UA Little Rock Students Partner With City on High-Impact Social Work Research
More than 60 Master of Social Work graduate students at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock partnered with the city of Little Rock on a service-learning research project focused on unhoused populations.
The project was led by Dr. Tracey McElwee, associate professor and gerontology program coordinator at UA Little Rock. It was conducted as part of a graduate social work research course in collaboration with the city’s Department of Housing and Neighborhood Programs.
“This was not a simulated classroom exercise,” McElwee said. “Students were engaged in a real world research project that connected advanced research training with meaningful community impact.”
McElwee said students worked in five research groups aligned with city-identified priorities, including emergency shelters and transitional housing, healthcare access, permanent housing options, municipal coordination, and data-driven planning and leadership. Online and face-to-face students collaborated to complete large-scale studies within a single 15-week semester.
“What makes this project unique is its scope,” McElwee said. “Producing multiple publishable manuscripts in one semester using an advanced research method is highly uncommon in graduate education.”
The project has already produced significant scholarly and community outcomes. One manuscript with 13 student co-authors has been published, and a second has been accepted, with additional papers under review or in final preparation. Students also submitted a technical report to the city’s Department of Housing and Neighborhood Programs to support local decision-making related to homelessness services and policy.
Building on the project’s findings, a former student received one of the inaugural College of Business, Health and Human Services Graduate Student Research Grants to conduct original qualitative research on data reporting and service delivery among organizations serving people experiencing homelessness in Arkansas.
McElwee said data collection will begin in spring 2026 in West Memphis, Ark., expanding the project’s impact and addressing gaps in Arkansas-based research.