Beloved Blog
Join the Conversation
Want to write for us? Let us know! You can find our submission form here.
Inside the Beloved Community IRB
The Beloved Community IRB is one of less than two dozen IRBs based at nonprofits in the US. We are one of even fewer IRBs housed at a Black womxn led nonprofit. This is important because the vast majority of IRBs are based at university and college campuses and research centers; by launching an IRB at Beloved Community, we disrupt existing systems of knowledge production and research approval. Under FDA regulations, an Institutional Review Board (IRB) is a group formally designated to review and monitor research involving ‘human subjects’. In accordance with FDA regulations, an IRB has the authority to approve, require modifications in (to secure approval), or disapprove research.
Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR)
With YPAR, young people are the researchers and changemakers. YPAR is an innovative approach to positive youth and community development based in social justice principles. YPAR can be done anywhere where youth are, including but not limited to schools, neighborhoods, and community organizations. This approach can be useful for any young people wanting to make a difference, and is an especially powerful approach for young people who are experiencing marginalization due to racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, ableism, or other forms of oppression. Hear more from the Beloved Community DRIP team about why we prioritize YPAR in our approach to research below.
Using equity to build better organizations
At Beloved Community, when we create, we do so to fill a need. In 2018, we created the Equity Audit as a tool for organizations to comprehensively assess diversity, equity, and inclusion indicators across every function of their organization’s operations. Read more from our Anti-Racism Daily post here.
The Value of Building Community Power Through Research
At Beloved Community, we believe that disrupting existing power structures in research requires centering the lives of those historically excluded at every stage in research design. Interrogating power dynamics in research means re-imagining the relationship between researchers and communities. Participatory Action Research (PAR) is a research framework that emphasizes ‘power with’ and shared power. PAR encourages equitable collaboration between researchers and participants and is founded on the assumption that community members most impacted by an issue are best placed to design and implement that research.
Black and Bilingual
Read our Beloved’s contribution to Critical Consciousness in Dual Language Bilingual Education: ‘Black and Bilingual: Challenges in Decentering Whiteness in Dual Language Bilingual Education’ by Rhonda J. Broussard, Faith R. Kares, Nicole Caridad Ralston, Maria Patrizia Santos.
A key resource for supporting student needs and transformative inquiry in the classroom, this book is ideal for graduate students, professors, leaders, educators, and other stakeholders in bilingual education and language education.