Fellows come from all over the university, bringing their particular passions and living out the public purpose of their discipline through teaching and researching in, with and for community.
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Co-Constructing Black Girls’ Wellness Using Participatory Approaches
Misha Inniss-Thompson is committed to sustaining equitable community partnerships with and for Black girls. Her research examines the impact of families, communities and schools in shaping Black girls’ mental health and wellness using a cultural-assets perspective.
As a Faculty Fellow in Engaged Scholarship, Inniss-Thompson has two aims. The first is to write a peer-reviewed article focused on the process of sustaining community-research partnerships, in the context of her work with Black high-school-aged girls. The piece is based on Inniss-Thompson’s work with the Black Girl Magic Crew, a Nashville-based afterschool program that aims to nurture the talent, knowledge and growth of Black girls.
Second, she plans to work alongside Black girls to co-create a wellness guide. The purpose of this project is to build a theory-praxis toolkit with participants in the Black Girl Magic Crew to provide Black girls, community partners and stakeholders with holistic resources concerning Black girls’ development and wellness.
Inniss-Thompson collaborates with community organizations to address the well-being of Black girls while creating transformative learning opportunities for Cornell students. Her community-engaged work has focused on developing partnerships with three non-profit organizations in New York State: Sankofa Reproductive Health & Healing Center (Syracuse), Black Girls Smile (NYC) and Future Wellness Foundation (NYC). In addition, she teaches Black Girlhood Studies: Rememory, Representation, and Reimagination (HD 4560), a seminar in which she works alongside English Language Arts teachers and students at DeWitt Middle School in Ithaca to develop culturally and historically relevant curriculum using middle grade and young adult literature.