Loyola University Chicago
Here you will find all of CURL's research projects and publications.
The Center for Urban Research and Learning (CURL) collaborated with The Sargent Shriver National Center for Poverty Law (Shriver Center) to collect stories from parents and early childhood education providers to better understand their perspectives and experience of publicly funded early childhood services in the state of Illinois.
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Chicago Foundation for Women (CFW), Voices for Illinois Children, and Loyola University Chicago's Center for Urban Research and Learning (CURL) have released a new report on the impact of Illinois' two-year budget impasse and, more specifically, its impact on women and children. The report, entitled Damage Done: The Impact of the Illinois Budget Stalemate on Women and Children, was a joint project of the three groups.
CURL is performing research and evaluation for HEART Women & Girls’ 2017 initiative. The initiative is composed of a series of trainings for Muslim college students and student leaders on up to five college campuses. The students will come together to understand sexual violence, learn how to support victims, and develop victim-centric approaches, polices, and best practices that address and prevent sexual violence in student organizations.
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The Greater Roseland West Pullman Food Network (GRWP) is developing a sustainable model to address food insecurity in the Roseland and West Pullman communities, with the Greater Roseland Sustainability Initiative (GRSI). The GRSI is a collaboration between community, university, and business partners utilizing urban agriculture and social enterprise to increase access to fresh produce, improve STEM skills, and prepare youth for a “green collar” economy.
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Chicago's Fifth House Ensemble (5HE) partners with local non-profits to offer music education residencies to vulnerable populations throughout the city. Recent residencies include Teen Living Programs, a homeless youth services provider; Deborah's Place, homeless women services provider; and Nancy B. Jefferson Alternative High School, an alternative school located within the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. The Center for Urban Research and Learning (CURL) and Brian L. Kelly of Loyola University Chicago, School of Social Work, are working together to evaluate the benefits of these residencies, by measuring their effects on participants' mental health, professional skills, engagement with the community, and other dimensions of social and personal life.
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Chicago Public Schools launched the Global Citizenship Initiative (GCI) in 2012-2013. GCI provides rigorous curriculum aligned with high standards, supports high quality pedagogy that meets the needs of diverse learners and reflects best practices in civic education, and generates multiple external learning opportunities throughout the city of Chicago.
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CURL started an evaluation partnership with Community Organizing and Family Issues (COFI) focusing on their recently awarded multi-year grant from the Kellogg Foundation. The process evaluation examines the implementation of COFI’s parent leadership program - Family Focused Organizing - in four Illinois communities that are building collaborations to improve access to and quality of early learning programs. Family Focused Organizing develops parents as leaders in their communities so they may advocate on behalf of themselves, their families, and their communities.
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Alternatives, Inc. and Howard Area Community Center will partner to provide an intensive, coordinated, and trauma informed community approach to working with high-risk youth and young adults (up to age 24) who have been detained at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC) and/or have been adjudicated to an Illinois Youth Center/IDOC placement and are now re-entering their communities. CURL will help evaluate the success of the program.
Read MoreThe purpose of this proposed research is to develop specific strategies for using whole school climate prevention to support the morale of staff when experiencing unexpected change which increases teacher’s stress and may have a negative impact on student’s learning. These findings will be the result of a mixed method study of an urban middle school that was targeted for downsizing in a large urban district and is now implementing school-wide prevention for behavior problems.
Read MoreThis project focuses on identify formation of students in a Chicago public high school that has a formal partnership with a community organization through the Full Service Community Schools Initiative.
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