Researcher

June 2017 Equity Lens :: Research Update

We at the CCC have steadfastly moved towards our mission of racial justice despite the challenges and aggressions of white supremacy and racism exacerbated under the Trump presidency. In 2017, the community-based participatory research project in Washington county has made progress in its efforts to consult with public entities to share and inform equitable data collection practices as well as partner with local nonprofits to share our principles of research justice and raise awareness of online data equity tools. In addition to the Washington county project, CCC's research justice efforts have taken a leadership role in co-founding the Portland United Against Hate Initiative with CCC members, community-based organizations and the City of Portland. 

Washington county research project: The steering committee outlined and proposed a resilience-based understanding of racial equity as well as a shift away from the ‘white savior complex’ of achieving racial equity through policymaking. At its core, the project seeks to understand the lived realities of communities of color, their experience with systemic oppression (both historical and contemporary), and reflect the strengths, resilience, and aspirations of communities of color. This project is rooted in equitable partnership and collaboration with impacted communities. Community leaders are playing an integral role in defining their priorities, articulating their experiences, and identifying strengths that can inform the research but also build the capacity of their community. Our inclusive, community-driven process is invaluable as it informs both the quantitative data analysis and the planned community specific conversations in Washington county over the summer. 

We have also formed partnerships and created initiatives with CCC members and organizations (both public and private) that share our research justice vision of racial equity and will work to implement similar efforts into their practices. In the immediate aftermath of the US presidential elections, the CCC joined a group of community organizations to create a short and long term response to the uptick in hate behavior against communities of color. Through this collaborative partnership, the CCC helped found the Portland United Against Hate (PUAH) initiative. The CCC research justice program leads the data response efforts of PUAH and is working collaboratively with partners to create a hate documentation process that serves an authoritative memory and evidence of racism driven hate in a seemingly progressive city. In addition to PUAH, the CCC is also a stakeholder in the Regional Equity Atlas and leverages that role in advocating for community-driven research agendas and equity driven data.

Aside from starting new projects to progress our racial justice mission, the CCC research program has also worked with public partners to ensure the continuity of past advocacy. So far this year, the CCC has completed their research consultation with West Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District and helped them create culturally appropriate, data collection surveys that assist in determining the extent of racial disparities in their jurisdiction. We have also commenced a consultation with Oregon Health Authority about the Race Ethnicity Language and Accessibility data collection standards, and have begun advising Portland State University (PSU) and Joint Office of Homeless Services on research methods to accurately capture the houselessness experiences of communities of color in Multnomah County. 

December 2016 Equity Lens :: Research End of Year Update

Research End of Year Update

The Coalition of Communities of Color (CCC) adopts a ‘research justice’ framework that centers communities of color as the experts of their lives and acknowledges their right to self-determine, their priorities, and their right to impart that as authoritative knowledge to policymakers and other audiences. This year the CCC hired a full-time researcher to lead our data and research strategy as well as implement culturally appropriate data and research projects that advance racial justice.

In the last nine months, the CCC has launched a multi-stakeholder community-based participatory research project into the lived realities of communities of color in Washington County. Also, the CCC is continually exploring collaborative and consultation opportunities focused on culturally appropriate and equitable data projects with institutions of higher education and local governments.

Click Here To Download Summary

Click Here To Download Summary

After the tremendous impact of CCC’s An Unsettling Profile research series in Multnomah County, we are leading the first comprehensive community-based research project about the state of racial equity in Washington County. We are seeking to shift common understandings of racial equity from a deficit framework of perceiving communities of color as victims to a strength-based approach that allows communities of color to identify their strengths and sources of resilience and re-frame racial disparities as repercussions of institutional racism that are barriers to their well-being. 

The CCC has also been invited to consult on data gathering and collection projects by Portland State University (PSU), Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS), Oregon Health Authority (OHA) and West Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District (WMSWCD). The CCC is on OHA’s ad-hoc Race, Ethnicity, Language And Disability (REALD) committee to ensure that state and county health datasets collect culturally appropriate data and that the great community advocacy that had led to the adoption of REALD is sustained. We are also working in collaboration with PSU to recommend the best methodologies to JOHS to identify homelessness among communities of color. Lastly, we are consulting with WMSWCD to assess racial disparities in their service provision. 

Looking forward to 2017, the CCC is committed to providing responsive and strategic research to advance racial justice advocacy and movement building with our communities, member organizations and outside partners.

For more information and questions, please contact Shweta Moorthy, Researcher, at: shweta@coalitioncommunitiescolor.org (503) 200-5722 Ext 555.