Project Descriptions
| Cattywampus Puppet Council |
| Cattywampus Puppet Council (CPC) is a Knoxville-based nonprofit that uses celebration art, storytelling, and play as tools for community and individual resilience and transformation. CPC is partnering with the University of Tennessee for a second year to offer a second iteration of their Special Topics Community-Based Arts course. This course revolves around Cattywampus’s annual Giant Puppet Parade & Street Party and will once again provide UT students with an immersive experience in community-based art. Through both in-class studies and field work with K-12 public school students and community organizations at Cattywampus’s 10 afterschool Youth Art Residency sites, UT students will participate in a transformative dialogue and creative process that facilitates positive change and growth in neighborhoods, community organizations, and the social fabric of Knoxville. By making their Special Topics course a permanent spring semester-offering, CPC is continuing to foster equity and social justice throughout the entire K-16 public education system by bridging a traditionally compartmentalized and disconnected system. CPC is partnering again with Dr. Jason Brown (School of Art) and School of Art Graduate Teaching Associates to develop curriculum and document the project through photography, videography, and interviews. Cattywampus Executive and Artistic Director Rachel Milford is continuing to foster this partnership and co-lead the creative initiative at UT. |
| Centro Hispano de East Tennessee |
| Centro Hispano de East Tennessee is the leading resource for Knox County’s Latino community as an educational organization and cultural center. Centro Hispano promotes empowerment and vivid participation through education, workforce development, youth and family engagement, and community-strengthening initiatives. Centro Hispano is partnering with the University of Tennessee through CURCI for a second time to conduct a new project that will assess early childhood care and educational needs among Latino families in Knox County and evaluate the impacts and implementation of the Juntos Aprendemos Mejor (“Together we Learn Better”) program. Juntos Aprendemos Mejor is Centro Hispano’s adaptation of the Latino Family Literacy project which includes a curriculum developed for the parents of English learners to promote family engagement and early bilingual literacy. By partnering with Dr. Lori Caudle (Child and Family Studies) and UT student researchers, Centro Hispano will develop a more refined vision for the role their organization can play in the area of early childhood education for Latino families in the region. With the data collected from this project, Centro Hispano will push for Knox County Schools and other local school districts to consider offering a similar program model to all parents of English learners across the district. |
| Institute of Cooperative Learning |
| The Institute of Cooperative Learning (ICL) works to build the collective capacity of people living on the margin to shape their own destiny by bringing people experiencing social and economic challenges together to develop a shared analysis for collective actions leading to the establishment of cooperative social and economic enterprises. ICL is partnering with the University of Tennessee to advance cooperative social and economic ventures in Knoxville and Knox County through the establishment of a community land trust (CLT) that provides housing opportunities for those who are or who will be priced out of affordable housing in the city. ICL will work collectively with those experiencing housing insecurity and use a community organizing paradigm to collectively discover solutions to the problems they face. With the partnership of Dr. Jon Shefner (Sociology), ICL will train a small team from the affected population in participatory action research so that they can collect and document stories of people impacted by housing affordability. Additionally, ICL will hold facilitated listening sessions using a popular education approach. Through this research project, ICL will increase the affected group’s capacity to participate in the formation and operation of a CLT. |
| Compost Project with Various Partners |
| Dr. Chad Hellwinckel (Department of Agricultural Economics), has worked with the City of Knoxville on several pilot projects for expansion and management of compost facilities across the city. CURCI connected with Dr. Hellwinckel to support and pay for his work on a USDA grant to help with the purchase of supplies to build the infrastructure. Dr. Hellwinckel will act as a compost extension agent who would be available to the public, urban farms, and community gardens to advise on and help build and run successful composting systems. He will also would help construct the ASB systems, troubleshoot problems, communicate with people involved in parts of the project (recycling centers, restaurants, Americorps members, woodchip suppliers, urban farmers, citizens), and participate in discussions on the evolving strategies of handling organic wastes in the city, keeping them out of landfills, and into the most productive uses for the people of the region. The City won the USDA grant in January of 2023 and Dr. Hellwinckel will be committed to the project for two calendar years. CURCI is continuing to provide funds for Dr. Hellwinckel to work on the project by supporting his research salary for the second year of this project. |
| Knoxville HEART |
| Knoxville HEART (Healing East TN Alternative Response Team) was formed in 2020 by a group of community members, including behavioral health professionals and individuals with lived experience interacting with police, who recognized the need for alternatives to police-based responses to people in crisis. HEART has consulted with both CAHOOTS in Eugene, OR and Denver STAR to learn about working models of alternative response to advocate for the implementation of alternatives to policing here in Knoxville. HEART is partnering with the University of Tennessee to gather data on community needs and recommendations for alternative response programs. Working with Dr. Elizabeth Johnson (Counseling, Human Development, and Family Science), HEART will conduct multiple focus groups with community members, including service providers and individuals who have been directly impacted by emergency response services. To ensure that HEART’s core values around empowerment, community engagement, and integrity are reflected in the research process, the team will regularly consult with research experts and people with lived expertise on data collection protocols, interpretation of findings, and the development of recommendations. HEART will disseminate their findings to the community and provide a report on community needs and recommendations for local stakeholders. |
