Project Descriptions
| Cattywampus Puppet Council |
| Cattywampus Puppet Council (CPC) uses the arts as a vehicle to cultivate joy, tell stories, and build relationships through interactive parades, theater, play, and giant puppetry in communities across East Tennessee and the South. CPC partnered with the University of Tennessee to offer a Special Topics Community-Based Art course revolving around Cattywampus’s annual Giant Puppet Parade & Street Party. The course provided UT students with the opportunity to experience a community-based art project through working with youth at one of 10 community partner sites throughout the Spring of 2024. UT students simultaneously studied other community art case studies and engaged with additional local community-based art organizations to deepen the research aspect of theory as it is applied to field work and actual real world experiences. Through the process of making giant puppets and performing in the community parade, participants actively engaged in a transformative dialogue. The creative process is a catalyst for positive change and growth in neighborhoods, community organizations, and the social fabric of Knoxville. It helps to promote equity and social justice throughout the entire K-16 public education system, which is traditionally compartmentalized and disconnected. CPC partnered with Dr. Jason Brown (School of Art) and School of Art Graduate Teaching Associates to develop a curriculum and document the project through photography, videography, and interviews. |
| 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 continued a partnership with the University of Tennessee to finalize the steps necessary to build and advocate for a high school-level curriculum focused upon conflict resolution and restorative justice alternatives for the Knox County School System. Through CURCI’s funding support and community-University collaborative support, CDET consulted with school systems, scholars, and activists who have implemented restorative justice and transformative justice curricula in their communities and school/university settings to identify a key set of best practices, evaluated the unique needs of Knoxville and the Appalachian South. Additionally, the project has led to the production of a thoroughly researched, vetted, and publicly accessible restorative justice curriculum that offers alternatives to current disciplinary and criminal justice curricula in Knox County public schools. CDET director Imani Mfalme and Dr. Michelle Brown (Department of Sociology) continued their collaborative work together. Phase 2 of this project involved collaborating with regional partners to offer Knoxville’s first community restorative justice training. The goal of phase 2 of this project was to have the necessary base training to launch a fully developed Restorative Justice Curriculum with trained facilitators who can then train others in the school system, the university, and broader community in restorative justice practices and leadership. CDET identified CURCI’s ongoing support as a primary factor in building space and time for university and community organizations to be in relation long enough to build trust and capacity together. |
| 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 will be committed to the project for two calendar years. CURCI is continued to provide funds for Dr. Hellwinckel to work on the project by supporting his research salary for the second year of this project. |
| Drums Up, Guns Down |
| Drums Up Guns Down (DUGD) seeks to curb the cycle of gun violence in our communities by using drums and dance as tools for students to express themselves and heal from past traumas. DUGD partnered with the University of Tennessee to expand and assess existing youth programming through implementation of a Social-Emotional Leadership Development Program. DUGD’s Social-Emotional Leadership Development Program provides a comprehensive framework for the Drums Up Guns Down youth program to focus on self-management and personal growth, interpersonal skills and relationship building, ethical decision-making and accountability, and collaboration and community empowerment. The program serves youth in Knox County Schools with a specific focus on youth affected by gun violence, youth in low-income communities, and youth who have trauma histories. Drums Up Guns Down worked with Dr. Loneka Battiste (Music Education) to incorporate the Social-Emotional Leadership Development Program into after-school and summer programming. Together, they worked to create and implement a system to track and assess program efficacy and publish an official program curriculum and training program for staff. |
| 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 partnered with the University of Tennessee Psychological Clinic to provide mental health support to LGBTQ+ youth and adults. LGBTQ+ populations are vulnerable to experiencing higher than average rates of poverty, job discrimination, school bullying and poor educational performance, and other social and financial hardships. Knox Pride recognizes a chronic shortage of accessible therapy and assessment services that are culturally responsive and affirming. Providing testing and therapy services for LGBTQ+ community members will enhance their ability to feel empowered in their self-care and help them gain access to accommodations and additional mental health services. Knox Pride partnered with Dr. Leticia Flores, director of the University of Tennessee Psychological Clinic, to pilot a program in which LGBTQ+-affirming licensed supervisors and Graduate students provided no-cost mental health services to LGBTQ+ community members. The goals of this partnership were for Knox Pride and the UT Psych Clinic to become better known as trusted sites for LGBTQ+ community members to seek help, to gather data on mental health needs of the LGBTQ+ community in East Tennessee so that future services may be better targeted to the community, to present on the community’s needs to various stakeholders, and to offer ongoing access to affordable and affirming mental health care for LGBTQ+ East Tennesseeans. |
| 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 partnered with the University of Tennessee to execute a Percentage of Income Payment Plan (PIPP) that would bring down utility bills to no more than 10% of a household’s income for utility-burdened populations. KWEA’s research has found that high utility shutoff rates disproportionately impact Knoxville’s Black and Brown neighborhoods. Goals of KWEA’s collaboration with CURCI were to execute a PIPP pilot program and produce a detailed policy proposal for KUB and other regional utilities to review and consider. This proposal included pilot impact analysis, community narratives and lived experience, as well as possible funding and protocol structures for an expansive PIPP program. |
