As we enter Black History Month, I'm reminded of childhood school concerts where we'd sing the song many refer to as the Black National Anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing.” If this song doesn’t immediately come to you, I invite you to play it while you read this. When I think of this spiritual, I'm taken back to vivid memories of being a young Black girl (with an unimpressive singing voice) feeling like the lyrics ("lift every voice") were addressing me directly, encouraging me to use what I had to sing out loud -- reaching for those high notes when we reached "let our rejoicing rise." I'm reminded of the striving and hope I would feel in those moments.
The feeling of striving and hope feels like the energy circulating in OPRE this season as we do our part to launch new research studies and grow into our principles of using community engagement to further the rigor, relevance, and equity of our research and evaluation. We're spurred on by our ACF Evaluation Policy, which bring to the forefront the importance of equity in all of our work and states an explicit commitment to inclusive and participatory research in all phases of the research process.
One effort that brings me great hope is the Advancing Contextual Analysis and Methods of Participant Engagement in OPRE (CAMPE) project, which I co-lead. With CAMPE, we are working to further the understanding of equitable research practices and to ensure that the work is being done on the ground to put those practices into use. This type of work centers program participants who are at the core of the government’s work and also brings into clear focus the contexts in which people experience programs and policies. Specific project activities include:
- Creating a community advisory board (CAB), which will provide a variety of perspectives to inform the project’s work and activities;
- Conducting a literature review and environmental scan on the use of contextual analysis and participatory methods in the federal context; and
- Engaging an equity consultant to advise OPRE projects on how to frame their work through an equity lens and with an equity focus.
As a federal project officer in OPRE, now "lift every voice and sing" has new layers of meaning — including uplifting and valuing more voices in our research process.
Gabrielle Newell is a Social Science Research Analyst whose work at OPRE work focuses on TANF, workforce development, and case management.