We are excited to announce that SSW PhD student Sommer Blair and SSW's Associate Dean for Research and Associate Professor Dr. Jaime Booth have both been selected for the Community Engaged Scholarship Project Development Cohort for their respective projects!
The Project Development Cohort is provided by the Office of Engagement and Community Affairs. Over four facilitated sessions, a cohort of project teams work together to refine and advance their project plans to ensure logistic feasibility, community relevance, scholarly rigor and social impact. Community partners were awarded $1600 as being a part of the PDC scholarship! Read below to learn more about Sommer and Dr. Booth's projects:
Bridging Currents: A Collaborative Approach to Racial Justice
Pitt Researcher: Sommer Blair
About Sommer: Sommer C. Blair, MSW, LISW-CP, is a doctoral student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work, mentored by Dr. James Huguley. She is the founder of the Parenting for Racial Equity Project (PREP), which aims to assist White parents in raising critically conscious, anti-racist children through an ethnic-racial socialization intervention grounded in a critical consciousness framework. Sommer’s research explores how Whiteness can be confronted through White racial socialization, identifying effective strategies for White individuals to become engaged co-conspirators with marginalized racial groups. Learn more
Collaborative Members: Dr. James Huguley (Advising)
Community Partner: Three Rivers Rowing Association
Urban Farm and Greengrocer: Creating Spaces for Community Building and Support
Pitt Researcher: Dr. Jaime Booth
About Dr. Booth: Associate Professor Jaime Booth is the PI of the SPIN Project, a NIDA funded project that seeks to understand youths' experiences of supportive and stressful spaces in their neighborhood, with the goal of designing interventions that will increase youths' engagement in supportive spaces. Dr. Booth’s research focuses on the role of context and identity in the stress process, the impact of differential stress experiences on health disparities and strives to identify protective factors that can be enhanced to mitigate these outcomes. Learn more
Community Partners: Freeman Family Farm and Greenhouse (Lisa Freeman, Pitt SW alum) and iGenerationYouth (Lori Cullen)