By CHUCK STARESINIC

Pitt's University Center for Social and Urban Research (UCSUR) launched its newest division, the Community Impact Network, on Sept. 17 at an event at the Hill District Community Engagement Center.

The Community Impact Network is a new and broad, interdisciplinary support structure for University researchers and community and regional stakeholders who want to address local issues and concerns through community-engaged research. The network will support two-year cohorts of University-community research teams working in areas like housing insecurity, environmental health, mental health, community data access and other issues that communities express a desire to address.

Joylette Portlock, Community Impact Network director, welcomed scores of attendees to the launch, saying, "Pitt is committed to being a true partner to the community it calls home," and adding that community partners are "committed to changing this place for the better." 

Vice Chancellor for External Relations Lina Dostilio traced the University's community-engagement history and framed the launch of the network within four broader roles Pitt plays in the region: An engaged partner in public problem solving; an economic anchor for the commonwealth; an engine of lifelong learning and workforce development for the region; and a responsive and committed neighbor in the communities the University calls home, from Pittsburgh to the regional campuses in Greensburg, Johnstown, Bradford and Titusville

Dostilio said the idea for the Community Impact Network began to take shape about a year and a half ago, when Provost Joe McCarthy asked her to consider creating a dedicated home for engaged scholarship within UCSUR, a 50-year-old University-wide research center. Not long after, a national search led to the appointment of Shannon Wanless as UCSUR director, who Dostilio credited with building out the center's leadership team, including Joylette Portlock to lead the new Community Impact Network.

"We are very excited to be the hub of community engaged research at Pitt," Wanless said, describing the network as an effort to lift up the full portfolio of the University's community-engaged researchers to help make that work "even better, even more efficient, even more trustworthy" in how it serves the people of western Pennsylvania. 

Portlock outlined the network's two core components, starting with the community impact teams, which pair University researchers with external stakeholders on an identified community priority over a one-and-a-half- to two-year timeline. The second component is the network forum, a peer-learning space open to all team members, UCSUR affiliates and community stakeholders alike. 

"We're really trying to create an inclusive space for everyone engaged in this work to be able to come together, learn from one another, and do more, better," she said.

Inaugural projects

Four community impact teams are part of the network's inaugural cohort: a community organization data support team; the Mon Valley Environmental Health Initiative; a housing instability in early childhood team; and a youth wellbeing network. 

Together, the projects address community organizational capacity, environmental health and pollution exposure, housing and homelessness data, and coordinated access to youth and family services. The network model features community-University partnerships with shared project design and implementation and a cohort-based timeline.

Tina Ndoh, associate professor of environmental and occupational health and associate dean for public health practice, discussed her team's project, the Mon Valley Environmental Health initiative. Ndoh said the project grew directly out of a request from the community group Valley Clean Air Now, which asked researchers to look more closely at pollution's health effects on Mon Valley neighborhoods. 

"This work was brought to us by Valley Clean Air Now, so I love that it's speaking to research that the community asked for," Ndoh said. "As academics, we don't always get the luxury of getting to hear and then do what the community directly wants."

Ndoh described the team's approach as pairing new data collection with interventions already known to work, rather than simply documenting problems. "We're not leaving communities just with here's more information about the problem, but here's more information about the solutions," she said. 

The project is collecting environmental health data across the Mon Valley to compare local chronic disease rates with state and national levels, examining proximity to industrial and other pollution sources. The team is also launching a home air quality sensor loan library and conducting "filter forensics" on household air filters to identify specific pollutants, with a particular focus on PFAS exposure. Ndoh credited support from Pitt's Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, the Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Research, and the Heinz Endowments for funding the initiative's next phase.

How to get involved

Pitt faculty, staff, students and cross-sector community stakeholders can apply to become a UCSUR Affiliate, which includes invitations to future Community Impact Network events and forum meetings. Applications are due on Oct. 30. The next Community Impact Network Forum date is Dec. 2, with later forums planned for March and June of 2027.

UCSUR is offering an optional, one-hour information session at noon Oct. 14 at the center’s office (3343 Forbes Ave.); recordings of this session will be available upon request. For inquiries about this session or its recording, please contact Kaleb Armstrong at kra139@pitt.edu.

Researchers currently working on community-engaged projects who are interested in being considered as a future network team are encouraged to contact Joylette Portlock at jlp351@pitt.edu.

Chuck Staresinic is interim editor of the University Times. Reach him at chuck.s@pitt.edu.

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