They were taken in Hai Phong, Vietnam, by youth participating in a month-long photovoice project facilitated by UofL students and faculty. The youth, aged 12-19 years old, have all lost parents to an HIV epidemic in Hai Phong. The project used photography and different forms of storytelling to help them explore themes they identified in their lives.Ģż

ā€œWhat was interesting to me was that we covered so many heavy subjects, but what showed through was the youthā€™s ideas related to their bright futures, social change and pride in what they and their families have been through and what Hai Phong has been through,ā€ said Lesley Harris, assistant professor at the Kent School of Social Work.

Harris worked with community organizations serving grandparents and youth affected by HIV in Hai Phong10 years ago through the nonprofits Save the Children and the HIV and Health Care Support Centre (HHCSC).

Hai Phong, a port city with a seafaring economy, is located in a high traffic area for opioids moving from Middle Eastern to Asian markets. The influx of drugs resulted in an HIV epidemic that has left a large generation of orphans.

Harris wanted to serve that population again, many of the children now grown into adolescents, using photovoice,Ā a participatory research methodology designed to empower small groups through photography and storytelling.

She teamed up with Marion Hambrick, associate professor in the College of ³ÉČĖÖ±²„ and Human Development, and Kyoungmee ā€œKateā€ Byun, who was a professor of interior design at Hite Art Institute, but now teaches at Northern Arizona University.

The trio was awarded a grant from UofLā€™s Cooperative Consortium for Transdisciplinary Social Justice Research. Ā Ā 

Last summer, they mounted a month-long camp for 25 kids in Hai Phong focusing on positive youth development. FourĀ graduate students assisted: Rebecka Bloomer, Sara Williams, Doroty Sato and Victory Osezua. The photovoice project was a large component of the camp.Ģż

ā€œIt became a much larger project than we anticipated,ā€ Harris said. ā€œBut it was very worthwhile. Beyond research and program development, it was bringing something to the community that was needed and appreciated and gave the kids a program to be a part of for the month of July,ā€ Harris said.

In the mornings, the team led activities in team building, goal setting and creative expression, which were informed by the youth development work of Williams and Bloomer, social work doctoral students. As the day progressed, the group focused on photovoice.

ā€œWe started with an introduction: What is photovoice, how you take and edit photos. We addressed safety, physical and emotional safety. Participants need to ask themselves, are you ready to revisit this place, or this difficult subject matter within your life?ā€ Harris said. Ā 

Pictures emerged from their everyday world, some of them gritty, real examples of the social ills their community and family faces, like bottles of booze in an alley or lines of powder on a mirror. Others are more introspective, like a girlā€™s down cast face and a picture of a toy.Ģż

The group discussed the photos and journaled about them. Together, they decided they ultimately wanted to use them to create educational videos and campaigns for residents of their city.

ā€œClassically photovoice projects engage political leaders and people of influence, but thatā€™s not really possible in Vietnam,ā€ Harris said, as the country is communist. ā€œWe had to allow them to lead with what they wanted, and what is possible and safe within their cultural context.ā€

Byun curated the photos and narratives for the exhibition on display at Hite through Feb. 6 called, ā€œ.ā€

Byun plans to mount the show again at the Asia Institute-Crane House in Old Louisville and at a gallery in South Korea, further exploring the design and presentation of the exhibition.

Chloe Scoggins and Laura Coleman, both seniors in interior design at UofL, are now working with Byun on a research paper born of the project: ā€œDoes the Physical Setting of an Exhibition Affect Audiencesā€™ Understanding of Narratives?ā€ The team has been invited to present that work at the Environmental Design Research Association conference this April in Tempe,Ā Arizona.

ā€œā€ is free and open to the public 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday through Feb. 6 in Hiteā€™s Schneider Hall galleries.

The University of Louisvilleā€™s and conducted the study, thanks to $50,000 from Louisville Metro. With a transdisciplinary research model that spans beyond traditional academia, CIK and CCTSJR provide infrastructure for researchers to find solutions Ā to complex social problems, recognizing that problem solving requires expertise from multiple disciplines in partnership with the community.ĢżĀ 

As a community, Louisville attempts to address homelessness in a coordinated and comprehensive manner, using data to identify gaps in services and streamlining the use of valuable community resources. In the past year, new property developments and attempts to enforce community safety have displaced homeless camps, leaving unsheltered individuals to collect on downtown streets and under overpasses.

In response, Mayor Fischerā€™s Homeless Encampment Task Force engaged researchers from CIK and CCTSJR to support their work with the following specific aims:

1. To determine national best practices to address street homelessness.
2. To provide an assessment of the existing service system for individuals experiencing homelessness in Louisville.
3. To perform a gap analysis between Louisvilleā€™s existing services and best practices, with recommendations on policies, practices and funding, to aid Louisville in progressing toward reducing the number of individuals who remain unsheltered.

