Promoting Happiness and Well-Being for Trenton Youth
The REACH Lab has partnered with Urban Promise Trenton in the spring of 2023 to implement a program to promote happiness and well-being for high-schoolers in their Street Leaders program. We modified Yale professor Dr. Laurie Santos’ online course The Science of Well-Being for Teens and implemented it in an afterschool program with the students in the Street Leaders program. We had an opportunity to present about our experiences at the Society for Community Research and Action Biennial in Atlanta, Georgia in June 2023, as part of a symposium titled “Teaching Community Practice in the Undergraduate Classroom: Sample Approaches.”
Using art as a tool for personal and community development
The REACH Lab has partnered with the non-profit organization, Both Hands: The Artlet to examine the impact of a creative arts and youth empowerment program in Trenton. The Both Hands mission is to mentor and empower young people in underserved areas to use art to cultivate communities. A City of Trenton Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funded a recent project that resulted in the short film, For Colored People, By Colored Kids Who Dare to Have a Voice. [See film below.]
Promoting healthy outcomes through peer education
The REACH Lab has partnered with the the Millhill Trenton PEERS program to examine the impact of peer education programs in our local communities. The mission of the PEERS program is to provide Trenton’s vulnerable youth with the information, skills, and support needed to find confidence, develop leadership skills, establish healthy relationships, and avoid violence and risky choices.
Understanding the impact of community engaged learning
The REACH Lab has partnered with TCNJ’s Center for Community Engaged Learning and Research to understand the impact of community engaged learning on students, community members, and other stakeholders. For one project, we are examining TCNJ students’ role in the Trenton Violence Reduction Strategies (TVRS) project, a collaboration between TCNJ, the Trenton Police Department, and local social service providers to reduce violence in Trenton and surrounding communities.
The REACH lab worked with urban youth, in a creative artlet program located in Trenton. Their mission statement being, “Both Hands mission is to be an “Artlet” that mentors and empowers young people in underserved communities by using art as a tool for personal and community development.” The REACH lab aimed to analyze and evaluate the program’s effectiveness. The data was collected from taped interviews of the attending students, which was later transcribed and coded. Lab members have been visiting Both Hands since September 2014. Both lab and participant members develop long-lasting and enriching relationships.
We worked on a research project funded by the Community Development Block Grant from the City of Trenton.
Professional Development
The lab members coordinated different presentations on varying professional development topics. Some of these topics included graduate school programs, internship opportunities, and goal planning for the future. Members worked in groups to present different ways of going about future goals. This aspect of the lab is especially beneficial to upper-level classmen.