This spring, the Little Rock Congregations Study is working with a Practicum team of graduate students from the Clinton School of Public Service to host a series of facilitated dialogues on community issues. The topics of these dialogues were selected based on the results of the 2020 Little Rock Congregations Study Survey, conducted in 35 diverse Little Rock congregations with nearly 2,300 congregants. The results showed that Education, Healthcare, and Marriage & Family were among the top issues identified by the responding congregants.
The community dialogues will bring together congregations and nonprofits to talk about these important issues and explore opportunities for collaboration. The first of the three dialogues, focusing on Education, will take place on Thursday, February 11, 2021 from 6-8 pm. The second dialogue, on Healthcare, will be Thursday, February 18, 2021 from 6-8 pm. The third and final dialogue will be on Marriage & Family on Thursday, February 25, 2021 from 6-8 pm. All of the events will be held virtually and interested participants can register at this link: https://bit.ly/397fxsw.
Dr. Rebecca Glazier, the director of the Little Rock Congregations Study and an Associate Professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said, “our research has shown that people and places of faith are often engaged in helping to solve important community problems—serving is often a key part of their religion. But sometimes nonprofits and faith communities aren’t as well-connected as they could be. We hope these facilitated dialogues will help bring them together and build bridges for future collaboration.”
Amanda Cady, one of the student researchers from the Clinton School of Public Service, said “It is an honor to be able to work with the Little Rock community! I am looking forward to the opportunity to provide actionable ways for Little Rock Congregations and nonprofits to partner and better meet the needs of the community.” To learn more about Amanda and the other members of the research team, click on their student researcher profiles below.
All interested members of the Little Rock community are invited to attend the facilitated dialogues, especially those from faith communities and nonprofits, but space is limited, so please register via this link as soon as possible: http://ualr.at/talklrcs. If you need more information or have questions, please email Dr. Rebecca Glazier at raglazier@ualr.edu. You can also read our 2020 Little Rock Congregations Study executive report or explore our website: https://research.ualr.edu/lrcs/.
