Allison De Marco, PhD, MSW, is passionately committed to community partnership. An advanced research scientist at the UNC Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute (FPG) and adjunct faculty at UNC’s School of Social Work, De Marco infuses more equitable research practices into her own research as well as into the research practices of FPG and the national Educare network.  

To help spread the word on how researchers can empower local communities through collaboration, De Marco and Educare colleagues presented, “Seeing Communities as Experts on their Own Data: A Research-Practice Partnership” on February 24. This panel was part of Carolina Engagement Week, which brought together Carolina faculty, staff and students with community partners to highlight partnerships between UNC-Chapel Hill and North Carolina communities.

During the presentation, De Marco shared information about how her Educare colleagues inspired her to create Chapel Hill and Durham data walks during which she disseminated data from a recent study that investigated disparities in housing stability, which found a disconnect between what is needed to address homelessness and what is available in the community. This research was done by De Marco in collaboration with Danielle Spurlock, PhD, associate professor with UNC-Chapel Hill’s Department of City and Regional Planning and Donna Carrington, executive director of the Community Empowerment Fund (CEF) in Chapel Hill and Durham, NC, which provides support to community members at risk of and experiencing homelessness. The study, which was initiated by CEF, was directed by the community that helped frame the guiding questions:

• What does it mean to have stable housing?
• What were the key barriers to finding housing?
• What resources were helpful in the search for housing?

De Marco says a hallmark of equitable and inclusive research practice is that individuals closest to the issue under study are included throughout the lifespan of the project. A dissemination strategy such as a data walk is one such example of this practice. By creating non-academic, engaging, interesting and accessible ways of sharing information, De Marco and her colleagues help create a 360-degree loop of information exchange with community members.

“We miss out on so much knowledge and expertise when we don't bring people's data back to them and talk about what we found, what it might mean, and what actions need to be taken to create more equitable policy,” said De Marco. “Folks that live (with housing insecurity) day-to-day know these issues much better than I do so our research is much richer if it also includes lived experiences.”

Last year, when De Marco helped organize a data walk in both Durham and Chapel Hill, community members and policy makers were invited to attend. Researchers shared reflection questions with attendees to understand not just their impressions of the data, but to gain input on suggested next steps, including program and policy changes.

De Marco noted how helpful the data walks were in educating policymakers about community needs, in the words of those impacted by housing insecurity.  Poignant stories related by community members about what it means to have a home included taking all the camping equipment out of their car and the ability to stop thinking about how to organize their car as a living space.

“We miss out on so much knowledge and expertise when we don't bring people's data back to them and talk about what we found, what it might mean, and what actions need to be taken to create more equitable policy,” said De Marco. “Folks that live (with housing insecurity) day-to-day know these issues much better than I do so our research is much richer if it also includes lived experiences.”

At the Carolina Engagement Week presentation, De Marco shared her insights on the importance of centering members of the community in as many ways as possible and how to engage.

“I want us to think about ways that we are being inclusive of the people that we're collecting data from, to make sure that we're returning benefit to those people,” said De Marco. “We need to design ways to assure community members that we hear them and are going to try to take action on what they tell us.”

In addition to sharing a set of principles Educare is working to implement, De Marco and her Educare colleagues presented the fun and engaging ways that they are implementing this work, conducted an online and in-room activity for the hybrid audience, and closed by talking about how participants might build this perspective into their practice.

“I want us to think about ways that we are being inclusive of the people that we're collecting data from, to make sure that we're returning benefit to those people,” said De Marco. “We need to design ways to assure community members that we hear them and are going to try to take action on what they tell us.”