Affiliated Projects and Programs
These are long-term, fully staffed projects and programs at UROC that have been initiated and are led by Extension or other University departments. Some of these projects receive staff support from the UROC team.
Projects are coded according to the following UROC research areas:
* Economic & Community Development
^ Education & Lifelong Learning
≈ Health & Wellness
Analyzing patterns of gender-based violence in the lives of Somali refugee women across the migration trajectory≈
The goal of this School of Nursing-led study is to understand and describe experiences of gender-based violence (GBV) sampling across multiple points in the displacement, migration, and resettlement trajectory, including pre- and post-resettlement, and to explore structural and sociocultural factors associated with experiences of GBV and help-seeking behaviors.
UROC Research Area: Health & Wellness
Contact Lucy Mkandawire-Valhmu at [email protected] to learn more.
Assessing and understanding the impacts of experiencing racism in adolescence on cardiovascular disease risk markers in Twin Cities-based young adults≈
In this collaboration with the School of Public Health Project, participants are encouraged to understand how experiencing racism throughout early life impacts cardiovascular health in young adulthood.
UROC Research Area: Health & Wellness
Contact Hannah Cory at [email protected] to learn more.
Autonomic and Vascular Mechanisms of Cardiovascular Risk in Women with PTSD^≈
This Medical School project explores whether the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in premenopausal women leads to sympathetic and vascular dysfunction. The outcomes of this study will establish a line of research and treatment targets for cardiovascular disease risk in women living with chronic stress such as PTSD.
UROC Research Areas: Health & Wellness | Education & Lifelong Learning
Contact Ida Fonkoue at [email protected] to learn more.
Better Care for Black Men: Feasibility of mHealth to improve communication strategies for Black men with Type-2 Diabetes≈
Engaging men of color through a lens of trauma informed care may hold promise for improving care outcomes for them. This School of Public Health project’s goal is to work with community partners to design and pilot a trauma informed messaging strategy to increase health seeking behavior and improve health communication skills among men of color.
UROC Research Area: Health & Wellness
Contact Stuart W. Grande at [email protected] to learn more.
Blue Line Anti-Displacement Project*
The goal of this Center for Urban and Regional Affairs-led project is to incorporate community voices in the expansion of the Metro Transit’s light rail line in an effort to prevent displacement of vulnerable residents and business owners during construction.
UROC Research Area: Economic & Community Development
Contact Brittany Lewis at [email protected] to learn more.
Bridgers and Connectors: Networking for Anti-Racist Navigation in Education*
Bridgers and Connectors is a College of Education and Human Development research project intended to support early career educators and youth workers who are committed to liberatory practices by connecting them to pre-existing networks.
UROC Research Area: Economic & Community Development
Contact Abigail Rombalski at [email protected] to learn more.
Building Trust and Reducing the Burden of Stroke in African American Communities≈
This School of Nursing project’s goal is to work with community members on ways to inform the community on the risk of stroke among African Americans and ways to prevent it.
UROC Research Area: Health & Wellness
Learn more or contact Niloufar Hadidi at [email protected].
Center for Antiracism for Health Equity*^≈
Based at UROC, the University’s Center for Antiracism for Health Equity is working to understand the lived experiences of structural racism and its impact on health with the goal of informing policy and affecting systemic and structural change.
UROC Research Areas: Economic & Community Development | Health & Wellness | Education & Lifelong Learning
Learn more or contact Keelia Silvis at [email protected].
Collaborative for Immigrant and Refugee Children's Leadership and Excellence*^≈
The Collaborative for Immigrant and Refugee Children’s Leadership and Excellence (CIRCLE) project aims to provide trauma-responsive, culturally, and linguistically relevant mental health support to East African and Latine children, youth, and families in Minneapolis. The team will use an implementation science framework to assess the Trauma Systems Therapy for Refugees intervention within the Minneapolis service context, specifically attending to how the local ecology, social norms, and community culture impact the efficacy of the intervention with youth participants.
UROC Research Areas: Economic & Community Development | Health & Wellness | Education & Lifelong Learning
Learn more or contact Jasmine Banegas at [email protected].
Community-Scale Energy Storage Demonstration Project*^
With funding from LCCMR, the University of Minnesota-Institute on the Environment along with community project partners, have installed energy storage batteries on to PV solar arrays with the goal of demonstrating this new technology on a community scale.
UROC Research Areas: Economic & Community Development | Education & Lifelong Learning
Learn more or contact Melissa A. Kenney at [email protected].
Creative arts and mental health in adolescents/Creativity Camp^≈
The University’s Research in Adolescent Depression Team’s Imagination Central study focuses on creativity and well-being in adolescents with a focus on how engagement in the arts might be helpful for well-being in teenagers and the intersection of creativity and mental health in teens.
UROC Research Areas: Health & Wellness | Education & Lifelong Learning
Learn more or contact Katie Cullen at [email protected].
Effect of Breaking Up Sedentary Behavior on Vascular Function Among Older Adults with Type 2 Diabetes≈
The purpose of this School of Nursing study is to understand how interrupting or breaking up the time we spend sitting affects our cardiovascular health. This study is open to adults ages 60 and older with type 2 diabetes.
