Inside the Beloved Community IRB
Beloved Community is one of less than two dozen nonprofits in the country currently approved for Institutional Review Board (IRB). We are one of even fewer IRBs housed at a Black womxn led nonprofit.
What is an IRB? Under FDA regulations, an Institutional Review Board (IRB) is a group formally designated to review and monitor research involving ‘human subjects’. In accordance with FDA regulations, an IRB has the authority to approve, require modifications in (to secure approval), or disapprove research. The Beloved Community IRB is one of less than two dozen IRBs based at nonprofits in the US. We are one of even fewer IRBs housed at a Black womxn led nonprofit.
The Beloved Community IRB serves to:
Facilitate people-centered research practices that honor the individual in human subjects research
Democratize knowledge by reclaiming knowledge from universities and college campuses
Disrupt White Supremacy Culture (WSC) in research production & dissemination
This is important because the vast majority of IRBs are based at university and college campuses and research centers; by launching an IRB at Beloved Community, we disrupt existing systems of knowledge production and research approval.
This past winter, the Beloved Community IRB made its first approval.
Led by IRB Chair Dr. Ana Aparicio and IRB member Bryn Pernot, the Beloved Community IRB approved Dr. Nnenna Odim’s Participatory Action Research (PAR) project. Dr. Odim’s project engages Black and Latine caregivers in New Orleans as researchers in their own community as part of the wider NOLA C.A.R.E.S. project. The Beloved Community IRB approval means that Dr. Odim’s project meets guidelines for ethical human subjects research. We are excited to have her Bulbancha-based PAR project serve as the inaugural Beloved Community IRB approval.
Nicole Ford, AD of PAR, will submit her PAR Houston project to the Beloved Community IRB this spring. We look forward to working with Nicole’s expertise in Houston on this project.
Learn more about Beloved Community’s approach to research here.