Research
Dr. Lewis with Lakeisha Lee (left), a community leader on RIA’s work around Justice in Institutions for Black Women, Girls and Femmes
Founded and led by Dr. Brittany Lewis, Research in Action is a Black queer female-led organization that leads projects that center community expertise to create stronger organizations and actionable solutions for racial justice.
At RIA, we lead projects that redirect power, transform relationships, and create radical change. We create change by supporting our partners and elevated impacted communities in two ways: Co-developing and implementing research and evaluation projects and tools and providing training around equitable organizational development and authentic community engagement.
Our approach to research and evaluation results in more robust and holistic data, more effective policy and practice solutions, and more engaged community action. We work with…
institutional partners to fill the gaps in their understanding from those who are closest to the problem, so they can develop effective and lasting solutions
directly impacted communities to create new knowledge, advocate for change and build their leadership
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We bring community and stakeholders together—in a variety of strategic ways—to rebalance power, collect and make meaning of data, and translate that information into specific changes to policy and practice.
In that process, we:
leverage our technical skills in mixed methods evaluation, quantitative surveys, qualitative focus group and semi-structured interviews, and other ideas from community members to identify actionable solutions to complex problems
model and cultivate relational skills that build organizational capacity and create accountable, intentional spaces where community members can lead and discomfort and conflict are embraced as avenues to lasting transformation
uplift new realities and stories from impacted communities that disrupt dominant narratives and make space for new organizational practices and more equitable futures