UROC Research Area: Health & Wellness
Contact Mary Whipple at [email protected] to learn more.
eHEAT Dataset-based Support Tool for Energy Assistance Implementation in Minnesota*
This Humphrey School of Public Affairs-led project aims to alleviate “energy burden” by implementing energy assistance programs to households in need. It will create tools for community-based organizations to identify needs, allocate scarce resources, implement effective outreach in networks of local actors, and provide support for the neediest families and communities.
UROC Research Area: Economic & Community Development
Learn more or contact Gabe Chan at [email protected].
Envision Communities Planning and Program Evaluation*≈
Envision Community addresses housing instability by empowering residents with lived experience of homelessness as designers, problem solvers and decision-makers to create a community where all people have what they need to live their healthiest lives. The project explores how to measure success and build an understanding of basic health outcomes related to intentional community.
UROC Research Areas: Economic & Community Development | Health & Wellness
Learn more or contact William Walsh at [email protected] or Stuart Grande at [email protected].
Exploring Fast Food Landscapes in North Minneapolis*≈
This project unpacks the legacies and contemporary impacts of fast-food outlets on the everyday lives of residents in North Minneapolis. It explores the ways Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities can reclaim their voices to assert political power after having been systematically disenfranchised from the food system.
UROC Research Areas: Economic & Community Development | Health & Wellness
Learn more or contact Fernando Burga at [email protected].
Healthy Youth Development Prevention Research Center≈
The project is dedicated to learning and implementing ways to reduce health disparities that exist among Minnesota's young people though promoting best practices, evaluating program effectiveness, improving policies and systems, building public support for young people, advising community-based organizations, and training educators, public health professionals, sexual health educators, health care practitioners, and youth workers.
UROC Research Area: Health & Wellness
Help-seeking among rural and urban American Indian and Black Women experiencing intimate partner violence during the COVID-19 pandemic in rural and urban Minnesota*^≈
Researchers at the School of Nursing seek to understand the unique health needs of American Indian and Black women across Minnesota who experienced intimate partner violence during the pandemic. This community engaged study helps address health disparities for American Indian and Black women by identifying and minimizing barriers to help seeking following an experience of intimate partner violence.
UROC Research Areas: Economic & Community Development | Health & Wellness | Education & Lifelong Learning
Contact Lucy Mkandawire-Valhmu at [email protected] to learn more.
Investing in North Minneapolis*^
The goal of this College of Design-led project is to develop urban grassroots designs for the future of North Minneapolis by having community members and interns from Northside Safety Net co-design with University School of Architecture graduate students.
UROC Research Areas: Economic & Community Development | Education & Lifelong Learning
Learn more or contact Julia W Robinson at [email protected].
LIFT Project*≈
The Leaders Invested in Fostering Trust project focuses on addressing the information and media needs of Black communities in the midwest by utilizing existing information networks and leverage trusted messengers. The project seeks to identify and fill communication gaps in these communities by connecting and networking trusted messengers and thought leaders within the community and within media institutions.
UROC Research Areas: Economic & Community Development | Health & Wellness
Learn more or contact Danielle Brown at [email protected].
Master Gardener Program*^≈
The University of Minnesota Extension Master Gardener Volunteer Program shares research-based horticultural knowledge and practices, cultivates diverse collaborations, supports project-based volunteer activities, and inspires change to promote healthy people, healthy communities, and a healthy planet.
UROC Research Areas: Economic & Community Development | Health & Wellness | Education & Lifelong Learning
Minnesota Youth Sex Trading (MYST) Project≈
The MYST Collaborative works with communities and youth to co-create actionable knowledge about sex trading, sexual exploitation, and trafficking. The team aims to surface the wisdom of lived experience, drive systems change, and promote wellness among youth.
UROC Research Area: Health & Wellness
Learn more or contact Montana Filotea at [email protected].
Modeling Effective Network Disruptions of Recruitment in Sex Trafficking Operation (MEND-R)≈
This School of Nursing-led project seeks to use the power of math modeling to understand how sex trafficking operations function so that we can identify better ways to disrupt and prevent trafficking. The project team includes survivors of trafficking, social service providers, qualitative researchers, and engineers.
UROC Research Area: Health & Wellness
Contact Lauren Martin at [email protected] to learn more.
Northside Houses of Worship Preservation Project*
This project contributes to capturing and disseminating the Jewish and African American history of the Northside by preserving three monumental religious buildings used by these groups with the long-term goal of getting the buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
UROC Research Area: Economic & Community Development
Partners4Pain≈
The Partners4Pain Project is a multi-faceted community-based research collaboration funded by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health through the HEAL initiative. The goals of the project are to increase access to evidence based non-drug and complementary and integrative health approaches to pain, and to help improve pain self-management and overall wellbeing for people with back pain who have been underrepresented and marginalized in research and healthcare.
UROC Research Area: Health & Wellness
Power of Story/Annual Signifying and Testifying Storytelling School Concerts*
The Black Storytellers Alliance sponsors free storytelling concerts for all schools, in addition to holding apprenticeship classes and hosting a public annual master storytellers festival.