The study recommendations are outlined below:

1. Expand and evolve homeless services. Ensure individuals experiencing a housing crisis have access to the single point of entry system at all times. Reinforce the Housing First model and trauma-informed care within the Continuum of Care, such that a centralized case management team provides the accompaniment needed to navigate a complex system, resolve barriers and move into and maintain a home.
2. Revise encampment policies. Expand policies to shift focus from clearing to providing needed services, including hygiene facilities and housing assistance. When clearances are required, ensure that campers not only receive notice of a clearing, but that they are required to be offered and assisted with storage and shelter options.
3. Offer multiple low-barrier shelters in locations throughout Jefferson County. To ensure everyone has access to shelter and feels safe, emergency shelters should be smaller, designed for specific subpopulations, meet Americans with Disabilites Act standards and offer a staff to guest ratio that supports trauma-informed care. Emergency shelters should be used as a touch-point to link guests with wraparound services.
4. Improve collaboration. Resolving homelessness requires the participation of everyone. Communication and collaboration among service providers and across sectors is imperative.
5. Housing and community development. Prioritize affordable housing in Louisville, especially to meet the needs of households with income below 30 percent Area Median Income ($25,100 for a family of four). As needed, revise zoning ordinances to achieve this.
6. Address root causes of homelessness beyond housing. Create policies to raise the minimum wage and revise policies that create barriers to employment and housing for individuals who have been in the criminal justice system.
7. Promote community education and engagement. Develop a comprehensive public awareness campaign that sets achievable goals, involves multi-sector participation and is aimed at multiple audiences (individuals experiencing or at risk of homelessness, advocates and service providers, and the general public).
8. Evaluate the outcomes of new policies and programs.

ā€œItā€™s critical to recognize that homelessness is a result of a system that perpetuates discrimination and creates poverty. This study reveals that we must strengthen the connectivity between services and providers, as well as across sectors, and employ an approach of accompaniment, whereby our community meets individuals where they are and walks with them on the journey to stability,ā€ said Susan Buchino, PhD, OTR/L, assistant professor, , and research study lead from UofLā€™sĀ CIKĀ andĀ CCTSJR.

Other UofL researchers include Catherine (Cate) Fosl, M.S.W., Ph.D., co-director of CCTSJR, director, Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research, and professor, Womenā€™s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Lora Haynes, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences; Kelly Kinahan, Ph.D., A.I.C.P., assistant professor, Department of Urban and Public Affairs; Diane Zero, M.Ed., CIK graduate research assistant and doctoral student; and Jamie Beard, administrative assistant, Anne Braden Institute.

ā€œWe are all aware that we have a homeless crisis in Louisville,ā€ said Natalie Harris, executive director of the Coalition for the Homeless. ā€œThis problem will only get worse through the proposed cuts to preventative services that are currently funded by Louisville Metro Government. We need the community to step up and demand that vital resources provided by the Office of Resilience and Community Services, the External Agency Funds and Neighborhood Development Funds are preserved and expanded using the guidance outlined for us in the University of Louisville report released this week.ā€

ā€œWe appreciate the hard work and collaboration among all of our partners, and especially the Coalition for the Homeless and University of Louisville,ā€ said Mayor Greg Fischer.Ģż ā€œIt will take a united community to address the complex issue of homelessness.ā€

Featured photo courtesy of .Ģż

Now, thanks to a fund established by incoming law Dean Colin Crawford, she has the chance to stretch her academic muscles in a new, collaborative way.

The Dean’s Faculty Development Fund, supported by Interim Provost Dale Billingsley, funds several types of faculty research projects, including those between law faculty and other University of Louisville faculty and/or experts at other institutions.

Levinson’s project focuses on worker-ownership and employment issues arising in cooperative businesses.

“Doing something interdisciplinary at UofL that’s research-focused is new for me,” Levinson says.Ģż“It’s hard, but it’s also quite interesting.”

She is working with:

• Dr. Michele Foster, Henry Heuser Jr. Endowed Chair for Urban ³ÉČĖÖ±²„ Partnerships andĀ Professor, College of ³ÉČĖÖ±²„ and Human Development
• Dr. Maurice Gattis, Assistant Professor,Ā Kent School of Social Work
• Dr. Bruce Kemelgor,Ā AssociateĀ Professor of Management, College of Business
• Dr. Lisa Markowitz,Ā AssociateĀ Professor, Anthropology
• Dr. Justin Mog,Ā Assistant to the Provost for Sustainability Initiatives, Louisville Food Co-op Initiative Governance and Membership (G&M) Committee member
• Professor Robin Harris, Brandeis School of Law Library
• Ryan Fenwick, attorney in private practiceĀ andĀ G&M Committee member
• Doug Lowry, Sowers of Justice, Louisville Food Co-op Initiative Steering Committee memberĀ andĀ G&M Committee member
• Tom Rutledge, member, Stoll Keenon Ogden
• Charles Booker, attorney, Louisville Independent Business Association (LIBA)
• Andrew Klump,Ā law student
• Sue Eng Ly,Ā law studentĀ 

