Project Descriptions
| Centro Hispano de East Tennessee |
| Centro Hispano de East Tennessee is the leading resource for East Tennessee’s Latino community and for East Tennessee regarding the Latino community. Centro promotes empowerment and civic participation through education, workforce development, youth and family engagement, and community-strengthening initiatives. Centro Hispano partnered with Dr. Meghan Conley (Department of Sociology) on a migrant stories project to document and share stories of the diverse experiences of Latinx immigrants in Knoxville, using community participatory research methods that rely on collaboration between members of the community and UTK students. Centro Hispano worked with Dr. Conley’s Spring 2023 participatory action research class to train community leaders and UTK students to conduct oral history interviews with Latinx immigrants and children of immigrants about their lives and experiences – including experiences in countries of origin, in migration, and in Knoxville. These oral history interviews were reproduced in a book that features art and photography created by community members. Segments of the oral history interviews were also documented through video clips. Centro Hispano used these stories in outreach to promote awareness of the diversity of immigrant experiences, as told through their own voices, and to increase visibility of Latinx community members in Knoxville. The goals of this project were: to increase awareness of the depth and breadth of Latinx immigrant experiences in Knoxville; to train community members in participatory research methods to tell their own stories; and to document these stories in book and video form for distribution to the broader public, in support of Centro’s outreach efforts |
| Community Defense of East Tennessee |
| Community Defense of East Tennessee (CDET) is a grassroots, community-based organization focused on the education, liberation, support, and empowerment of people by challenging mass incarceration and disparities within the (in)justice system and its effects. CDET also creates strategic campaigns driven by families impacted by the system. CDET partnered with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville through CURCI to work on two ongoing projects: 1. Bail Project, an ongoing research and analysis project on the bail system in Knox County with Dr. Joy Radice (College of Law and UT Law Clinic). For this portion of the project, CDET hired a community fellow who attended, researched, and analyzed bail hearings and wrote a collaborative report on their findings with members of the UT Law School. 2. The Law, Public Safety, Conflict Resolution, and Restorative Justice Alternative Project, an alternative restorative justice curriculum for Knox County School System with Dr. Michelle Brown (Department of Sociology). For this portion of the project, CDET hired a community fellow who worked with UTK Sociology faculty and students and CDET staff to develop curriculum for Knox County schools’ staff and educators to implement. CDET also used funds to develop a website and digital communication and outreach materials for the project. |
| 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 acted 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 also helped 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 was committed to the project for two calendar years. CURCI provided funds for Dr. Hellwinckel to work on the project by supporting his research salary. |
| Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment |
| Statewide Organizing Community eMpowerment 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 across Tennessee where the organization focuses on the development of grassroots leaders who can vision, organize, and run effective campaigns to address the issues that impact their lives. SOCM partnered with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, particularly the Department of Geography and Sustainability and the College of Law, on a community-based campaign focused on passing a tenant’s Right to Counsel policy within Knox County. Dr. Nikki Luke (Department of Geography and Sustainability) and Prof. Wendy Bach (College of Law) collaborated with SOCM to accomplish three major goals: 1. Develop a thoroughly researched, vetted and publicly accessible proposal on how Right to Counsel could benefit Knoxville residents at risk of eviction 2. Build an informed, educated and connected base of Knox County area tenants and community allies who can advocate for this policy and 3. Develop effective communication tools to share this work with appropriate decision makers. |
| The Bottom |
| The Bottom, named after the first neighborhood in Knoxville that was demolished in the 1950s by urban renewal, is a multi-use non-profit community center and bookshop for literary, creative, and educational programming. The Bottom partnered with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville through CURCI on the Elandria Williams Reading & Research Room. The Elandria Williams Reading & Research Room is a program that offers a collection of literature that focuses on Tennessee and Appalachian subjects, scholarly works with an emphasis on the intersections of economic, LGBTQ+, disability, and racial injustices/justice (Black studies and the African American struggle). It also features Black Tennessee, Appalachian authors, and occasional guest curators. Together, these collections form a resource for documenting the Black experience in Knoxville and the surrounding Appalachian areas that are not in local libraries for community use. The Research Room also offers several options for the Knoxville community computing, co-working, research, study, and collaboration opportunities for scholarship, community work, and creating knowledge. This room is available for general public use, free of charge during regular operating hours for individual or group work. The Bottom partnered with Dr. Ericka Patillo (School of Information Sciences) and Dr. Shaneda Destine (Department of Sociology) to work on this project. |
| The Knoxville Oak Ridge Central Labor Council |
| The Knoxville Oak Ridge Central Labor Council (KORCLC) collaborated with the University of Tennessee to bring information to disadvantaged minorities about opportunities for training and jobs through the wide variety of trades that are represented by the KORCLC. Union jobs are among the best paid, provide the best benefits, and are among the most secure of blue-collar jobs in the US. Apprenticeships provide the entry point for so many of these jobs (in areas across building and manufacturing), but the information about their availability is not often accessible to minority populations. The KORCLC/UTK collaboration set out to remedy that problem by entering into local high schools and providing other points of access to post-high school people in disadvantaged communities. KORCLC partnered with CURCI staff and students in the College of Communication and Information to form social media accounts, a database of local unions with information, and outreach strategies to target populations. |
| The Knoxville Voter Turnout Coalition |
| The Knoxville Voter Turnout Coalition (KVTC) collaborated with the University of Tennessee to examine strategies to increase voter turnout in the Knoxville area. For the past 20 years, Tennessee has ranked among the lowest states in voter turnout (ranging from 42-46 among the 50 states), and Knoxville’s voter turnout in local and regional elections often does not even reach 20% of eligible voters. The KVTC/UTK collaboration sought to increase voter turnout through fully nonpartisan strategies. KVTC partnered with Dr. Tony Nownes (Department of Political Science) to examine national trends in voter turnout and with students in the College of Communication and Information to form social media strategies, a website, logo, and brand kit. |