History:   

    In 1995, two professors from the Department of Psychology and Latino and Latin American Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) initiated a set of meetings with the director of the Hispanic Community Center (HCC; now known as El Centro de las Americas) to discuss links between UNL and the HCC. At about the same time, a group of UNL faculty had a series of discussions resulting from the Midwest Consortium for Latino Research Scholars Conference held in August 1996. This MCLR working group eventually became more formalized and developed into the Latino Research Initiative (LRI). Consistent with its goal to create an interdisciplinary group, members from a number of other academic departments were invited to join the LRI. The LRI has members from several colleges representing but not limited to the following disciplines: Anthropology-Geography, Community and Regional Planning, English, Ethnic Studies, Child, Youth and Family Studies, History, Teaching, Learning and Teacher Education, Latino and Latin American Studies, Psychology, and Sociology. Out of several initial meetings, two research projects emerged: Latino Achievement Mentoring Program (LAMP) and Quality of Life of Latino Families in Lincoln, Nebraska (QoL).

 

The goals of the LRI are to:

	Engage in culturally sensitive and competent research and programming.
	Contribute to the limited knowledge base related to the needs of the Latino community.
	Develop, implement, and evaluate programming for the Latino community.
	Disseminate information to, and learn from, practice systems, scholars, and policy-related systems that are related to addressing Latino issues and needs.

    The LRI has developed a university-community outreach and scholarship model using Boyers (1994) conception of the "New American College". It is embedded within four systems; the community, community agency, university, and professional community. It integrates the four scholarly functions identified by Boyer (1990); discovery, integration, application, and teaching. Additionally, it is based on the principles of a multidisciplinary team, collaboration, engagement, responsibility and commitment to the community, applied research, professional development, and serving as a resource to others. In summary, this model is designed for community and university and community members to engage in one or more of the four areas of scholarship that serve to improve the quality of life of the Latino/a community.

Support for LRI projects provided by:
Cooper Foundation, EducationQuest Foundation, Lincoln Credit Association, Sowers Club, UNL College of Arts and Sciences, UNL Office of the Research Council, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Community Outreach Partnership Center (COPC) Initiative, and the Woods Charitable Fund, Inc.