The team is working with theĀ Louisville Association for Community Economics (LACE) to establish the Louisville Community Grocery, which would be incorporated as a food cooperative.Ģż

The project involves several aspects:

• Co-authoring with two law students an article about drafting bylaws for the co-op
• An assessment of the co-op’s proposed sites by MBA students
• Articles about the use of unpaid labor by consumer cooperatives
• An article byĀ Levinson about the labor law issues faced by those startingĀ union co-ops
• Ā (Professor Carmen Huertas-Noble,Ā founding director of the Community & Economic Development Clinic (CEDC) at CUNY School of Law)
• A trip to the Praxis Peace Institute Mondragon Seminar in Spain ā€” the world’s largest enterprise of worker-owned cooperatives

Foster,Ā Gattis,Ā Kemelgor,Ā Levinson,Ā Markowitz and Mog also are applying for a grant from UofL’sĀ .

If awarded, they plan to use the grant to fund research related to the use of unpaid labor by consumer cooperatives. They will study whether consumer-owners are considered employees, how co-ops have experienced owner-workers,Ā and how Louisville could benefit from such co-ops. They hope to publish their findings as a series of articles or a book.Ģż

Working with scholars from different disciplines has been aĀ rewarding challenge, Levinson says.

“It definitely seems like we have different languages and different approaches,” she says.

But the subject matter is one that Levinson has been writing about and studying since she was an undergrad. And although she’s never belonged to a food co-op herself,Ā “I’m interested in better working conditions and the law’s role in that.”

“I do think that cooperative economics and worker-owned co-operatives offer us a lot of opportunities to address the wealth disparities in our country,” she says.

Levinson is especially excited for the trip to Mondragon in May 2018. She hopes that experience will increase the project’s visibility, allow her to bring expertise back to Louisville and provide opportunities for further collaboration.

“I’m very grateful for the resources because it’s a challenge to complete large-scale research projects without funding and because it hasĀ opened doors me for to engage in transdisciplinary research with colleagues at the university ā€” and it’s given me the opportunity to study at Mondragon, the foremost worker-owned cooperative in the world,” Levinson says.

The Cooperative Consortium for Transdisciplinary Social Justice Researchā€™s inaugural Transdisciplinary Faculty Granteesā€™ Roundtable and Reception will be from 1-3 p.m. at the Brandeis School of Law, Room 175.

The consortium is led by co-principal investigators Cate Fosl, professor of women’s and gender studies, and director of the Anne Braden Institute for Social Justice Research in the College of Arts & Science, and Enid Trucios-Haynes, professor in the Brandeis School of Law and director of the Muhammad Ali Institute for Peace and Justice.

The program focuses on arts and humanities disciplines, entailing research not generated from a science lab, which makes it unique, according to Fosl and Trucios-Haynes. It also promotes the relatively new concept of ā€œtransdisciplinary,ā€ which Fosl describes as ā€œcross-pollinatingā€ research and expertise from a variety of disciplines (history and law, for example), and then adding in community partners outside of campus who have applied knowledge and expertise.

ā€œTogether, weā€™re seeking to find solutions to problems that are larger, more complicated than simply putting each of our disciplinesā€™ best knowledge to work, even jointly,ā€ Fosl said. ā€œFor us in the academy, itā€™s also a very intentional recognition that we donā€™t have all the answers and that we need community expertise and community practitioners. The ideas some of us merely think about are insufficient without that knowledge of practice.ā€

A call for proposals generated the first group of grantees, whose projects will be showcased at Mondayā€™s event. They include:

