Engaged Research Projects

A significant part of the work being done at UROC involves research centered on issues and challenges that face North Minneapolis residents coordinated by UROC staff. The research is conducted with the resources of the University and the knowledge and assets of the community 

Birth Justice Collaborative

UROC has joined with Minneapolis-based Collective Action Lab and the Minnesota Indian Women’s Resource Center, the Native American Community Clinic, and Liberty Community Church Northside Healing Space to launch an initiative aimed at improving maternal health outcomes and advancing birth justice related issues in Hennepin County.

Critical Conversations

UROC’s Critical Conversations is a series of public discussions about urban issues and ideas. It brings together scholars, activists, historians, artists, and community leaders as a "gathering place" for urban-focused research, dialogue, and cultural events.

Northside Job Creation Team

The Northside Job Creation Team set a goal of attracting 1,000 jobs to North Minneapolis by 2019. The team uses research to identify businesses that match the employee profile of North Minneapolis and develops partnerships to encourage businesses to relocate or expand here.

Rural Urban Connections: Opioids 

Composed of a collaboration of agencies and organizations from across Minnesota, UROC's Rural Urban Connections: Opioids project team is currently developing ways that communities in Minnesota can work together to address the opioid epidemic.  Rural, suburban, and urban communities share many of the same assets and challenges, even though the context and geography might be different.  The project will support the work currently being done in Minnesota communities.

UROC Research Agenda

Launched in September of 2020, the UROC Research Agenda is a framework for addressing themes that community members and University of Minnesota researchers and practitioners identified as being critical to a thriving North Minneapolis and Twin Cities urban core. The agenda and its companion RFP aim to stimulate and guide collaborative research and advance the University's public engagement agenda in three topic areas—individual and community healing; systems and systemic racism; and individual, family, and community financial well-being—while improving outcomes through robust, long-term University-community partnerships geared toward making meaningful change.