It’s TRUE. We have our eyes on Justice.
What We Are About
The Transformative Research Unit for Equity (TRUE) is turning practice into impact through transformative research that leverages power, influence and resources to advance equity.
We Are
- an interdisciplinary team of dedicated experts leading a new way forward with equity-centered transformative research.
- accountable to our vision to move from practice to impact.
- accountable to the communities that bear the burden of injustice.
- accountable to our privilege as scientists and changemakers with the power to shift narratives and dismantle oppressive systems.
- accountable to the clients who have entrusted us to find solutions to society's most challenging problems.
Centering Equity In Research
Equity exists when the intersections of your social identities, residence in marginalized communities, and/or experience with oppressive systems does not determine your opportunities, access to resources, and outcomes in life.
RTI is committed to centering equity at 3 levels – in our values as researchers, in the process of conducting research, and in the outcomes of our research. This requires acknowledging, addressing & dismantling systemic biases in mindsets, practices, and policies.
Integrated Workstreams
Equity Capacity Building Hub
Equity Capacity Building Hub
Trains and consults with researchers, provides holistic mentorship to emerging scholars, and builds partnerships with the community to transform inequitable systems by using equity-centered and culturally responsive research practices.
Social and Economic Justice Research Collaborative
Social and Economic Justice Research Collaborative
An interdisciplinary team of scientists who are building an evidence base of impactful interventions to transform oppressive and inequitable systems, policies, programs, and practices through strategic consultation, research, evaluation, and training/technical assistance.
Narrative Research and Community Engagement Lab
Narrative Research and Community Engagement Lab
A lab that studies the dominant narratives impacting marginalized communities and engages these communities in the research, co-creation, and multi-platform dissemination of new narratives that offer solutions and inform racial, social, and economic justice policy and practice.
Meet TRUE’s Founding Director: Dr. Stephanie Hawkins
“I am a servant leader who believes it’s our passion coupled with our expertise that leads to impact. My colleagues and I are passionate about the role of research in making systems more just. Through TRUE, we will use innovative, equity-centered and culturally responsive research practices to develop solutions to some of the most important challenges of our time”.
TRUE Stories
Equitable Economic Development Idea Lab
The Equitable Economic Development Idea Lab is a virtual platform for sharing ideas, perspectives, and experiences that can contribute to advancing the field of practice and creating more equitable economies.
Male Survivors of Community Violence
A concerted effort is needed to link Black male survivors of community violence to services that can help them begin to heal and protect them from the risks of victimization.
The Long Arm of Redlining: Health Inequities in the Digital Divide
The link between historical redlining and access to broadband internet should inform new policies ensuring that where you live doesn't determine if you live.
Equity Across the Institute
Health Equity
Health equity is achieved when your social identities, residence in marginalized communities, and experience with structural racism and other oppressive systems do not determine your health outcomes.
Environmental Justice
Climate equity works to balance both access to key resources, while protecting vulnerable communities and populations from environmental hazards, regardless of race, income, or other characteristics.
Forward Promise
The Robert Wood Foundation selected RTI and Chapin Hall to evaluate through a culturally responsive lens the impact of Forward Promise's effort to address trauma and healing among boys and young men of color.
Empowering Haitian Women
Women farmers play a vital but unheralded role in agriculture in Haiti. The Haiti MAIS program, in partnership with RTI, is working to improve opportunities for women farmers from the ground up. The program focuses on practical education for farmers, while prioritizing women’s economic empowerment.
Meet the Experts
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Yewande O. Addie
Yewande O. Addie
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Monica Sheppard
Monica Sheppard
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Tatiana E. Bustos
Tatiana E. Bustos
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Dilsey Davis
Dilsey Davis
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Janelle Armstrong-Brown
Janelle Armstrong-Brown
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Daniela Pineda
Daniela Pineda
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Megan Comfort
Megan Comfort
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Nitya Venkateswaran
Nitya Venkateswaran
Related Projects
Addressing Environmental Injustices Through a National Program
Serving as EPA Region 4 Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Center (REACT4EJ)
Read More about Addressing Environmental Injustices Through a National Program
