The Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies created the Metropolitan Engaged Research Initiative (MERI) grants program to support faculty-led engaged research projects on topics of relevance to the Portland metropolitan region. The purpose of the MERI grants program is to foster faculty and student engagement with community partners in ways that further PSU’s mission to “let knowledge serve.”
IMS is pleased to announce that two PSU faculty-led projects have been awarded as part of the 2022/23 round of Metropolitan Engaged Research Initiative (MERI) grants:
The Impact of Multnomah County Preschool For All Program
Faculty: Dr. Grace Arnold (left) and Dr. Riju Joshi (right), Department of Economics
Lead Community Partners: Coalition of Communities of Color, Family Forward Oregon
The child care crisis in Oregon is glaring: three out of five Oregonians live in a "childcare desert," a county without a child care provider or with more than three times as many children as licensed child care slots for their age group. The Covid-19 pandemic further exacerbated these existing glaring gaps in the childcare systems. Preschool for all staff reported that the county had lost 20% of providers, increasing the cost and instability surrounding childcare arrangements, all during a period of severe anxiety about their children's health.
In 2020, voters in Multnomah County approved Preschool for All, which aims to connect 3 and 4-year-olds to free, culturally responsive, inclusive preschool experiences. The program is free for all families and is available full-time, year-round, and in various settings, languages, cultural approaches, and schedules, including weekend days. Additionally, the program will pay teachers comparably to kindergarten teachers and all classroom staff a wage floor of $20 an hour when the first 677 children enroll in the Fall of 2022.
This project brings stakeholders in the childcare sector in Multnomah county and the surrounding areas to identify barriers to childcare in the region and evaluate the potential for Multnomah county's Preschool for All (P4A) program to impact family wellbeing by family composition, race, and ethnicity. This core team is interested in building partnerships with the community to identify the unique child care needs in the region, particularly among historically marginalized and underserved communities, and to study how a program can develop and implement initiatives that enhance family wellbeing.
The team plans to create a baseline survey for future studies of the full implementation of Preschool for All, studying changes in wellbeing in real time for participating families and workers. In particular, we expect to document initial conditions of inequities in access to stable, affordable childcare by race, gender, and class. Novelly, we will investigate whether and how much these instabilities in childcare arrangements lead to difficult economic choices (tradeoffs such as education/training, occupation, hours worked, etc.), financial strain, and stress.
Building community networks, reducing wasted fruit
Faculty: Dr. Christa McDermott, Sr. Research Associate and Director, Community Environmental Services
Lead community partners: Trash for Peace and Portland Fruit Tree Project
COVID-19 supply chain and employment disruptions highlighted the precariousness of food access for many members of low-income, multifamily communities. We anticipate more disruptions like what was experienced in the pandemic. Though the causes may change - wildfires, climate change, recession, and inflation - the vulnerability of these residents does not change without on the ground relationship building among non-profit groups such as our partners, Trash for Peace and Portland Fruit Tree Project.
This project seeks to better understand how wasted food prevention strategies can be implemented more effectively through resident-led and designed outreach in multifamily housing. The MERI grant will allow us to address research questions that have emerged in our 2021-22 EPA Healthy Resilient Sustainable Communities funded pilot project, allow greater collaboration with residents in our East Multnomah County multifamily housing site, and expand participation to residents at a Clark or Washington County site. A primary goal is to learn how residents would like to improve food security and use urban fruit tree harvests. This overarching goal will be addressed in three parts: 1) understanding what fruits and other fresh foods people want, 2) develop and evaluate food waste prevention materials by community members, 3) resource and network mapping for resilience.
Findings from this project will be used by our community partners to improve the quality and quantity of fruits grown in cities, increase sustainability by reducing transportation miles for food and community resilience by strengthening a local distribution network for free, fresh fruit. We hope the knowledge gained can also be a model for other local governments and food rescue non-profits in the metro region to build community networks, connect single family and multifamily residents who may not have opportunities to connect, and create a reliable source of fresh and preserved fruits to help communities weather and recover from disruptions such as those experienced from COVID-19, and likely to be experienced from climate change.
2021/2022 Grantees:
Immigrants and COVID-19 Recovery in the Portland Metropolitan Region
Faculty: Dr. Pronoy Rai, Assistant Professor, Department of International and Global Studies (lead, photo on right), Dr. Alex Sager, Professor, Department of Philosophy, Dr. Alex Stepick, Professor, Department of Sociology
Lead Community Partner: Division Midway Alliance
A Community-Informed Exploration of Immigrants' Pandemic Experiences with Pronoy Rai
Regional Food Systems Resilience: Frontline Perspectives
Faculty: Dr. Megan Horst, Associate Professor, Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning
Lead Community Partners: Regional Disaster Preparedness Organization (RPDO) and the City of Portland’s Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS)
Perspectives from Frontline Organizations in the Portland Metro Region On Addressing Food Insecurity During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Creating a Resilient Regional Food System
About MERI Grants
Expected outputs of MERI grant projects will include a research report or white paper, a digital summary/content for the IMS website, and a public presentation of results. Where appropriate, projects will include a regional or sub-regional convening on the topic (typically in the subsequent academic year). Expected outputs of a convening will include a summary of the proceedings for the IMS website. Where appropriate, convening leads will also provide a brief outlining next steps and recommendations.
Who may apply?
All PSU faculty, including research faculty, are eligible to apply for funding support through the MERI program. Priority will be given to faculty in the Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning and the College of Urban and Public Affairs, untenured tenure-track faculty, and faculty from historically marginalized backgrounds and identities.
How can MERI grants be used?
MERI grants are available for up to $40,000, and may be used for the following purposes:
- Faculty course releases and/or summer salary;
- Student research assistance (i.e., GAs);
- Support (e.g., stipends) for community participants; and
- Direct research expenses.
Evaluation Criteria
MERI grant proposals are assessed on the following criteria:
- Is it a regionally-relevant issue? What kind of regional conversation will the research promote?
- Is the role and benefit of engagement clearly spelled out in the proposal?
- Does the proposal contribute to a more just and equitable Portland region?
- Is the proposed research (questions and methods) clear? Is the budget appropriate and well-justified?
IMS plans to release its call for proposals for the 2023/24 MERI grants in spring 2023. Check back for further details.