The Annie E. Casey Foundation aimed to expand research opportunities for early-career scholars and researchers of color while leveraging a rich longitudinal dataset.

The Making Connections initiative, funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation (Casey), is a collaboration of local organizations and residents that sought to improve outcomes for disadvantaged children by strengthening their families, improving their neighborhoods, and raising the quality of local services. The Making Connections Survey gathered longitudinal data in low-income communities in 10 U.S. cities over a 10-year period. When data collection for Making Connections ended in 2011, the Foundation began to explore opportunities to promote secondary analysis using the survey data.

NORC used targeted methods to recruit diverse applicants and coordinate awards to two cohorts of researchers.

Between 2014 and 2020, NORC at the University of Chicago worked with the Foundation to offer external researchers opportunities to utilize Making Connections data sets to advance knowledge related to low-income families, their children and communities. NORC engaged an expert panel to select awards to two cohorts of researchers. These awards were made possible in part by the Foundation’s Emerging Scholars Initiative, which aims to offer researchers and evaluators of color opportunities to conduct a secondary analysis using a Casey-supported data set. NORC provided authorized Research Scholars access to the Making Connections data via the NORC Data Enclave® and provided technical assistance. The awards have resulted in 13 published journal articles, two working papers, and at least 14 conference presentations.

Ten researchers produced analyses that advance understanding of families in low-income neighborhoods.

The Making Connections Research Scholar awards have resulted in 13 published journal articles, two working papers, and at least 14 conference presentations.