Advancing Knowledge and Reproductive Justice: The UC Community Research Hub (UC Community Research Hub) is a partnership between UC Davis, UC Berkeley, and UC San Francisco. The UC Community Research Hub aims to train community members, faculty, staff, and learners in community research - a participatory approach that includes community members as meaningful partners throughout the entire research process.
Our training was built on the following three frameworks:
Community-Based Participatory Research:
A collaborative approach that involves parties from multiple sectors, including community members, community-based organizations, and healthcare systems, throughout the entire research process aimed to identify communities' strengths to address social and health inequities.
Reproductive and Birth Justice:
Intersectional, feminist social movement, theory, and praxis conceived of by Black women in the United States who did not see their lives represented in mainstream feminist rhetoric around individual reproductive “choice” and singular focus on abortion access. As a result, reproductive justice is concerned with promoting the right to have children, to not have children, to parent with dignity, as well as to sexual and bodily autonomy while acknowledging the struggles for racial, gender, economic, and environmental justice; comprehensive immigration and prison reform; and universal access to affordable and high-quality health care throughout the life course.
Anti-Racist Practice and Research:
A praxis and research paradigm that requires “the rejection of the racist ideology, practices, and behaviors in oneself; the active opposition of all forms of racism in individuals and institutions; and the advocacy of individual conduct, institutional practices, and cultural expressions that promote inclusiveness and interdependence and acknowledge and respect racial differences.” Key elements of an anti-racist praxis are reflexive relational practice, structural power analysis, systems change theory, sociopolitical education, and monitoring progress.
Our vision is to shift power from academic institutions to community members and organizations to lead research efforts centered on reproductive and birth justice.
Who We Are: A collaborative initiative led by researchers, community members, and healthcare professionals working together to advance reproductive and birth justice through community-driven research.
Who We Serve: Individuals and communities disproportionately affected by adverse reproductive health outcomes, with a focus on Black, Indigenous, and Latine birthing people.
What We Do: We co-design research projects and interventions with communities to address the root causes of reproductive health disparities.
How We Work: We implement a community-based participatory research approach to ensure inclusivity, equity, and shared decision-making in reproductive health research.
