Criminal Justice Professor Shirley Leyro Receives Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Grant for Latina/O/X Researchers Support Network

Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC/CUNY) Criminal Justice Professor Shirley Leyro has secured $284,940 in funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to create a Latina/O/X Researchers Support Network (LRSN).

The one-year grant will fund research and preliminary planning to form a nationwide professional and emotional capacity-building support space for Latina/o/x researchers across disciplines that will facilitate a commitment to research and to alternative methodologies in the pursuit of health equity for the U.S. Latina/o/x population.

This is the first RWJF award BMCC has received in nearly a decade according to the Research Foundation of CUNY.

Professor Leyro, Lead Principal Investigator will work closely on the project with Co-Principal Investigator Anthony Peguero, a Sociology and Criminology Professor at Arizona State University.

The planning project seeks to follow the legacy of the former Latina Researchers Network (LRN), which over the years expanded its online presence and built a nationwide community that led to interdisciplinary research collaborations.

Professor Leyro says the LRSN will support a network of scholars who are committed to actionable research in the pursuit of health equity for the U.S. Latino/o/x communities. She projects the network will see significant growth as more and more Latinx are entering Ph.D. programs across the country.

The Latina/o/x population currently makes up 18.5% of the United States population and that percentage is expected to double by 2050. By remaining laser-focused on the Latina/o/x population, the network can broaden the understanding of how race and racism are associated with the social drivers of health for Latina/o/x communities, families, and individuals.

For its part, funder RWFJ is focused on dismantling the forms of discrimination that impact health and well-being, including structural racism, ableism, sexism and prejudice based on sexual orientation especially for individuals and communities that have historically been under-invested in and marginalized.

Isabel Cuervo, PhD, Program Officer, Research-Evaluation-Learning at RWJF said she is excited and deeply committed to supporting a space for both the professional and personal development for Latina/o/x scholars and researchers.

“As a Latina, and a graduate of the CUNY Graduate Center, I value the personal experiences that inform our praxis as we work in community and with communities to build knowledge and uplift approaches that redress health and well-being inequities and injustices,” said Dr. Cuervo. “RWJF working with public universities, especially community colleges, is part of this vision too. Drs. Leyro and Peguero’s plan for a sustainable and long-term network will help to transform health in the United States in our lifetime and pave the way together to a future where health is no longer a privilege but a right.”

“The network will also provide Ph.D. students as well as early-to-late career scholars with needed support,” said Professor Leyro. “This includes networking as well as regional and national meet-ups where we can all get together and discuss our research.”

Professor Leyro explains that emotional support is also essential because there is often a sense of isolation when a researcher is at an institution where they might be the only Latina in an academic program or department.“Even academic environments can be difficult, particularly when you are a person of color and you have to work harder than everyone else and justify your existence in these programs because of preconceived notions,” said Professor Leyro. “It also helps to have a network of scholars that look like you culturally and a place to have fellowship with other scholars.”