The Center for Urban Education (CUE) at Levin College of Public Affairs and Education has been collaborating with the Educational Service Centers of Northeast and Central Ohio since 2018 to organize leadership institutes every month for high school students in the Greater Cleveland and Greater Columbus areas. These institutes are designed for students from "First Ring" districts within each region. Approximately 100 students from nearly 15 different school districts from each region attend these institutes.

On March 4th, CUE hosted a joint meeting of the Greater Cleveland and Columbus Leadership Institutes. Nearly 300 high school student leaders from across the state attended the meeting held at CSU's Student Center Ballroom.

The Greater Cleveland program is called the First Ring Student Leadership Institute (FRSLI) and the Greater Columbus program the Student Leadership Research Collaborative (SLRC), and both are is built on a framework of youth participatory action research (YPAR). This framework empowers young people by recognizing them as experts of their own life experiences. FRSLI and SLRC are designed for sophomores who work in school teams to identify an important issue within their school. They research the nature and scope of the problem and pitch their recommendations to their principal and superintendents at an end-of-year final meeting.

Students returning for a second year in the programs as juniors work collectively across districts and regions to address a state-level issue in education while also helping lead the program. YPAR builds students' leadership and social and emotional skills through culturally relevant project-based deeper learning. The participants gain the knowledge, leadership skills, and sense of agency to solve critical issues within their schools and communities.

The CUE was selected to receive $2.7 million in grant funding from the U.S. Department of Education’s Education Innovation and Research (EIR) program for a project entitled School-Based Youth Participatory Action Research (SchYPAR) that seeks to expand YPAR into the schools participating in the FRSLI and SLRC.

The evidence-based, field-initiated project aims to improve academic, social, and civic competencies of “high-need” students — those living in poverty, underrepresented minorities, English learners, students with disabilities, homeless students — as well as others marginalized by other structural factors.