• ā€œElucidating the Stories of Wellbeing in the West Louisville Community: A Phenomenological Study,ā€ led by Meera Alagaraja, CEHD, with Dr. Lisa M. Hooper (CEHD) and Dr. Emma Sterrett-Hong (Kent School of Social Work), in partnership with the Park DuValle Community Health Center.
• ā€œMiddle-School Citizen Science Investigation of Global Climate Change: Developing Local Environmental Justice School Partnerships,ā€ led by Dr. Mary Brydon-Miller, CEHD, with Dr. Shira Rabin (Biology), Dr. Bronwyn Williams (English), in collaboration with Marion C. Moore Traditional Middle School (JCPS) and Four Winds Nature Institute.
• “What is Health?Ā  A Photovoice Project with Special Olympics Kentucky Athletes,” led by Dr. Priya Chandan, School of Medicine and School of Public Health and Information Sciences, with Kathleen Carter (CEHD) and Dr. Susan Buchino (Commonwealth Institute of Kentucky, SPHIS), in partnership with Special Olympics Kentucky.
• ā€œLGBTQ Adolescent Health in Louisville: An Approach to Identify and Assess Local Priorities,ā€ led by Dr. Ryan Combs, SPHIS, with Dr. Maurice Gattis (Kent School) and Dr. Amber Pendleton (Pediatrics), in partnership with the Louisville Youth Group and the JCPS LGBTQ Student Supports Subcommittee.
• ā€œMicroaggressions in Clinical Medicine,ā€ led by Dr. Lauren Freeman, Philosophy, with Jennifer Stephens (School of Medicine) and Dr. Dwayne Compton and Dr. David McIntosh (Office of Community Engagement and Diversity), in partnership with the Kentucky Health Justice Network.
• ā€œCivil Rights History in Kentucky,ā€ led by Dr. Lara Kelland and Dr. Daniel Vivian, History, with Dr. Stephen Schneider (English); Heather Fox and Carrie Daniels (Libraries: Archives and Special Collections), in partnership with the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage.
• ā€œExamining Stigma, Stress and HIV Care Utilization among African American Elders,ā€ led by Dr. Jelani Kerr, SPHIS, with Dr. Timothy Crawford (School of Nursing) and Dr. Lesley Harris (Kent School), in partnership with the House of Ruth.
• ā€œProject STAAR: Survivors of Trafficking Creating Art, Agency and Resilience,ā€ led by Dr. Jennifer Middleton, UofL Human Trafficking Research Initiative in the Kent School, with Dr. Maurice Gattis and Dr. Lesley Harris (Kent School), Dr. Theresa Hayden (Criminal Justice), Dr. Jennie Vavrousek, MD (Pediatric Forensic Fellow – School of Medicine), Dr. Zhixia (Richard) Li and Dr. Olfa Nasraoui (Speed School), in partnership with the Kristy Love Foundation.
• ā€œStrengths and Needs of the Louisville House Ball Community,ā€ led by Dr. Emma Sterrett-Hong, Kent School. with Dr. Kaila Story (Women and Gender Studies/Pan-African Studies), Dr. Ryan Combs (SPHIS) and Dr. Maurice Gattis (Kent School), in partnership with individuals from the Louisville House Ball Community.
• ā€œLearning how the Community Leads: Evaluating and Informing City-Based Participatory Engagement in West Louisville,ā€ led by Dr. Angela Storey, Anthropology, with Dr. Daniel DeCaro (Urban and Public Affairs/Psychology), Dr. David Johnson (SPHIS), Dr. Lauren Heberle (Sociology), in partnership with Louisville Metro Government (Dr. Allison Smith, PhD).
• ā€œā€˜Minds in Motionā€™ in a Spanish Immersion School,ā€ led by Dr. Daniela Terson de Paleville, CEHD, with Dr. Jason Immekus (CEHD) and Dr. Kristi King (CEHD), in partnership with JCPS.
• ā€œTransforming Learning Communities: A Multi-Year Project Supporting Teachers of Adolescents,ā€ led by Dr. Shelley Thomas, CEHD, with Dr. Shantel Crosby (Kent School) and Dr. Penny Howell (CEHD), in partnership with Westport Middle School, Seneca High School (JCPS), and the Kentucky Department of ³ÉČĖÖ±²„.
• ā€œBlack Men as Agents of Change in Childrenā€™s Literacy Success,ā€ led by Kathryn Whitmore, CEHD, with Dr. Ahmad Washington (CEHD) and Dr. Faye Jones (Office of Diversity and Inclusion, HSC), in partnership with Servonta.
• Housing Justice in Louisville Metro and Beyond, led by Dr. Lauren Heberle, Sociology and Center for Environmental Policy and Management, with Dr. Cate Fosl and Kelly Kinahan (Urban and Public Affairs), in partnership with the Metropolitan Housing Coalition (MHC).

Each of these teams will also include about 50 students involved as either research fellows, assistants or student scholar activists.

The program does require that research groups work with a community partner. Brainstorming sessions have been underway since last summer with a large group of faculty spanning numerous schools onĀ both the HSC and Belknap campuses.Ģż

ā€œItā€™s very positive and has been a morale booster. But we donā€™t want to lose sight of the importance of really getting at some of these compelling social problems that need justice-driven solutions,ā€ Fosl said. ā€œItā€™s not only about building something at the university. Itā€™s about building something at the university with the community that can move us all forward as a society.ā€

The Faculty Granteesā€™ Roundtable will be followed by a reception in the law schoolā€™s Cox Lounge. All faculty, students and staff are encouraged to attend to find out more about these research projects and how to become a part of the new social justice research community.

For more information or to RSVP, call 852-2371 or send an email.