Laurie Ross
Professor, Sustainability and Social Justice
Director, Sustainability and Social Justice
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Laurie Ross brings expertise in developing and supporting long-term community-university partnerships that address the social determinants of youth violence. The intractability of youth violence requires horizontal knowledge and strategy production (i.e. responses that are co-created by individuals and communities affected by violence, staff at the frontlines, and institutional actors with decision-making authority and control over resources). Her primary aim is to support these differently situated stakeholders to create and review local data and scholarly research and to deliberate over what the data reveal about structural racism and structural violence in order to foster system and policy change. As the university-based research partner on the city’s youth violence prevention and intervention efforts, Ross works closely with city officials, the public schools, police, and community-based organizations. Starting in 2015, she has met weekly with these actors to keep efforts aligned through the Worcester Youth Violence Prevention Initiative. This consistent contact has generated a sense of trust and understanding across sectors, which has led to inter-agency data sharing. Specifically, the police, schools, and city manager's office share data with Ross on a monthly basis. With these data, she maintains an internal data dashboard of key indicators. This cross-sector work allows for the identification of emerging trends and persistent gaps and to pursue grants and other resources to address the trends and gaps. For example, hercollaborative research approach supported Worcester in its successful Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Comprehensive Anti-Gang Strategies grant (2016-2018) and its Department of Justice Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation Program grant (2014-2018). She served as the research partner on both grants. She has been the Principal Investigator on the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety funded Security Charles E. Shannon Community Safety Initiative which has supported her to serve as Worcester’s Local Action Research Partner since 2006. The overarching contribution of her work is about how to be a research partner committed to transformational community change in the area of youth violence prevention and reduction. She incorporates this work into my graduate level program evaluation, community needs assessment, and practicum courses; students in these classes partner with community organizations and individuals with lived experience of community violence to co-construct knowledge that informs decision-making and action. In 2016, she published a book with Routledge entitled, Dilemmas in Youth Work and Youth Development Practice. From 2000-2021, Ross directed the HOPE Coalition, a youth-adult partnership coalition designed to reduce youth violence, substance use, and promote positive adolescent mental health and youth leadership in Worcester. Ross is a member of the Worcester Youth Center and Pernet Family Health Center Boards of Directors.
Degrees
- Ph.D. in Public Policy, University of Massachusetts, Boston, 2002
- M.A. in International Development and Social Change, Clark University, 1995
- B.A. in Geography and International Development & Social Change, Clark University, 1991
Affiliated Department(s)
- Sustainability and Social Justice
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Scholarly and Creative Works
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Toward a Community of Antiracist Praxis
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2025
Routledge
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Antiracist Teaching in Higher Education: Transforming Ourselves and our Classrooms through Praxis.
American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting
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San Diego, CA
April
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2022
Sponsored by American Educational Research Association
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Equity from the Start: Latinx Families and their Experiences with Tele-health and Remote Education in COVID-19
American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting
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San Diego, CA
April
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2022
Sponsored by American Educational Research Association
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Latina Mothers Enacting Literacies of Teaching and Learning in COVID-19
American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting
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San Diego, CA
April
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2022
Sponsored by American Educational Research Association
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From Digital Divide to Digital Literacies and Mother-Child Pedagogies: The Case of Latina Mothers
Published in International Journal of Multicultural Education
September
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2021
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Vol. 23
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Issue #3
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Navigating the Boundaries of Youth Violence Prevention and Reduction: Reflections on Power in Community Engaged Scholarship
Published in Gateways: International Journal of Community Research and Engagement,
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2021
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The Use of Geographic Information Systems for Real Time Monitoring of Comprehensive Community Initiatives.
Published in Justice Research and Policy.
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2019
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Analyzing the Relationship between Perception of Safety and Reported Crime in an Urban Neighborhood Using GIS and Sketch Maps
Published in International Journal of Geo-Information
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2019
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Vol. 8
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Issue #12
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Navigating Early Childhood Resource Deserts with Community Cultural Wealth
Published in Early Childhood Research Quarterly
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Awards & Grants
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Resilient Worcester
UMass Memorial Determination of Needs fund
Jun. 1, 2024 - May. 29, 2026
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Local Action Research Partner
MA Executive Office of Safety and Security
Jan. 1, 2024 - Dec. 31, 2024
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Charles E. Shannon Community Safety Initiative
Executive Office of Public Safety and Security
Jan. 1, 2021 - Dec. 31, 2021
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“Equity from the Start: Latino/a/x Families’ Experiences with Tele-education and Telehealth due to COVID-19”
AERA
Sep. 1, 2020 - Aug. 31, 2021
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Collaboration for Community Health
Boston Children's Hospital/The Community Builders
Apr. 1, 2019 - Mar. 31, 2021
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Local Action Research Partner on Worcester Shannon Grant
MA Executive Office of Safety and Security
Jan. 1, 2020 - Dec. 31, 2020
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