about residential properties in 哈特福德: specifically, 地主, 它们有多少属性, 他们住在哪里，和 number of 住房 code complaints they received. 邓巴说, “T在这里 is a problem in urban areas across the country w在这里 out-of-state landlords are hands-off and aren’t active in making sure their properties are safe and up to date, so the research we are doing helps the 哈特福德土地银行 monitor 哈特福德 properties.”

哈立德说, “We’ve been focusing on residential properties and whether their landlords are in-state or out of state，和n the number of 住房 complaint violations received.”

Delgado说, “The work allows students to apply what they have studied in classes to a real-world issue, while also learning about and contributing to the impressive ongoing work of community-based organizations in 哈特福德.”

Professor of Educational Studies 杰克. 多尔蒂, who teaches the research fellows seminar this semester, 说, “I’m thrilled that Sulemaan and Jane agreed to partner with the 哈特福德土地银行. 在一起,y’re digging into City of 哈特福德 public data to better understand who owns apartment buildings in 哈特福德，和 relationship between out-of-state landlords and 住房 code complaints.”

All of the information about landlords and property exists in an open database online, so the fellows created tables to manipulate the data in Excel. They simultaneously were doing their own research about 地主 in 哈特福德 with data from the Secretary of the State and city officials. Based on the previous data and the fellows’ own data,y are able to provide the 哈特福德土地银行 with accurate numbers and information about 地主 in 哈特福德. Arulampalam说, “哈特福德 has the lowest homeownership rate in the State of Connecticut, and this data will elucidate the extent to which the inability of neighborhood residents to own their homes is driven by properties being acquired by outside investors. 最终, building on other research done by Trinity, it will also show how the ownership of properties matches up to the 住房 code violations on those properties.”

Regarding Dunbar and Khalid’s research, 克劳利补充道, “对于一些项目, 比如简和苏莱曼的, research is valuable not only to the partner that the fellows are working with, but also to other community organizations and Trinity student researchers focused on the same topic—in this case, 住房.”

在进行这项研究之后, Dunbar has developed an interest in pursuing a career revolving around policy, specifically 住房 policy in an urban area. 她说, “This has been a really meaningful experience, especially working with manipulating data in Excel, and making a connection with a community partner in 哈特福德.”

Khalid didn’t expect to pursue this course of study when coming to Trinity, 并欣赏有意义的, hands-on experiences he has had in the city. 他说, “These courses do a really good job at centering you with your environment, and making you really understand exactly w在这里 you are.”

To learn more about Community Learning opportunities at Trinity, click 在这里.