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  1. Race &... Initiative

Race &... Collaboratories

Race &… Research Collaboratories

Race &… Research Collaboratories are interdisciplinary research teams, composed of faculty, policy makers, frontline service workers, community members, and other key stakeholders. The goal of the collaboratories is to mobilize the research and intervention experience and expertise of Pitt faculty to address specific problems that adversely impact the region’s Black population and/or in which the region has significant racial disparities. 

Race &… Health Collaboratory

The Race &… Health Collaboratory is focused on infant and maternal health and is led by Dr. Tiffany Gary-Webb, Special Assistant to the Provost for Race and the Social Determinants of Equity, Health and Well-being and Professor of Public Health. 

According to a 2019 report issued by Pittsburgh’s Gender Equity Commission, Black women in Pittsburgh are far more likely to die during pregnancy than their peers in other U.S. cities. And for Black Pittsburghers giving birth, 18 out of every 1,000 pregnancies end in a fetal death—twice the rate of white people giving birth in Pittsburgh. 

Faculty Collaborators 

Race &… Centers Collaboratory

The Race &... Centers Collaboratory promotes collaboration between Pitt’s race-related research centers (i.e., Center on Race and Social Problems, Center for Health Equity, Center for Urban Education, Civil Rights and Racial Justice Center, Center for Ethnic Studies Research, Department of Africana Studies) to strengthen Pitt’s capacity and reputation for race-related research, teaching and community engagement, and service. 

Collaboratory Centers and Department 

View the Race &... Centers Calendar of Events »

Race &… Academic Innovation Collaboratory

The Academic Innovation Collaboratory endeavors to establish an enduring and inclusive environment for innovation and entrepreneurship. To address the issue of inequality in academic innovation and entrepreneurship, the PittEI3 initiative aims to enhance the participation of historically excluded populations and women in innovation, leading to a higher number of entrepreneurs who remain involved in entrepreneurial activities over the course of their PittEI3 program provides coaching, innovation skills training opportunities, personalized innovation mapping, and planning support, as well as sponsorship and additional resources aimed at eradicating barriers specific to historically excluded populations and women. PittEI3 programs will focus on emboldening, empowering, and engaging female and HEP innovators in the Academic innovation space. Innovation is often regarded as the ability to bring new perspectives yet diversity and inclusion in Innovation have severely lagged behind. Furthermore, the impact of inequality in the U.S. Innovation and Entrepreneurship economy can be measured in trillions of dollars annually – what researchers referred to as “lost Einsteins.”

Collaborators:

  • Kyaien Conner, Director, Center on Race and Social Problems
  • Cecelia Yates, Associate Professor, Health Promotion & Development, School of Nursing 
Black Fathers Initiative

Aims Are Twofold:

  • Primary Research: Explore the lived experiences of Black Dads whose partners experienced adverse pregnancy outcomes
  • Resource Mapping: Identify father-serving agencies in the region and make those resources more visible to interested fathers through state, county, and community agencies.

Collaborators:

Africana Studies Sports Initiative (ASSI)

The Africana Studies Sports Initiative has three important goals. First, it offers a space where graduate students and faculty members present their research in progress and/or develop new collaborative research projects on Black athletes. Second, to better understand Black athletes’ experiences across time, it aims to digitize the lives and accomplishments of Black athletes from the Western Pennsylvania region. Third, to help develop Africana-centered leadership skills, it aims to create courses, workshops, and programs focusing on the intersection of sports, race, professional development, and wealth creation. Ultimately, the Africana Studies Sports Initiative brings together student-athletes, students, members of the community, and scholars to shed light on the unique experiences of Black athletes and the ways in which they can help black communities thrive.

Collaborators:

  • Felix Germain, Chair, Department of Africana Studies
  • Ron Idoko, Center for Race and Social Problems
  • Ed Galloway, Hillman Library
  • John Senter, Assistant Athletic Director, Business and Finance and Liz Reyes, Senior Associate Athletic Director, Student Life
United Nations Collaboratory

In partnership with the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent (PFPAD) and the Center on Civil Rights and Racial Justice (CCRRJ), the Fredrick Honors College Office of Social Innovation, and the Center on Race and Social Problems (CRSP) will institute an expansive racial equity data collection and analysis platform to support the development of a vision-rich, globally comprehensive, and process-oriented declaration at the United Nations 2024 fall General Assembly. This initiative will coalesce a multidisciplinary, global collective of racial equity researchers, educators, and practitioners in advancement of the University’s mission to create and leverage knowledge for society’s gain.

Collaborators:

  • Sheila Velez Martinez, Co-Director, Center for Civil Rights and Racial Justice - Project Co-Lead
  • Gabby M H Yearwood, Managing Faculty Director, Center for Civil Rights and Racial Justice - Project Co-Lead
  • Justin Hansford, Director of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center / UN Forum Member- Project Co-Lead
  • Alexander Gray, Program Manager, Center for Civil Rights and Racial Justice - Project Coordinator
  • Oluwafemi Adesanmi, Project Coordinator, Center on Race and Social Problems - Project Coordinator
  • Ron Idoko, Director, Office of Social Innovation, Frederick Honors College & Associate Director, Center on Race and Social Problems