The Nonprofit Center at La Salle University allocates $10,000 research grant

The grant will support a community-driven mental health project as part of the 2024 Community-Driven Research Day (CDRD).

La Salle representatives at 2024 Community-Driven Research Day (CDRD), left to right: Adjunct Professor Tesla Dubois, M.S., Chair and ProfessorKelly Daily, Ph.D., Associate ProfessorCaitlin Taylor, Ph.D., Assistant ProfessorFlo Ling, Ph.D., Assistant ProfessorNilofar Varzgani, Ph.D., Executive Director Kara Wentworth, Ph.D., Associate ProfessorYang Wang, Ph.D., Chair, Management and Associate ProfessorMeghan Pierce, Ph.D., and Kevin Beideman, '26.

La Salle University announced has allocated a $10,000 research grant to support a community-driven mental health project aimed at enhancing the coping skills of Black and Brown youth.

The grant, administered by The Nonprofit Center at La Salle University, will fund the development and pilot of a gamified version of the That Could Be Me® EduCreation Platform. This project exemplifies La Salle's dedication to fostering community-university partnerships that address pressing social needs. The initiative was selected as part of La Salle's participation in the 2024 Community-Driven Research Day (CDRD), an event co-sponsored by the University for the first time in 2024. Held on February 9 at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), CDRD is a collaboration between six area institutions, connecting researchers with community-based organizations to drive research addressing social determinants of health.

"This research grant underscores La Salle's commitment to building solutions that not only benefit communities but are driven by those communities," said Kara Wentworth, The Nonprofit Center's executive director and chair of the Grant Review Committee. "By supporting projects like this, we aim to uplift voices that are too often underrepresented and ensure that our research impacts real lives."

An associate professor in the Department of Computer Science, Yang Wang, Ph.D., serves as co-principal investigator (Co-PI) of the project, alongside Derrick S. Tarver, founder and CEO of That Could Be Me Foundation. The project team also includes La Salle students Kevin Beideman, '26, and Elizabeth Wayne, '28, working in collaboration with Stephen DiDonato, Ph.D., an associate professor at Thomas Jefferson University. Their project aims to empower youth through digital creation skills, self-care techniques, and an online peer support community. With the use of generative AI-based creative tools, young people will be able to express their identities, explore their aspirations, and envision a positive future for their communities.

Caitlin J. Taylor, Ph.D., associate professor and chair of the Community-Engaged Learning Committee, added: "Faculty and student engagement in community-based research can bring fresh insights and real-world perspectives into the classroom, while also directly benefiting the community."