Downtown: A Community-Campus Collaborative Course to Prepare Students for Community-Based Research

A case study of the development of a service learning program in Trenton, New Jersey: "The Trenton Youth Community-Based Research Corps (TYCRC) at the College of New Jersey engages undergraduate students in research that helps make a difference in the lives of children - particularly those living in poverty. The students and I partner with nonprofit social service agencies that lack the resources to hire external researchers to conduct community needs and assets assessments or to study the effectiveness of their programs. Such research is increasingly necessary for the economic survival of nonprofit community-based organizations, not to mention for developing effective programs and services."