| East Tennessee Equality Council (Knox Pride) |
| East Tennessee Equality Council, commonly known as Knox Pride, maintains a LGBTQ+ community and outreach center and hosts events designed to educate, represent, and support the LGBTQ+ community in East Tennessee. Knox Pride is partnering with the University of Tennessee Psychological Clinic for a second year to continue their project to provide mental health support to LGBTQ+ youth and adults. Knox Pride was able to fund 3 months of therapy for 16 Knox Pride community members and full psychological evaluations for 11 Knox Pride community members in their first year project. Knox Pride will once again partner with Dr. Leticia Flores, director of the University of Tennessee Psychological Clinic, to grow the program. LGBTQ+-affirming licensed supervisors and Graduate students will continue to provide no-cost mental health services to LGBTQ+ community members. Additionally, Knox Pride will allocate some funding to train Knox Pride staff on things like risk assessment and crisis call management as well as provide more general mental health-focused training for community members on managing emotions and navigating problematic interpersonal interactions with family/others around sexual orientation and gender identity. Knox Pride will partner with UT graduate students to continue to develop and collect data on demographics, referral needs, and diagnostic pictures of Knox Pride clientele at the UT Psychological Clinic to bring them closer to their goal of enhancing mental health for the Knoxville LGBTQ+ community. |
| Knoxville Water and Energy for All |
| Knoxville Water and Energy for All (KWEA) is a utility justice organization serving those paying more than 10% of household income on utilities; >4% on water and >6% on energy within KUB’s service area with a mission to make utility services accessible and affordable to all and to end disconnections for customers with unaffordable bills. KWEA is partnering with the University of Tennessee for a second year to continue their Percentage of Income Payment Program (PIPP) that would bring down utility bills to no more than 10% of a household’s income for utility-burdened populations. Through CURCI funding, KWEA was able to distribute $7,000 toward paying participant’s utility bills during their first project year. KWEA is continuing to pay down bills on a monthly basis. KWEA will demonstrate the effectiveness and benefits of a PIPP program in reducing utility cost burdens for low-income households while also improving overall quality of life. By continuing this project, KWEA will inform the design of a program that could be adopted by KUB (and other utility management companies) as a desired solution for high shutoff rates that disproportionately impact Knoxville’s Black and Brown neighborhoods. |
| Little Chefs, Big Change |
| Little Chefs, Big Change (LCBC) brings fun, informative, hands-on programs to schools, camps, and communities to engage kids and their families in healthy cooking by teaching plant-centric, affordable recipes that kids like and that sustain the health of both people and the planet. Diet-related health problems cut through all sectors of the population – however, low-income people and Black people are disproportionately affected by diet-related disease. LCBC focuses on serving communities that historically lack access to fresh and healthy food choices to serve as a counter balance to existing unjust food systems. LCBC is partnering with the University of Tennessee for a second year to continue their research project that measures the effectiveness of the after school cooking program through qualitative and quantitative research. With support from year 1 CURCI funding, LCBC conducted program evaluation and preliminary research with students and parents/caregivers in our after-school cooking classes. Partnering with Dr. Sarah Colby (Department of Nutrition), LCBC will continue this research into their second year, including expanding data collection to more research sites, conducting ongoing data analysis, and producing a write-up, conference presentation, and an article for a peer-reviewed journal. LCBC’s findings will help both their program grow and similar programs succeed by providing evidence-based research on the success of after school cooking programs. |
| The Lotus Program |
| The Lotus Program is a maternal health, women’s health and reproductive justice brand that is committed to addressing women’s health through a holistic lens with a primary focus on maternal health, postpartum recovery, and womb support. Lotus serves all women and teen girls but places emphasis on women of color based on the United States’ maternal health disparities. Lotus’ research shows that Tennessee currently ranks 43rd in the nation for its level of maternal healthcare support and scored a D on its maternal health report card grade, with underserved communities across Tennessee being the most impacted. Lotus works to combat these issues by offering a range of services, including a holistic women’s wellness series, meal nourishment program, wraparound support resources, and free maternal healthcare services (doulacare). Lotus is partnering with the University of Tennessee to conduct research that will show program effectiveness to fortify how increased access to fresh nutritious foods and wraparound services through community-based comprehensive care can positively impact pregnancy outcomes, birth outcomes, and decrease maternal mortality. With UT support, Lotus will conduct research focus groups, entry and exit surveys. |
| Nourish Knoxville |
