The Center for Community Partnerships (CCP) at the University of Virginia is proud to announce that its Community Engaged Research and Analysis (CERA) team has received the 2026 Engagement Scholarship Consortium Excellence in Outreach and Engagement Professional Community Engagement Award.
The award recognizes exemplary leadership and achievement in professional community engagement. CERA was selected following a peer review process that recognized the team's record of community-engaged practice and scholarship.
CERA, comprised of the CCP’s Community-Centered Analysis and Community Research teams, partners with communities to advance mutually beneficial, action-oriented change through the creation of tools for collective understanding, data-rich advocacy, and shared power. The team's work brings research and analysis into conversation with the knowledge, experiences and priorities of community members to support informed decision-making and tangible action.
“CERA’s work demonstrates what is possible when research and analysis are grounded in authentic partnership and shaped by the knowledge and priorities of communities,” said Center for Community Partnerships Executive Director Ben Allen. “Throughout the Local Gun Violence Project, the team prioritized community feedback to ensure that the people most affected by the data had a voice in how it was developed, understood and shared.”
Community-Centered Analysis
Community Research
Community Engagement in Action
One example of CERA's approach is the Local Gun Violence Project, a joint initiative between CERA and UVA's Gun Violence Solutions Project. Led by researchers Samantha Toet and Dr. Michele Claibourn, in collaboration with Dr. Sherica Jones-Lewis, the project examines the nature, scope and dimensions of gun violence in the Charlottesville region.
The work grew from community calls for more accessible and coordinated data on community safety. CERA responded by conducting research and developing a public dashboard, while also engaging community partners, leaders and residents throughout the process to help shape how the information would be shared and used.
That engagement continued beyond the dashboard's launch. CERA has held data walks and community dialogues in public housing communities, nonprofit hubs and schools, creating opportunities for residents and service providers to examine the data, share their perspectives and discuss possible solutions. The team has also worked with local high school students to discuss the changes young people want to see in their schools to increase perceptions of safety, and shared those recommendations with school leadership.
From Data to Action
CERA's work is guided by the principle that community members should be active participants in the research and engagement process—not just recipients of information.
The gun violence project supports efforts of the President's Council on UVA-Community Partnerships' Community Safety Implementation Group, which brings together leaders from local human and social services, school divisions, police departments, service providers, and UVA. The group helps to ensure the project's data and community input inform meaningful policy and programmatic action.
Community organizations are also using the team's research to advocate for resources, inform programming and amplify community-identified needs. CERA's data has supported grant applications, policy discussions and other local community safety initiatives.
“Research is most meaningful when it reflects the knowledge, experiences and priorities of the people who are closest to an issue,” said Director of Community-Centered Analysis Michele Claibourn. “When communities have a voice in shaping the questions we ask and how we understand and use the findings, research can become a tool for action; not simply a product, but a resource that communities can use to create change.”
Looking Ahead
CERA will continue its community engagement around safety and well-being while preparing to launch an updated State of Gun Violence in Charlottesville and Albemarle data overview with expanded metrics and information. As with the initial dashboard, community members and partners will help inform the project's engagement and dissemination efforts.
CERA will be recognized during the 2026 Engagement Scholarship Consortium conference, with the award ceremony scheduled for October 7.
The recognition reflects CERA's ongoing commitment to a model of community-engaged scholarship in which research is informed by community priorities, knowledge is shared accessibly, and data is used to support action.
