Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at Tulane University
About
Samantha Francois, PhD, is an assistant professor at Tulane University's School of Social Work with a specialization in adolescent development and vulnerability and resilience in African American populations. Her research interests include microsystem influences (specifically, neighborhoods and schools) on life-stage outcomes in African American youth, macrosystem influences (specifically, forms of structural, institutional, and systemic oppression) on community violence, and African American cultural assets that promote resilience. More specifically, her work examines the relationships between multi-system risk contributors and protective factors and mental health, educational, and quality of life outcomes for African Americans in urban geographies. Dr. Francois has a PhD in psychological sciences from Tulane University.
Current Work:
Dr. Francois is currently partnering with Baptist Community Ministries (BCM), a New Orleans based philanthropic organization, to design and execute a mixed methods study to determine a community-based definition of public safety and community safety. Dr. Francois is using socio-ecological perspectives and community-based participatory research and survey research methods to understand how community residents, community-based organization stakeholders, and criminal justice system actors define public safety and community safety, and to examine the aforementioned groups' perceptions of safety in their neighborhoods, communities, towns, and cities. The study's aims are to redefine BCM's public safety giving mission and strategies and use data and evidence to inform public safety programming and advocacy and criminal justice system policymaking.
Research Area Keyword(s):
Community violence, resilience, adolescent development, cultural assets, ecological perspectives
