The Institute for Community Research (ICR) uses the tools of research to build community capacity and foster collaborative community-based partnerships. By gathering information in partnership with residents, we are helping communities locally and globally to ask better questions and get better answers about the complex problems they face. We believe this process is the best way to support personal growth, broaden community leadership and foster robust democratic institutions.
The Institute for Community Research offers a variety of resources for community residents, academics, community-based organizations and others. ICR disseminates information, creates dialogue, showcases artists, and helps to create an interactive space for you to be involved in discussing research results and the issues our community partners face, through Public Programming, conferences, and other resources.
For example, their publications provide detailed information about our programs, projects and research results. We also offer some publications for sale. For example, our participatory action research curricula for girls and youth provide a step-by-step guide in using participatory action research as a leadership, empowerment and skill-building tool. And the Ethnographer’s Toolkit is a series of books that takes you through the multiple, complex steps of doing ethnographic research in simple, reader-friendly language.