UROC Research Area: Economic & Community Development
Project SHINE: Sleep Health Initiative for Equity≈
This School of Public Health, community-engaged research project works with faith-based organizations to address weight-related health disparities in African Americans by promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors and understanding sleep-related social factors. By working together, the research aims to improve sleep, overall well-being, and reduce health disparities, fostering a healthier and more empowered community.
UROC Research Area: Health & Wellness
Contact Ivan Wu at [email protected] to learn more.
Racial Identity Processing Groups: Addressing Implicit Bias among Early Childhood Educators^
This School of Social Work community-engaged project aims to analyze data collected from 100 white and black individuals who participated in Racial Identity Processing Groups (RIPGs). The study combines 25 - 30 hours of psychoeducation to process race related issues and equip individuals with the awareness, knowledge, and skills needed to begin to create systemic change.
UROC Research Area: Education & Lifelong Learnin
Contact Joan Blakey at [email protected] to learn more.
RCC Engagement with UROC and IT^
The University’s Research Cyberinfrastructure Champion Network is working with north Minneapolis community members to establish classes, engagement with youth for information technology (IT) services, and computers for the community. The team aims to create educational and job opportunities in multiple areas of IT, as well as senior computer support for the community.
UROC Research Area: Education & Lifelong Learnin
Learn more or contact Cory Foss at [email protected].
Ready Steady^≈
The goal of this popular School of Nursing-led wellness program and research project is to determine the types of motivational educational strategies that help people integrate more balance-challenging, leg-strengthening, and walking activities into their everyday lives.
UROC Research Areas: Health & Wellness | Education & Lifelong Learning
RIDGS Ethnic Studies Initiative^
The goal of this component of the Race, Indigeneity, Disability, Gender, and Sexuality (RIDGS) Ethnic Studies Initiative is to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the St. Paul Public Schools Ethnic Studies program in order to allow them to grow and improve, as well as to create a model for other school districts.
UROC Research Area: Education & Lifelong Learning
Learn more or contact Keith Mayes at [email protected].
Supporting Dementia Caregivers After Death≈
This School of Nursing-led, community engaged project aims to better understand, develop, evaluate, and disseminate technological tools and psychosocial resources that help caregivers and persons with dementia to thrive during and after the dementia caregiving process.
UROC Research Area: Health & Wellness
Learn more or contact Zachary Baker at [email protected].
The Minnesota Family Navigation Project≈
This School of Social Work’s Minnesota Family Navigation project aims to support communities in meeting the health and social care needs of children and families. The team’s work focuses on the development of individual, community, and system level interventions to promote health and social equity and prevent adverse childhood experiences.
UROC Research Area: Health & Wellness
Contact Jeff Waid at [email protected] to learn more.
The Office for Supplier Diversity^
The University’s Office for Supplier Diversity is focused on introducing BIPOC businesses to purchasing services managers, construction management coordinators and individuals with spending needs under $50,000 that do not require formal purchasing RFP processes.
UROC Research Area: Economic & Community Development
Learn more or contact Sharon Banks at [email protected].
The PARKS study*≈
The PARKS study is a partnership between the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, Saint Paul Parks and Recreation Department, and the University of Minnesota. Families with children ages 6-12 years old who live near one of the 20 study rec centers are eligible to participate.
UROC Research Areas: Economic & Community Development | Health & Wellness
Contact Simone French at [email protected] to learn more.
University of Minnesota Extension Financial Capability Programming*
This University of Minnesota Extension program seeks to develop resources and provide education about financial capability with individuals, families, and organizations.
UROC Research Area: Economic & Community Development
Learn more or contact Sharon Powell at [email protected].
University of Minnesota Medical School MPact Urban Community Health Course^≈
The Medical School’s Mpact Urban Community Health Course is a longitudinal course in which medical students will develop authentic relationships with community members impacted by health inequities. The team examines the structural inequities that most often harm Black and brown communities in Minnesota, as well as their role in these as future physicians.
UROC Research Areas: Health & Wellness | Education & Lifelong Learning
Learn more or contact Rachel Witt at [email protected] or Priya Sury at [email protected].
Voices of the Future: Linking Historical Trauma, Ambiguous Loss, and Financial Decision-Making Among African American Families*^≈
By providing education about, and openly discussing, the social, physical, and financial traumas experienced by African Americans, this University of Minnesota Extension-led team aims to alleviate the shame of, and self-blame for, financial stagnation.
UROC Research Areas: Economic & Community Development | Health & Wellness | Education & Lifelong Learning
Contact Tonia Brinston at [email protected] to learn more.
Wage$*
The Medical School’s Wage$ study team works to evaluate how the increase in the local minimum wage affects the health and wellness of Minneapolis minimum-wage workers over five years. This experiment involves two cities: Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Raleigh, North Carolina, and is funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
UROC Research Areas: Economic & Community Development | Health & Wellness
YoUthROC^
YoUthROC is a community and University-connected youth research team that supports the growth of Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) and is committed to youth, kinship, and racial justice in education. The team centers Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) youth and other marginalized communities. The program is affiliated with the College of Education and Human Development and UROC.
UROC Research Area: Education & Lifelong Learning