Civic and Community Engagement Commons^™

Umass Boston’S Partnerships With The Brazilian Immigrant Center & Dominican Development Center, Eduardo Siqueira, Natalicia Tracy, Rosalyn Negron, Tim Sieber

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

This partnership bridges the resources and knowledge of community members with those of an urban research university to influence policy and services that affect immigrant communities with the overall goal of promoting health, economic well-being, and culture.

The Anala Collaborative: Umass Boston’S Asian American, Native American, Latin@ And African Diaspora Institutes, Barbara Lewis, Carolyn Wong, Cedric Woods, Elena Stone

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The ANALA Collaborative is the newly-formed umbrella for the four UMass Boston racial and ethnic institutes. This year, with help from a team from the College of Management’s Emerging Leaders Program, we have come together to form ANALA in recognition of the area’s increasing racial and ethnic diversity and the need for majority-minority communities to work together toward common goals. While each of the four institutes will retain its separate identity and programs, we will also place greater emphasis on collaborative efforts in the service of our common mission and vision.

Indigenous Women, Mother Tongues, And Nation Building In New England: A Tribal Policy Leadership Series, Amy Den Ouden, Chris Bobel

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

In collaboration with the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project (WLRP), Indigenous women educators and leaders, the Dept. of Women’s and Gender Studies is redesigning WOST/WGS 270, Native American Women in North America, to incorporate a lecture series on nation building and a semester-long community engagement project fostering student leadership in a research and policy formation project focused on legislating and funding a Native American language education law in Massachusetts.

The Emancipated Century: A Staged Reading Series, Robert Lublin, Clifford Odle, Barbara Lewis

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A coordinated series of dramatic staged readings of the plays of August Wilson in theatres throughout greater Boston. This project aims to pay tribute to the 150th anniversary of the Emancipated Proclamation with a full presentation of August Wilson’s monumental 10-play cycle on African American life in each decade of the twentieth century. The accompanying Re-Visioning Tomorrow Forums explored ongoing themes in urban communities.

Latino Leadership Initiative (Lli), University Of Massachusetts Boston, Harvard Kennedy School Center For Public Leadership

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Purpose: To help develop a cadre of next generation leaders from and for the Latino(a) community. Participants: The LLI annually serves up to 50 of the nation’s most promising undergraduates with demonstrated interest in serving the Latino(a)community. Partner Schools: The partner schools are sending cohorts represented are Miami Dade College, UMass Boston, Texas A&M International University, University of California at Merced, University of Texas-Pan American, Loyola Marymount, City University of New York and the University of Houston. Objectives: To enhance the leadership capacity of students committed to serving the Latino community; To help participants form a strong and durable bond …

Working Conditions Of Brazilian Housecleaners In Massachusetts: A Joint Research Project Of The Umass Boston-Brazilian Immigrant Center Partnership, Tim Sieber, Natalicia Tracy, Eduardo Siqueira

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Research Questions: What are the working and living conditions of Brazilian housecleaners in the major Brazilian communities of Massachusetts? What working conditions do they perceive to be the most problematic in their work life?

A domestic worker is a person who works within their employer’s household. Domestic workers perform a variety of household services for an individual or family, from providing care for children and elderly dependents to cleaning and household maintenance, known as housekeeping. Globally there are over 52.6 million domestic workers, 2.5 million in the United States and over 100,000 in Massachusetts.

Domestic work is the most common …

Transnational Brazilian Project, C. Eduardo Siqueira

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Since 2012, the Transnational Brazilian Project has been successful in organizing a transnational network of faculty, students, and community leaders to promote collaborative research and service. UMass Boston students and faculty have conducted research in Brazil, volunteered at the Brazilian Immigrant Center (BIC), and several Brazilian students gained research experience at the Mauricio Gastón Institute. In addition, a number of public health faculty from Brazil have visited UMass Boston to discuss future research projects and collaborations.

Conversations Between Communities: Umass Boston Archaeology For And With The Nipmuc Nation & The Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation, Stephen A. Mrozowski, Stephen W. Silliman

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Community-engaged scholarship, learning, and service are becoming important parts of university missions, ensuring that academic projects do not just “take” but also give back in meaningful ways. For Native American communities and archaeologists who come from and work with them, this kind of research sensitivity and community accountability is fundamentally important. Archaeological projects with, by, and for Native American communities vary as much in their structures and goals as the communities themselves. In order to meet the desires and needs of each community, two archaeological field schools at UMass Boston – Hassanamesit Woods (Grafton, Massachusetts) and Eastern Pequot (North Stonington, …

Promoting Awareness, Dialogue, And Culturally Responsive Services, Cedric Woods

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The mission of the Institute for New England Native American Studies (INENAS) is to develop collaborative relationships, projects, and programs between Native American tribes of the New England region and all of the UMass campuses so that the tribes may participate in and benefit from university research, innovation, scholarship, and education. As the interests, needs, and demographics of Native New England shift, these changing priorities will be reflected in its programming, grant submissions, and outreach efforts.

Implementing A Community-Based Intervention For African American Mothers And Daughters, Teri Aronowitz, Nandini Sengupta

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Adolescents represent one of the fastest growing risk groups for HIV. Inner-city, minority youth are at highest risk because of concentration of HIV in inner-city areas, higher rates of STDs, and early sexual initiation. Mothers are the primary sex educator of daughters, and girls state their relationship with their mother was an important influence on their delaying sexual activity. With 70% of adolescent HIV seroconversions occurring among African American (AA) females, studies are urgently needed to enhance mother-daughter sexual communication. The purpose of this poster is to offer insights on the logistics of carrying out a manualized program.