| Knoxville-Oak Ridge Central Labor Council |
| The Knoxville Oak Ridge Central Labor Council (KORCLC) collaborated with the University of Tennessee to bring information to Black and Brown youth about opportunities for training and jobs through the wide variety of trades that are represented by the KORCLC through their YOUTH-TO-UNIONS JobSquad program. 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 young People of Color. The KORCLC/UTK collaboration set out to remedy that problem through JobSquad, an outreach program intended to connect Youth of Color to apprenticeship opportunities and to identify and address barriers to employment. 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 as well as identifying ongoing funding opportunities through federal programs. |
| 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 obesity and 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 prioritizes programming in schools and communities that are subject to inequitable funding, starting in public elementary schools in Knoxville. As LCBC expanded programming to multiple after-school programs, they worked with the University of Tennessee to measure the effectiveness of the after school cooking program through qualitative and quantitative research. They worked to develop volunteer streams and construct a Program Manual for cooking instructors. The goal of this project was to build capacity to scale up programming to provide more kids and families with resources and cooking skills they need to confidently adopt healthy eating habits. |
| 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. The Shora Foundation partnered with the University of Tennessee Department of Psychology under the guidance of Dr. Jenn Bush to provide high quality trauma informed therapy sessions to disadvantaged youth. Black youth in Knoxville are currently facing a mental health crisis. The experience of systemic violence has had profound impacts on the psychological wellbeing of these young individuals, many of whom have no access to mental health resources or support systems needed to cope with these complex issues. The program’s primary beneficiaries are youth in East Knoxville, particularly those facing systemic challenges such as poverty, racism, violence, and other forms of adversity. This project employed a holistic approach to involve parents and caregivers in the healing process, an approach backed by research indicating that family involvement can significantly improve therapy outcomes. Expected outcomes of this collaboration were improved mental health, enhanced coping mechanisms, increased resilience, and improved relationships and family dynamics for program participants. CURCI funding went towards supporting the existing partnership between The Shora Foundation and the UTK Department of Psychology and designing and executing efficient and effective communication tools and methods of engaging family members and caregivers in the therapeutic process. |
| 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. In 2022, CURCI facilitated the collaboration of SOCM’s Knoxville Chapter with University of Tennessee College of Law and Geography and Sustainability students and faculty members to develop a program guaranteeing access to free legal counsel for all Knox County residents facing eviction. During their second year of collaboration through CURCI, they built on their success and continued a campaign for establishing free access to counsel as part of a broader push for expanded tenant protections. The eviction crisis continues to be acute in the county, and SOCM has worked with UT Departmental allies and solicited feedback at public meetings to determine additional needed interventions beyond access to free legal counsel as part of a comprehensive program, including robust outreach efforts, housing navigator services to support tenants in finding additional resources, and transitional support after an eviction to help tenants avoid homelessness. SOCM and University of Tennessee fellows and faculty members continued to strengthen and advocate for these recommendations through methods such as education campaigns for elected officials and local government staff, social media and multimedia campaigns to tell the stories of tenants facing eviction, and partnerships with service-provider organizations that can hold parts of this work. Program goals included expanding free access to legal counsel, a campaign for rigorous support services to complement expanded counsel, and leadership development and skill building for a cohort of three UT and community Fellows. |
| Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood |
| In collaboration with the Social Action Research Team (SART, Dr. Patrick Grzanka) at The University of Tennessee, Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood (TAPP) evaluated a deep values canvassing (DVC) project that was implemented across Tennessee in fall 2023 in order to better understand what strategies are most effective for communicating with voters about seemingly intractable political views, including views on sexual and reproductive health care. The goal of this project was to determine the effectiveness of DVC for reducing stigma toward abortion and increasing support for legislation that aims to increase access to abortion and sexual and reproductive healthcare among the state’s “rising electorate” (i.e. young people ages 18-25, women, and people of color). With CURCI’s support, TAPP staff recruited and trained a team of canvassers to conduct a refined and enhanced test of DVC on attitudes toward abortion among a new sample of Tennessee’s rising electorate. Canvassers included UT students and community members while UT graduate student Erin McConocha served as the project liaison between TAPP and SART and Grzanka served as research director. The results of this collaboration informed future efforts by TAPP and other sexual and reproductive health advocates as they consider how best to spend time and resources promoting legislation and policies to expand reproductive freedom. |
| Voter Turnout Coalition |
| The Knoxville Voter Turnout Coalition (KVTC) collaborated with the University of Tennessee for a second year to implement 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 KTVC/UTK collaboration continued to seek to increase voter turnout through fully nonpartisan strategies. KVTC partnered with the University of Tennessee and Dr. Tony Nownes (Department of Political Science) to collect and evaluate data generated by voter mobilization efforts, and to evaluate organizational structure and effectiveness. |