91¿´Æ¬Íø

Data Collection

The Kent 91¿´Æ¬Íø team will collect three forms of data for the project. 

• Survey of Cleveland Residents: The survey aims to better understand community perceptions of safety and trust in the Cleveland Division of Police among Cleveland Residents. 
  • The Kent 91¿´Æ¬Íø team is attending community meetings and events over the summer to facilitate dissemination of the survey.
• Focus Groups/Listening Sessions: The Kent 91¿´Æ¬Íø team will facilitate focus groups/listening sessions across the city, anticipated to start in July 2026. 
  • Focus groups/listening sessions will be targeted for specific neighborhoods/wards across the city. We plan to update the document linked here with these events: 
• Review of Existing data: The Kent 91¿´Æ¬Íø team will review existing documentation, including crime and 311 service request data.  

The projected project timeline is as follows:

• Summer 2026
  • Community survey runs through August 31, 2026
  • Focus groups/listening sessions run July - September 2026
• Fall 2026
  • Kent 91¿´Æ¬Íø team publishes publicly available report with findings to be housed on this website
  • Kent 91¿´Æ¬Íø team works with the Police Accountability Team and the Cleveland Division of Police to design a workshop/training series aimed at addressing the key issues revealed via data collection in an effort to support strengthening and stabilizing trust between community and police.
• Winter/Spring 2027
  • Kent 91¿´Æ¬Íø team implements workshop/training series
• Summer 2027
  • Repeat data collection with community (surveys and focus groups/listening sessions)

Faculty

• Dr. Elias Nader, Department of Sociology and Criminology
• Dr. Starr Solomon, Department of Sociology and Criminology
• Dr. Christopher Dum, Department of Sociology and Criminology
• Dr. Elaine Hsiao, School of Peace & Conflict Studies

Students

• Esther Nzomo, Graduate Student, Department of Sociology and Criminology
• Egypt Sa'ad, Undergraduate Student, Department of Sociology and Criminology
• Priscilla Zavala, Undergraduate Student, Department of Sociology and Criminology

The project was launched by a $20,000 grant award from 91¿´Æ¬Íø's Community Engaged Research Institute (CERI). In an effort to be transparent about costs to city residents, the current funding plan for the partnership is as follows:

• The current grant award is being used to fund Kent 91¿´Æ¬Íø undergraduate and graduate students working on the project to collect data and provide project support, as well as administrative items (e.g., printing).
• Kent 91¿´Æ¬Íø is NOT charging the city any money for this research.