Educational Engagement In Boston’S Vietnamese Community: Asian American Studies Program Student-Faculty-Alumni Engagement With Teachers, Students, And Families Of The Mather School (Bps) In Dorchester, Asian American Studies Program, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Mather Elementary School, Peter N. Kiang

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Founded in 1639, the Mather Elementary School in Dorchester is the oldest public elementary school in the US. In 2012, nearly 40% of Mather students were Vietnamese American from immigrant households. The Mather School’s Vietnamese Structured English Immersion (SEI) program is the largest in Boston. In 1993, Ngoc-lan (Loni) Nguyen, a Vietnamese refugee student in education and Asian American Studies at UMass Boston, was hired as a 4th grade bilingual teacher. Many of Lan’s students later attended UMass Boston where they reconnected educationally with the importance of Vietnamese American identity, community, and empowerment in AsAmSt courses. In 2007, Lan visited …

Asian American Studies Program: Community-Centered Commitments And Pathways In The Asamst Curriculum, Asian American Studies Program, University Of Massachusetts Boston

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UMass Boston offers the most Asian American Studies courses, faculty, and community linkages of any university in New England. Through culturally-responsive instruction in the classroom and holistic practices of mentoring, community-building, service-learning, and advocacy, we address the social and academic needs of students as well as the critical capacity-building needs of local Asian American communities. Our alumni include teachers, social workers, health care providers, business entrepreneurs, and leaders of local Asian American community organizations where we sustain vital, long-term partnerships.

Honoring Mt. Hope Cemetery’S Chinese Burial Grounds: Asian American Studies Program With The Coalition For Asian Pacific American Youth (Capay) And The Chinese Historical Society Of New England (Chsne), Asian American Studies Program, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Chinese Historical Society Of New England

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Honoring the Chinese burial grounds of Boston’s Mt. Hope Cemetery has been the signature focus of the Chinese Historical Society of New England (CHSNE) for two decades. Throughout that time, students from the Asian American Studies Program and the Coalition for Asian Pacific American Youth (CAPAY) at UMass Boston have been deeply involved with service-learning, documentation, and education projects to connect younger generations with the site’s historical importance and contemporary meaning.

Eastern Pequot Archaeological Field School, 2003 - 2013, Stephen W. Silliman

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The Eastern Pequot Archaeological Field School began in 2003 as a cooperative effort between Anthropology Professor Stephen Silliman and the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation, a Native American community in southeastern Connecticut. It uses a six-credit summer archaeological field course to achieve four objectives set within a model of community-engaged scholarship.

Beacon Voyages For Service: 2013 Alternative Spring Break Trip To The Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota, Sherrod Williams

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This March, fourteen UMass Boston students traveled to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota to address the pressing issues of poverty faced by the Oglala Lakota people by assisting in construction efforts such as repairing stairwells, building children’s bunk beds, and installing protective skirting around mobile homes to help increase the overall quality of life on the reservation. In conjunction with the service work, special attention was placed on fostering relationships and participating in a cultural exchange with the Oglala Lakota community that has created awareness about the tribulations faced by the United States of America’s most disadvantaged …

Highlights And Impacts: 2012 Naisa Conference & Other Events, J. Cedric Woods, Institute For New England Native American Studies, University Of Massachusetts Boston

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The Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) is the premier organization for scholars in Native and Indigenous Studies, representing numerous indigenous peoples and their non-indigenous allies. The Institute for New England Native American Studies (INENAS) played a key role in planning 2012 conference, with Director Cedric Woods serving as co-chair of Executive Host Committee.

Culturally Relevant Resources To Meet The Changing Priorities Of Tribal Communities, J. Cedric Woods, Institute For New England Native American Studies, University Of Massachusetts Boston

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The mission of INENAS is to develop collaborative relationships, projects, and programs between Native American tribes of the New England region and all of the UMass campuses so that the tribes may participate in and benefit from university research, innovation, scholarship, and education. As the interests, needs, and demographics of Native New England shift, these changing priorities will be reflected in its programming, grant submissions, and outreach efforts.

Native Tribal Scholars; Strengthening Families-Grandparents Raising Grandchildren; Native American And Indigenous Studies Annual Conference 2012, Cedric Woods, Institute For New England Native American Studies, University Of Massachusetts Boston

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Native Tribal Scholars is a pre-collegiate initiative developed and run as a collaboration between the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, the North American Indian Center of Boston, and UMass Boston (Institute for New England Native American Studies and Academic Support Services). Native youth in grades 8-12 consistently lag behind their non-Native peers on many key academic indicators contributing to fewer Native high school students adequately prepared for college. The goal of this initiative is to provide academic support to Native American youth in these age groups. This is a Massachusetts based summer residential program that focuses on teaching science, math and writing …

Eastern Pequot Archaeological Field School, Steven Silliman

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This project assists with locating historical cultural sites on Eastern Pequot reservation established in A.D 1683, and providing historical preservation and archaeological services at low to no cost to this Native American community. This project also trains undergraduate and graduate students from UMass Boston and other institutions and tribal community interns in archaeological techniques, heritage preservation, Native American history, colonial studies and collaborative research methods. It aims to improve archaeological fieldwork and interpretations as part of a deeply collaborative relationship, and also study Eastern Pequot house sites, using artifacts, animal bones , plant remains, architecture, landscape historical documents and oral …