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Our Purpose
Where Research Builds Relationships and Ideas Inspire Action.
The Neighborly Engagement Research Lab (NERLab) is a community-engaged research collaborative based at Providence College (PC). Grounded in a simple but powerful idea—that colleges and universities should engage with the communities where they are located as good neighbors—NERLab works to foster more equitable, reciprocal, and neighborly relationships between PC and the surrounding 02908 neighborhoods.
Through community-engaged research and co-created projects, we center resident perspectives, lived experiences, and local knowledge to better understand and strengthen community-campus relationships. By working alongside residents and campus stakeholders, we explore what it means to be a good neighbor and examine how colleges and universities can build trust, strengthen relationships, and leverage their resources to support mutually beneficial partnerships with the communities they call home. While rooted in Providence, the insights generated through this work offer a framework for advancing neighborly engagement across higher education.
Why "Neighborly Engagement Research Lab"?
Neighborly because we believe the measure of a good neighbor is not proximity, but intentional presence. Acting neighborly requires relationships grounded in reciprocity, trust, mutual respect, and sustained engagement.
Engagement because meaningful knowledge emerges through collaboration across campus and community. We believe learning happens through dialogue, partnership, and shared action.
Research because critical inquiry helps us better understand community-campus relationships and generate knowledge that informs both scholarship and practice.
Lab because NERLab is a space for learning, experimentation, and action—where ideas are explored, relationships are built, and knowledge is put into practice.