CoLab’s First Research Investment Focuses on the Voices of People with Lived Experience
CoLab at the Constellation Fund awarded its first research grant to Research In Action to conduct the first systematic study of what Minnesotans living in poverty say they need for long-term thriving. This pilot project aims to develop methods that could be expanded statewide and replicated in the future.
Who We Partnered With
We funded Research In Action (RIA) to lead the study. RIA will collaborate with youth and families with lived experience of poverty, community organizations, and CoLab staff.
Research in Action has carried out a range of influential research projects to inform the work of state and local government, philanthropy, and nonprofits in Minnesota. Dr. Brittany Lewis, the project lead, founded RIA with the aim of disrupting traditional, top-down approaches to research and community engagement. RIA puts community expertise first at every step—from naming the problem to identifying solutions.
What They Will Do
The project involves a highly collaborative approach to “market research” with those most affected by poverty to inform better alignment between the supply of research, programs, and resources for fighting poverty with actual demand.
Using their “Equity in Action” research model, RIA will pilot this first-of-its-kind study during an approximately 12-month period. The pilot will focus on youth and families with young children in three Minnesota geographies: Hennepin, Ramsey, and Saint Louis Counties.
The project will involve an evidence review of existing quantitative and qualitative research including direct input from people experiencing poverty, surveys of their needs and priorities (aiming for about 1,000 respondents across the three counties), focus groups providing deeper qualitative insights, and a co-interpretation data walk with people with lived experience to draw implications from the findings.
When It Will Happen
The approximately one-year project launched in November 2023.
Why It Matters
Public and private funders commonly make decisions about investments and programming without adequately accounting for what people with lived experience say they need. This can result in a misalignment of supply and demand when it comes to programs and resources. Such misalignment might help explain why poverty rates and disparities have largely stagnated or gotten worse over recent decades even as public and private spending on poverty-related programs has increased.
CoLab aims to distinguish itself as a funder not by deciding what investments should be made on behalf of those most impacted by poverty, but by engaging with those most impacted as partners in setting an investment agenda. To this end, CoLab awarded its first research grant to RIA for Pass the Mic to reveal what those closest to the problem say they need for long-term thriving.
CoLab will use the findings to inform its future research investment priorities related to evaluating solutions to intergenerational poverty and long-term thriving. The findings will also serve as an asset to the Constellation Fund and the broader philanthropic and public service community in Minnesota to inform alignment between supply and demand of programs and resources for people living in poverty.
