The Moritz Center is Committed to Connecting Community Organizations with Academic Partners
Learn more about—and connect with—the organizations actively working to integrate practice and social work research.
Mission Statement: Reducing trauma through zero barrier, proactive outreach and advocacy through education, community partnership and social justice.
Research Interests: How to stay engaged with people living outside and retain rapport and trust.
Mission Statement: To intentionally provide hands-on service through school and community-based programs, to enhance the quality of life for African American and low-income youth and families.
Research Interests: Program Accessibility & Equity, make sure services are reaching those who need them most. Are there gaps in who is being served? Language, transportation, or cultural barriers. Which case management strategies lead to the best outcomes? Client retention and engagement rates. Data tracking and service coordination improvements.
Mission Statement: The Neighbors Program serves our unhoused neighbors in Austin through direct service and advocacy, and some who are housed and have low-income or are under-employed.
Research Interests: Workforce opportunities for people who are unhoused.
Mission Statement: To support the education of youth in Latin America through infrastructure, resources and cultural exchange.
Research Interests: Focus on the intersection of education, trauma, and community-based development in underserved communities. I am particularly interested in understanding how exposure to violence and family separation impacts students emotional well-being, academic engagement, and future aspirations. Alongside this, I am interested in identifying and co-developing trauma-informed, school-based support systems that are rooted in the local context. A key part of this work is exploring how community-driven approaches through collaboration with local educators, families, and leaders can create sustainable solutions that strengthen both short-term student support and long-term educational opportunity.
Mission Statement: OPRC advances a twofold mission: (1) to strengthen the capacity of community providers through evidence based, trauma responsive training that improves service delivery to justice impacted individuals; and (2) to deliver comprehensive reentry planning, skills building, and wraparound support that promotes stability, employment, and long term success for our clients. Through collaborative partnerships and a holistic service model, OPRC enhances community readiness, reduces recidivism risk, and supports the successful reintegration of individuals returning from incarceration.
Mission Statement: Equidad ATX is a nonprofit organization dedicated to driving equitable and sustainable neighborhood revitalization in Austin’s Eastern Crescent. Through strategic initiatives, we work to break the cycle of generational poverty and create thriving, inclusive communities.
Mission Statement: AVANCE walks alongside children and families to achieve social and economic justice.
Research Interests: Research interests center on two-generation approaches that support both children and parents, with a focus on early childhood outcomes, family engagement, and pathways to economic mobility. I am also interested in how technology and data can improve access to services and program effectiveness, particularly for underserved communities.
Mission Statement: We lead Texas communities to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring.
Research Interests: Assist with expanding our knowledge and impact when it comes to statewide advocacy for preventing and ending homelessness. We would love support on building a more robust plan for advocacy and policy matters since at this time we do not have a paid full time staff member to work on this important topic.
Providing research and recommendations on how to expand or improve a current pilot project that provides direct cash transfers to families in order to help them stabilize and obtain permanent housing. We currently have a grant that will last up to 2 years to provide direct cash to families but we want to learn ways to improve the program as we go and what can be done to expand this program beyond the two years.
Identifying effective strategies to start, strengthen, and sustain local housing crisis response systems within a large, complex Balance of State HUD Continuum of Care framework. Specific research interests include examining and identifying strategies that could be implemented at the local-level to improve outcomes for people experiencing homelessness for a diverse group of communities with varying capacities and resource levels.
Mission Statement: The mission of American YouthWorks is to provide young people with opportunities to build careers, strengthen communities, and improve the environment through education, on-the-job training, and service to others.
Research Interests: Housing
Mission Statement: Our Mission is to break down barriers and empower individuals to reach their full potential by offering culturally rooted support, trusted resources, and inclusive spaces where all voices are valued, especially those historically excluded.
Research Interests: Rural area’s transportation
Mission Statement: Breaking Bread Outreach Ministries is focused on creating tangible expressions of God’s love by helping people in our community transform their lives by breaking out of cycles of addiction, abuse, mental illness, poverty, and homelessness.
Research Interests: Economic mobility, effects of poverty on mental health, post secondary education access
Mission Statement: Develop one-on-one friendships between housed and unhoused individuals.
Research Interests: Adult education, methods of processing information, learning styles. Psychology, group behavior, human dimension of organizations. Nudge economics, choice architecture, game theory