Did you know that Pittsburgh is considered to be the Paris of Appalachia? I guess that makes the Cathedral of Learning our Eiffel Tower. Maybe that’s why Pittsburghers put French fries on salads!
Welcome!
I am Chance Thomas, a junior majoring in Social Work, pursuing a minor in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, and possibly adding another minor or two because college isn’t hard enough. I currently serve as the Diversity Chair to the Veterans Advisory Board and intern as the Senior Resident Supervisor at the House of Hope Veterans Home. I also work and volunteer with various groups, organizations, and non-profits to advance LGBTQ+ education, increase visibility, address discrimination, and reduce disparities in communities and institutions. I love to learn, in class, from books, or documentaries, but my favorite is listening to the stories and experiences when people share them with me. I love to cook, especially when I can cook for others. I like to fish, hike, camp, kayak, and have a growing apartment garden that includes plants, herbs, succulents and 6 varieties of Bonsai trees.
My path to the University of Pittsburgh was not a straight line, it started in The United States Navy. I served as a Military Police Officer attached to a Joint Task Force and deployed overseas for multiple tours. After serving for 5 and 1/2 years I was medically retired due to injuries sustained during my service.
Disabled Veteran, Police Officer, LGBTQ+, Social Work, what does that have to do with Appalachia? I live for a good comeback story.
The Appalachian Collegiate Research Initiative (ACRI) is organized by the Appalachian Regional Commission and is comprised of multiple colleges and universities across the Appalachian Region. ARC’s mission is “to innovate, partner, and invest to build community capacity and strengthen economic growth in Appalachia.” (ARC.gov). The University of Pittsburgh joined ACRI in 2021 through the David C. Frederick Honors College. The University of Pittsburgh committed to a 10-year multi-disciplinary approach to ethical, cooperative and inclusive community engaged research centered around the decline of the steel industry, population loss, economic development and the challenges the community faces as it moves forward. This is the fourth year of this project, which means not only will we be working and collaborating closely with our community partners at the Fayette County Cultural Trust; we will also build upon and expand the work, knowledge and relationships formed over the last three years.
This year’s cohort is comprised of four smaller groups paired with their respective professors. The Political Science group led by Dr. Kristen Kanthak Associate Professor of Political Science; the Urban studies group led by Dr. Michael Glass, Director Urban Studies; the Sustainability group led by Dr. David Sanchez Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering; and the Business Group led by Dr. Bryan Schultz, Director of Global Experiences at Pitt’s College of Business Administration. This interdisciplinary approach ensures multiple lenses, various methods, and a variety of perspectives to facilitate the research we create with the community.
Our Urban Studies group will focus on strengthening relationships within the community to better understand transportation challenges facing the community as well as identifying transportation issues that may prevent tourists from engaging with local businesses. The Fayette County Cultural Trust has done amazing work revitalizing downtown Connellsville and the small businesses in this area. Transportation is not only vital to ensure the continued growth and success of the community, but also a vital component in bringing tourism revenue to local businesses and bolster economic growth.
The Appalachian Region is a unique area with a distinct history that fundamentally altered the trajectory of the entire country, yet Appalachia is synonymous with the identity of “Left Behind Places”. The rural areas are vast expanses of beautiful rolling hills and thick forests, where water trickles from the rocks and spills into rivers. The rivers open up and collide with urban centers where innovation and technology are situated between the rusted shadows of history. This is Appalachia, the urban/rural divide is as small as the drive from here to Fayette County. The region is a paradox of conflicting and overlapping identities, some chosen, others-not so much. The resilience, grit and determination of the people in this area continues to be underestimated. Pittsburgh or Connellsville, urban or rural, coal or technology. At the end of the day, people are people, and they are the most important and underutilized natural resource Appalachia has ever had.
Social Work inherently lives at the intersection of economics, politics, psychology, criminal justice, communication, conflict resolution, and the lists go on. When individuals, families or communities struggle, social workers meet them where they are. People are what drove me to this project, not to research the people of Appalachia, or Fayette County, or Connellsville, but to create research with them, for them. This project rejects the research, determine needs, and fix models used in addressing community challenges. The people first, working and learning with, paired with a commitment to building relationships and creating knowledge together is the only approach I believe can bridge the divide.
This project coincides with my disparity and inequity work in Veteran and LGBTQ+ communities and helps to strengthen the skills needed to understand the complexity of struggles individuals and communities face. This project affords me the opportunity to not only work with and learn from our partners at the Fayette County Cultural Trust, I will also have the opportunity of working with small business owners, mothers, fathers, residents and tourists. The added bonus of this project is that I will be learning from, working with and beside some truly brilliant and dedicated professors, as well as some incredibly talented and passionate peers.
My hope for this project is to build upon the work of our predecessors, strengthening existing relationships, building strong collaborative new relationships, and provide substantial and actionable feedback to our partners. Best case scenario, I played a very small part in an incredible comeback story.