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Our Mission

The mission of CIRA is to promote social change leading to the existence of just and sustainable communities and institutions and to the expansion of participatory democracy. This will be achieved through the design, planning and implementation of strategies to integrate the work of researchers with the actions of communities to achieve positive social change. CIRA will facilitate interaction, communication and collaboration among and between university and community-based researchers and community organizations to support collaborative research/action projects. It is envisioned that these collaborations will result in valuable learning and action that will increase the capacity and vision of both community stakeholders and researchers in the social sciences, humanities, and relevant professional fields such as law and education. CIRA seeks to support the success of these collaborations, to be a rigorous and valuable contributor to academic and public debates, and to contribute to the development of research/action traditions.

Our Goals

* Support to an interdisciplinary group of faculty and students from the College of Arts & Science and Professional Schools for engaged research

* Facilitation of the construction of Collaborations among UNC-CH, other campuses of UNC, other universities and community-based organizations

* Involvement in action-research on themes that are identified jointly with community organizations

What is CIRA?

CIRA will function as a locus and catalyst of support, coordination, and preparation for maximizing the effectiveness of the working clusters, or communities of collaboration, formed between researchers and community organizations. The challenges of straddling the university and non-profit, non-government organizations will be mediated and minimized through the CIRA process. Similarly, the resources of CIRA will be utilized to maximize a “process for proactive knowledge exchange and production” in the traditions of popular education and participatory research. CIRA resources and support will be extended to developing communities of collaboration in North Carolina, and other states, regions and countries being served by the university.