Over Darlyne Bailey’s 30+ years of research experience in communities both large and small, she has constructed a form of participatory research called Community Dialogues for Action (CDA), for which our organization is named. We are committed to using this form of research to effectively engage community-based experts as “co-inquirers” in designing and conducting the research to determine how to address the structural inequities that directly affect them. CDA begins by putting together a research team of community members and other stakeholders. Team members work together to identify research questions and explore the answers through gathering data, studying to understand the data, generating recommendations, and disseminating their findings. CDA elicits the thinking and amplifies the voices of those who are usually left out of the policymaking conversations that directly impact them, a process critical for equitable and sustainable systems change.
2024-2025
Funded with support from the Bucks-Mont Collaborative, Dr. Bailey and Sarah Spath worked with Neighbors Helping Neighbors on the Main Line (NHN) to support assessment and advocacy efforts with their Education Empowerment programs for school-age children in Ardmore, PA. This is the final report
2021-2022
Funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Dr. Bailey and Kelly McNally Koney worked with Why Not Prosper -- a grassroots organization in Philadelphia, PA founded by formerly incarcerated women for formerly incarcerated women. “BARB” stands for Breaking All Racial Barriers, and the project sought to identify ways to reinvest some of Philadelphia’s criminal justice dollars into community-based initiatives that would better serve the City’s Black and Brown people.
2012 – 2015
Funded by the Agnes Irwin School in Rosemont, PA, Dr. Bailey worked with the teachers to investigate how to embed leadership development in its Lower School and create a leadership toolkit.
2009 – 2012
Funded by a major donor, Dr. Bailey worked with the Norristown Area School District. She provided participating children with cameras and asked them to photograph images that made them happy. The results were displayed in a community art exhibition.
2007 – 2009
Funded by the University of Minnesota, Dr. Bailey worked with stakeholders in the Northside neighborhood of Minneapolis, MN as part of a large-scale project to reduce disparities and address issues identified by the community.
2003 – 2006
Funded by an anonymous donor, Dr. Bailey worked with this umbrella for collaborations among Teacher's College, New York City public schools, and the communities in which they exist.
1993 – 1997
Funded by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, Dr Bailey worked with this initiative to involve communities in Cleveland, OH in working to improve public housing.
1991 – 1997
Funded by the US Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. Bailey and Kelly McNally Koney worked on this large-scale project to create a community consortium for decreasing mortality and morbidity for high-risk infants.