Summer Bridge Spotlight: Janet Husunukpe
Meet Janet Husunukpe, one of six participants selected for the 2026 Summer Bridge program. A Ph.D. student in the Urban and Regional Planning at U of I, she worked with Root Causes
How have you applied your humanistic training to advance the mission of the community organization?
Over the summer, I have been working with Root Causes, a community organization geared towards advancing educational justice for young African American students. As part of this work, I drew on my feminist research approach, which recognizes community members as knowledge holders and collaborators, to help design workshops centered on themes like social advocacy and wellness. Through this research approach, we are also developing the Kindergarten Promise Plan. This plan rests on the principle that a wholesome model for educational justice demands the collaborative effort of the child’s teacher, parents, community, family, and church. They together review the child’s educational progress and adjust goals together.
How has this experience contributed to your career development? What skills have you gained or developed?
I went into this experience hoping to explore a non-academic career pathway, but I came out with a deeper commitment to academia, one grounded in community-engaged scholarship. Before this fellowship, I had already collaborated with grassroots women-led community organizations in Ghana as part of my community-engaged research. Working with Root Causes this summer, I observed similar patterns between their practices and those of the community organizations in Ghana. Despite different missions, goals, and geographical contexts, I learned that at the heart of both practices are care, solidarity, and community, which I read as feminist planning in action. This has deepened my commitment to community-engaged work grounded in Black and African feminist practices and reaffirmed that, as academics, we have much to learn from the communities already doing the work. Alongside this shift in perspective, I also strengthened the skills I brought with me in community engagement, program development, and organizing through my work on the Promise Zone and Parent workshops.
What have you learned from working with this community organization?
Working with Root Causes has given me firsthand insight into how a community, public-facing organization addresses community needs. Participating in events like the Kufundisha Communiversity Institute teach-ins, Freedom School Parent Nights, Juneteenth Celebration and the Black Studies Illinois Bus Tour introduced me to the various ways educators, students, parents and members of the broader community come together to make change the grassroots level and how these small, community-rooted efforts grow into larger impacts around education justice, The Bus Tour in particular deepened this understanding: alongside educators from across Illinois, I visited the historical preservation society of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party and also learned about education organizing in Champaign.
Is there anything else you’d like to share about your Summer Bridge program experience?
This experience has prepared me for the next chapter of my career in academia, where I look forward to learning from communities and promoting reciprocity in my scholarship. It has strengthened the same empathy, flexibility and commitment to reciprocity that has already shaped my community-engaged work in Ghana, and now, through Root Causes, here in the United States. I am forever grateful for the opportunity to learn directly from and be mentored by Ms. Imani Bazzell, the Director of Root Causes. I carry these lessons forward as I continue building a research and career trajectory rooted in care, solidarity and community.