In November of 2018, the Bonner Foundation introduced a new set of student workshops to the Bonner network meant to bring “a more comprehensive understanding of civic and community engagement.”
The following spring, our Bonner and Canale Juniors (C’20) completed the first set of issue briefs, setting the stage for our students to see and engage with research and analysis as a deep form of service.
Fast forward to 2025, and the current class of Bonner and Canale Juniors (C’26) collaborated on four issue brief topics. The topics addressed challenges our community partners have encountered as barriers to their work. Our students spent the semester exploring the scope of each issue in our local area and nationally, past policies that have impacted the issues, identifying proven programs and practices that have successfully addressed the issue, and compiling the data into a written deliverable report with recommendations from their research.
This year’s topics included:
Empowering Rural Patients: Streamlining Access to Healthcare Resources in Free Clinics: The objective for this research is to identify best practices within rural healthcare systems with the purpose of building better funding infrastructures that could benefit patients of rural free clinics in Grundy County and Franklin County.
No Mind Left Behind: Mental health Awareness for Middle Schoolers in Rural South Central Tennessee: This issue brief aims to outline the mental health challenges that youth face in Tennessee. We will look particularly at Grundy and Franklin counties to analyze the mental health status of their students and their access to mental health resources. This research will provide a look at the state of rural youth mental health in Tennessee and propose solutions by comparing it to other programs and states that have had successful initiatives that will improve student well-being, including equipping schools with essential mental health support.
Pursuing Long-Term Access to Personal Hygiene Products for the Community Action Committee: The purpose of this issue brief is to outline the current context of hygiene poverty in rural Franklin county and take preliminary steps to develop a framework for consistent and sustainable personal hygiene supplies at the Community Action Committee in Sewanee, TN.
Increasing Nature-Access in Public Education through Gardening: The research aims to investigate school gardening programs with the goal of developing a garden program that would increase nature-access for the students at Westwood Middle School in Manchester, TN.
