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The Community-Based Research Project of the Center for Social Concerns fosters research partnerships between university constituents -- faculty, graduate students, undergraduates, staff members -- and community organizations. The model of the initiative is based on three guiding tenets:
Participation ---
Rooted in participatory action research, Freirian pedagogy, and notions of applied scholarship,
ideally the method is collaborative, fostering participation by all parties involved.
Social Change ---
Scholarship furthered through the Center for Social Concerns will generally 
cultivate positive social change while adding to existing knowledge.
Catholic Social Tradition ---
As with all of the work at the Center, these scholarly endeavors aim “to create a sense of human
solidarity and concern for the common good that will bear fruit as learning becomes service to justice"
(from ND’s Mission Statement).
The primary focus of the Center’s Community-Based Research (CBR) efforts is the local area.
Studentstravel to sites across the U.S. and internationally as part of the Center’s community-based
learning courses, however, and some of these sites offer CBR opportunities. In this way, the Center's
CBR efforts extend beyond Notre Dame’s neighboring communities.
The goals of the Center for Social Concerns CBR Project are to: