Two screenings of student films, one at SPIA one partnering with a community organization in Trenton. Goal is “to gather people who see themselves reflected in the work, as well as Trentonians (and Princetonians) who are eager to learn more about their new neighbors.”

Leads: Purcell Carson and Alison Isenberg (SPIA and History)

In collaboration with the Center for Environmental Transformation (CFET), a Camden organization focused on environmental transformation, the project utilizes:

1. Historical analysis alongside community-based oral histories
2. Spatial analysis
3. Collection of environmental pollution data

This interdisciplinary project combines the social, spatial, and environmental sciences, revealing potential paths to support policy reform across multiple sectors.

Lead: Devanne Brookins, SPIA

For 150 years, the Fresh Air Fund has been sending children born to low-income + working class NYC families for vacations in the suburbs of NJ. Host towns have some of the strictest zoning laws in the country, which means that with very few exceptions, the children can only ever visit. Drawing on state and local media, interviews with participants, as well as archival records, this project examines the Fresh Air Movement for what it reveals about the gaps between public policy and private practice; for what it can tell us about cross-class interaction, the relationship between public spending and private charity; the desire for kinship; motivations for volunteerism; and the limits on mobility.

Lead: Anastasia Mann, SPIA