Center for Community Research and Engagement Launches PolicyLab  

In keeping with its commitment to address the needs of Seton Hall’s neighboring urban communities, the Center for Community Research and Engagement (CCRE) launched PolicyLab in Spring 2022 in response to the misinformation surrounding New Jersey’s most pressing social and political issues. In conjunction with faculty across the College of Arts and Sciences and our local community partners, PolicyLab serves as a forum for community outreach, student-faculty collaboration, and cutting-edge research that will lead to innovative solutions to real-world problems. Drawing on the knowledge obtained through Seton Hall’s diverse liberal arts curriculum, PolicyLab will stimulate an environment of inclusion, understanding, and civility in today’s highly polarized political environment. We seek to create a safe space where students can engage in meaningful, candid dialogue with each other and with faculty, while searching for answers to an array of public policy questions. PolicyLab strives to uphold the University’s Catholic Mission by searching for the truth while developing policy outcomes that further the common good and continue the fight for a fair and just society.

Our pilot project – which included students from political science and Africana Studies classes – launched in Spring 2022 with a research question that examined the history of, and circumstances surrounding, Newark’s Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB). PolicyLab collaborated with multiple practitioners from diverse professional backgrounds including activists, local government administrators, and elected officials to learn about police misconduct, the controversies surrounding civilian oversight of law enforcement, and how a CCRB fits into the reimagining public safety movement. Students conducted independent research and prepared policy memos that identified problems within Newark’s public safety ecosystem and proposed legislative solutions to overcome these issues. CCRE’s Executive Director, Dr.Roseanne Mirabella, welcomes the new experiential opportunities that PolicyLab provides for students as she said "while courses in public policy provide students with theoretical understandings of the policy field, it is through practical application of these ideas that students begin to understand the policy process in action. PolicyLab is an excellent forum for students to discuss important policy issues with their peers and professors, conduct research on these issues, and develop policy proposals that can be brought to the attention of government officials, both elected and appointed."

Moving forward, PolicyLab hopes to expand its footprint and research policy issues related to environmental justice, food insecurity, and voting rights. CCRE’s PolicyLab initiative will focus exclusively on legislation that impacts the greater Newark area and aims to better understand policy issues that affect our local communities. We invite faculty and students from various schools of thought, including but not limited to Africana Studies, Criminal Justice, Political Science, Environmental Studies, English, Psychology, and Social Work to participate in this exciting initiative.

CCRE’s PolicyLab was developed by recent graduate Joseph Pastino ‘12/M.P.A. ‘22 and has been piloted in classes with Dr. Kelly Harris in the Africana Studies Program and Timothy Hoffman ‘15/M.P.A. ’16 in the Department of Political Science and Public Affairs. PolicyLab will continue to advance with the help of Dr. Juan Rios, as we seek to uncover the socioeconomic factors and outcomes associated with public policy decisions.

Categories: Nation and World, Research