10 Stanford Social Innovation Review / Winter 2018

STEPHANIE WYKSTRA (@swykstr) is a freelance writer and research consultant based in New York City who has worked as a researcher with nonprofits and in academia. Her work has recently appeared in Slate, Vox, and Inside Higher Ed.

connects with folks that would on inclusivity far longer than COLLABORATION typically be open to home-shar- Airbnb. ing platforms,” he says. Meanwhile, Airbnb hopes Noirbnb cofounders Jide to extend its one-year agree- Bringing Together Ehimika and Stefan Grant are ment with the NAACP into taking a different approach. a longer-term partnership. Research and Action BY STEPHANIE WYKSTRA “Noirbnb doesn’t believe trav- “Minority guests shouldn’t be elers should have to hide their limited to a reduced selection of ate in the evening on and departments to a identity to expect to be treated rooms—meaning higher prices, November 8, 2016, after meeting, and they began consid- with fairness and respect,” less convenient [lodgings], and Lwhat felt like the “worst ering how they could direct their Ehimika says. “We under- just fewer choices all around,” party” he’d ever attended, Will skills to improving public policy. stand the intention behind the says Edelman. He believes that Adler considered his future. He By late fall, they had recommended measure, but Noirbnb and Innclusive are was halfway through a PhD in formed Scientist Action and this is part of the reason why admirable for their inclusiv- at New York Uni- Advocacy Network (ScAAN) the black travel community ity efforts, but that they won’t versity, but he felt a tension with the goal of partnering with has been slow to embrace the be able to change the system between his academic interests nonprofit organizations that home-sharing model.” Neither on their own because Airbnb and his desire, in light of the US could use their help. They soon Noirbnb cofounder is wor- will continue to dominate the election results, to do something got in touch with Raise the Age, ried about competition from market. “Society would be best more immediately useful. So he a campaign advocating for New the NAACP initiative, noting served by Airbnb improving invited fellow students and pro- York to increase the age of crimi-

that they have been working practices on its site,” he says. n fessors in NYU’s neuroscience nal responsibility to 18. (New NETWORK AND ADVOCACY ACTION OF SCIENTIST COURTESY PHOTOGRAPH Stanford Social Innovation Review / Winter 2018 11

, neuroscience PhD student Jenn Laura Lee speaks at a press conference in support of raising the age of criminal responsibility to 18.

York was one of only two states describes ScAAN’s work with that automatically prosecuted nonprofits as “a way to stay sane 16- and 17-year-olds as adults). in graduate school ... to do some- Neuroscience PhD student thing now and see the effects of Jenn Laura Lee led ScAAN’s your work.” A main barrier to effort to present research on this sort of collaboration is that the malleability of the adoles- many scientists don’t know how cent brain to lawmakers. This to get in touch with nonprofits to enter profiles and connect scale and ease of collaboration was an important contribution that could use their skills. with collaborators. It currently through an online platform, to conveying the matter in a But another new group is has more than 350 members. Levine says. He is also excited way that non-neuroscientists working to address this issue. There are certainly other about the site’s “match-making” could understand, say Raise the This past February, Adam Seth organizations that bring feature, through which platform Age advocates Beth Powers and Levine of Cornell University, together government and non- staff make introductions when Stephanie Gendell. In April, Jake Bowers of the University profit partners with academic they see a potential pairing. Governor Andrew Cuomo of Illinois, and Donald Green of researchers—such as Evidence Research4Impact has also signed “raise the age” policy Columbia University launched in Governance and Politics, released a guide of recommend- into law. the site Research4Impact (www. Innovations for Poverty Action, ed collaboration practices, Academic researchers often r4impact.org) to facilitate and Abdul Latif Jameel Pov- stressing the importance of labor for years on research such connections. The website erty Action Lab (J-PAL). But good communication in areas without knowing whether and enables researchers as well as Research4Impact puts a unique such as plans for research, pub-

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF SCIENTIST ACTION AND ADVOCACY NETWORK AND ADVOCACY ACTION OF SCIENTIST COURTESY PHOTOGRAPH how it will affect the world. Lee nonprofit and government staff emphasis on expanding the lication of results, and data

From The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX This is Reveal

revealnews.org *Word Cloud based on our audience feedback 12 Stanford Social Innovation Review / Winter 2018

sharing. While researchers may postdoctoral student, ScAAN’s “grudging acceptance.” He is partnering with the New think they’re being clear, Levine Wei Ji Ma, now an associate speculates that this attitude York Campaign for Alterna- says, they’re often using termi- of neuroscience and comes (in part) from the feel- tives to Isolated Confinement, nology and making assumptions psychology at NYU, asked other ing that the collaboration is summarizing research on the that differ from their partner’s. scientists whether he could not very intellectually interest- psychological effects of soli- For example, researchers gener- combine NGO work with his ing, and hopes that bringing tary confinement, and assisting ally consider control groups nec- career in . The answer together a community through the tenants’ rights group Met- essary in an experiment, but the was often no, with an insistence Research4Impact will help ropolitan Council on Housing idea of excluding people from that to be successful, a scientist show otherwise. Levine thinks in better understanding the an intervention may seem like a must have “total focus.” that in the long term, the plat- people it serves. The group has waste of resources to practitio- Nevertheless, Ma decided form may also contribute to recruited members from other ners. Research4Impact’s guide that he was committed to stay- shifting the system of academic NYU departments, including to collaboration recommends ing involved in social action incentives from one where ten- environmental studies, and is taking time to clarify jargon and and found that he could do so ure review committees reward getting involved with environ- discuss reasoning. alongside his science career by academics mostly for publish- mental projects. It is also reach- A further barrier to aca- partnering with others—the ing to one where they give more ing out to those who want to demics getting involved in very idea behind ScAAN. consideration to the practical start similar initiatives at other partnerships with nonprofits Levine has also noted that impact of the academics’ work. universities, such as Princeton. is the that to be academics often meet the idea In the coming year, ScAAN Like Research4Impact, it sees successful, scientists must be of collaborating with nonprofit and Research4Impact both aim limitless opportunities for part- single-minded. When he was a or government partners with to expand their reach. ScAAN nerships. n