Northeastern University professor Alicia Modestino’s research has found employment, wages and academic benefits from the Boston Summer Youth Employment program.
Her research found an opioid-buyback pilot program was less successful.
But Modestino says that’s alright because she had a supportive community partner who collaborated on a new approach.
“You can’t be afraid to do research and find that something doesn’t work — that’s the point of doing research,” says Modestino, an associate professor of public policy and urban affairs and economics. “But only when you have a long-term relationship can you tell a policy partner it doesn’t work and you need a new solution, and that leads to the next project.”
In recognition of her community-engaged research that partners academic scholars and community organizers, Modestino has been selected as the second annual Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab North America (J-PAL North America) evidence champion. The honor recognizes individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to the field of evidence-based policymaking.
Modestino, who is also research director of the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy, was recognized for her work with Northeastern’s Community to Community (C2C) impact engine and its work on summer youth employment in Boston and Oakland, California.
“What C2C is based on — and is its guiding force — is research and practicing a partnership model where we’re co-creating the research question with the community,” Modestino explains. “We’re going out and collecting data together in a way that’s credible and equitable, and interpreting results together as well.”
Modestino says that researchers traditionally eschewed such a “practice-partnership model,” feeling that it led to bias. But perspectives have changed.
“When you have that partnership, everyone has skin in the game — the researcher, partner and policy maker have incentive to use that solution because they helped design and implement that,” Modestino says.
The J-PAL North America award recognizes that changed perspective.
Modestino says that Northeastern’s focus on experiential learning and partnerships across a global network show that the university does too.
“Northeastern is really leading the way in being able to provide researchers with the infrastructure they need but also to work with people on the ground and build those relationships in an equitable and ethical way,” Modestino says. “We can make a difference, we can add value to the neighborhoods and surrounding communities and we will be there for the long term.”