| Nourish Knoxville cultivates healthy communities by supporting relationships between local farmers, producers, and the public. Nourish works to address the core challenges related to local food availability and accessibility through four main program types: farmers markets, nutrition incentive program, food recovery and donation, and education. Nourish is partnering with the University of Tennessee to conduct research on their Nourish Kids program that aims to increase access to locally grown foods, empower children to make their own food choices, and create lasting positive relationships with farmers markets and seasonal produce. Partnering with Dr. Marsha Spence (Department of Nutrition), Nourish will conduct qualitative, quantitative, and longitudinal research with the goal of enhancing the effectiveness and reach of their program. Through their collaboration, Nourish will strengthen the evidence base for Nourish Kids and enhance its scalability and sustainability in a way that may inform policy and programming decisions aimed at improving children’s health outcomes and reducing disparities in access to nutritious food in the Knoxville community and beyond. |
| Rooted East Knoxville Collective |
| The Rooted East Knoxville Collective addresses food apartheid by restoring power back to the Black community through self-sufficiency, gardening, food education, and overall wellness. East Knoxville lacks access to produce and high quality food items due to historic, structural racism in housing, schooling, and employment that has led to poverty and a lack of corporate investment in the area. Rooted East seeks to recreate East Knoxville’s foodscape by establishing a self-sufficient and community-led food system. Rooted East is partnering with the University of Tennessee to implement Phase II of their Home Garden Program (HGP). Since the spring of 2023, Phase I of the HGP engaged 24 participants, providing a total of 28 garden beds, complete with soil, compost, and the labor needed to assemble and fill them. Through their collaboration with UT, Rooted East will include programming for past HGP members who wish to expand their home gardens and increase their level of education and understanding of growing food. Rooted East will conduct a cost analysis of the needs and asks of the community gardeners as well as a program evaluation/success metric evaluation to help create a replicable model that can be shared and used in other regions. |
| Shora Foundation |
| The Shora Foundation serves the East Knoxville community with a deep commitment to addressing the pressing needs and challenges faced by its residents. Shora is partnering with the University of Tennessee through CURCI for a second year to support their implementation of phase II of their mental health program, the Healing Pathways Clinic. Shora will continue to partner with UT’s Department of Psychology under the guidance of Dr. Jenn Bush to provide high quality trauma informed therapy sessions to disadvantaged youth. While Shora still focuses on youth in East Knoxville who face systemic challenges such as poverty, racism, violence, and other forms of adversity, phase II will see the Healing Pathways Clinic expand to serve the East Knoxville community at-large. The youth therapy component of the program will continue to provide weekly individual and group-based therapy sessions facilitated by trained therapists skilled in trauma-informed care. The project continues to employ a holistic approach, not only targeting youth but also involving their parents or caregivers in the healing process. With support for the expansion of services, including adding additional students and another supervisor, Shora will improve mental health, enhance coping mechanisms, increase resilience, and improve relationships in East Knoxville. |
| Statewide Organizing for Community Empowerment |
| Statewide Organizing Community eMpowerment (SOCM) is a democratically controlled, member-based organization founded in 1972 in the coal-fields of East TN by community residents who organized in response to the devastation caused by irresponsible strip mining practices. Since then, SOCM’s work has expanded through the formation of county-based chapters focused on the development of grassroots leaders who can vision, organize, and run effective campaigns to address issues impacting their lives. SOCM’s Knoxville Chapter is currently working on issues around housing justice and minimizing evictions. SOCM is partnering with the University of Tennessee through CURCI for a third year to evaluate the expanded council elements of the Knox County Eviction Prevention Program and produce a strong campaign for a county-wide Right to Counsel. SOCM will continue to work closely with Prof. Wendy Bach (College of Law), Dr. Solange Muñoz (Geography and Sustainability), and Dr. Stephanie Pierce (Political Science). Through their project, SOCM’s will, 1) determine the quantitative and qualitative effectiveness of the current program, 2) identify any shortcomings in the program’s implementation that hamper its effectiveness, 3) develop a proposal for implementation of a statutory Right to Counsel that would include a research-informed implementation plan, and 4) provide a pathway for participants in the Eviction Prevention Program to participate and take leadership of further campaigns to strengthen housing justice goals in Knox County. |
| Turn Up Knox |
| Turn Up Knox strives to interrupt cycles of gun violence in the Knoxville area by supporting, equipping, and empowering people to create safer and healthier communities. Since its creation in 2022, Turn Up Knox has served as a community-informed intervention program that reduces gun violence in Knoxville. Their programs focus on providing immediate intervention and support to individuals at high risk of involvement in violence, as well as offering long-term solutions through mentorship, counseling, and community engagement initiatives. Turn Up Knox is partnering with the University of Tennessee to establish a participant database that will aid in keeping track of services and participants’ progress. Turn Up Knox is partnering with Dr. Jasmine Coleman (Psychology) to examine 1) prevalence rates of basic descriptive and demographic variables for individuals served by Turn Up Knox, 2) rates of service utilization for community members, and 3) differences in risk and promotive factors for individuals who utilize services compared to individuals who do not utilize services. Turn Up Knox will use this data to better understand where they need to be focusing their violence reduction efforts. |