ELL Current Projects

In collaboration with Educational Services Center (ESC) of Northeast Ohio, Oberlin is helping to address the broken workforce pipeline in Northeast Ohio through the further development of a Northeast Ohio Adult Education System. The system is foundational for improving the efficacy of adult education and thereby developing a higher trained workforce–an economic and social good for individuals, communities, and the region. 

Through the development of this system, we seek to transform the current landscape of largely siloed adult education providers into a network of connected and navigable opportunities for acquiring the degrees, certifications, and training necessary for attaining meaningful employment. Establishing a network is crucial for the success of this goal. An overall picture of learning opportunities, which includes the pathways between different programs, and the ways the programs build towards graduation into the skilled workforce, helps educators advise adult students on what comes next, and makes opportunities for growth visible to the students themselves, ideally restoring both their faith in the “system” and in their own ability to achieve their goals. An adult education-to-workforce map must be clear, obtainable, and easily navigable for the adults being served, with transparent entrance and exit points. This is particularly true for underserved populations. Coordinating with the various program providers and designing a clear continuous road map that guides adults smoothly through Aspire/high school equivalency through adult diplomas and beyond is the goal of the Northeast Ohio Adult Education System Pilot. The establishment of the network has both concrete/technical and conceptual/cultural facets: designing an information/data system shared among the providers with pertinent information about the adult learners; fostering a change of mindset from concern with only “my program” to connecting and supporting other programs in the service of providing “our students” with a continuum of opportunities for increased learning. Oberlin is eager and equipped to support both endeavors—the technical and the cultural—and has laid the groundwork for effective collaboration.

This project first develops a literature review on the state of the art knowledge around planning equitable transit systems in rural/semi-rural/small town environments, with an emphasis on college towns and the role for colleges/universities in this process. This literature will then serve as the foundation for the next stage, which develops a survey instrument to interview current users of existing public transport in the Oberlin area (LCT, Oberlin Connector, RTA) about the needs, desires, and constraints that such users face and ways that public transit could better serve their accessibility needs. Data and insights from the literature review and surveys will be shared with the Oberlin City government, Oberlin College leadership, and in academic venues.

Bonner supported Students: Sydney Haddad, Adrien Stratis, Moe Ariyoshi

This study will develop multiple methodologies to develop a ranking schema to help prioritize roadways in Cleveland, OH for traffic calming interventions using data from the Cleveland City Planning Commission, Ohio Dept. of Transportation, and open-sourced data sets. While there is a robust literature on diverse design interventions and their efficacy, less work has been done on developing models that classify which roadways would be the ideal candidates for a gradation of interventions. It can be prohibitively expensive in time and financial resources to take a street-by-street field survey, therefore quantitative/spatial/computational approaches are needed to help classify streets for such interventions. This study is part of a growing partnership between the Davidson Lab at Oberlin and the Cleveland City Planning.

The Oberlin Grafton Theatre Collective (OGTC) connects Oberlin College students with incarcerated residents at Grafton Correctional Institution (GCI) through collaborative theatre-making. Building on the legacy of Oberlin Drama at Grafton (ODAG), founded by Professor Emeritus Phyllis Gorfain, OGTC uses theatre as a tool for connection, personal growth, and meaningful exchange.

Through weekly rehearsals and ensemble-driven storytelling, participants develop creativity, empathy, and communication skills. OGTC’s work culminates in original performances, such as We Are Judas, devised and performed in April 2024, and the upcoming world premiere of Shakespeare in the Mirror, written by GCI resident and resident group leader Will A.

The Bonner Center’s support—including fellowships, transportation, and guest artist funding—has been instrumental in sustaining this work. As GCI resident Jeff reflects, “OGTC has helped me be a better human… It will always be a part of my life even after I leave prison.”

Bonner Supported Students: Eliot Berkman Lamm, Reyna Berry, Charlotte Patrick Dooling, Jack Henning-Sepkoski, Jasper Swartz, Sophi Hull

This project grew out of a team-taught pair of classes on “Sonic Storytelling,” developed in collaboration with composer Tom Lopez. Our main purpose was to facilitate more widespread and thoughtful engagement with the art of podcasting as a medium suited to community based research and Public Humanities scholarship. To further this goal, the Media Associates ran workshops about the art and craft of sonic storytelling in classes where students were given the option of creating a podcast for a class assignment. In addition, the Media Associates also held weekly office hours to provide editorial and technical assistance for students or community members who were independently experimenting with sonic storytelling. Since starting this program, we estimate that these workshops and office hours have reached approximately 150 students. In addition, the Media Associates received career training, mentorship, and resources to continue developing their sound production skills and creative projects.

Bonner Supported Students: Finn Sipes, Eloise Rich, Marco Syrett

This project aims to rescue Oberlin’s aural history and amplify the voices of Oberlin guests and community members, so they can continue to reach ears that need to hear them. At present, the OC archives has a large number of physical cassettes, cds, and reel to reel tapes going back decades, which hardly anyone at Oberlin (or beyond) knows about. The topics covered by these recordings are vast and varied: Oberlin College during the 1940s, the duties of Christian Intellectuals in the Age of Crack, debates over divestment in South Africa, and the role that Oberlin alumni played in Mozambique’s struggle for independence from Portugal. They preserve lectures and readings by major figures in American history and culture, including Carl Sandburg, Kwame Toure, Cesar Chavez, Angela Davis, and E.E. Cummings. In its current state, this precious archive is difficult to access and at risk of degradation.

The first step we took with this project was, therefore, to assess Oberlin’s massive audio holdings and–in collaboration with Oberlin’s head archivist Ken Grossi and digital resources specialist Heath Patten–develop a list of digitization priorities. As the recordings are digitized, the Bonner Fellows create accessible, time-stamped listening guides, so that students, teachers, and outside researchers will one day be able to easily ascertain the content of the material and discern connections between recordings. We are now moving into the second phase of our project, which involves building a website where these recordings can live permanently and beta-testing this site with Oberlin students. In the future, we hope to bring these recordings into a wide variety of Oberlin classes and partner with WOBC, StoryLens Pictures, and the Oberlin Heritage Foundation to create installations that help raise awareness in the wider community about this incredible archive.

Bonner Supported Students: Eloise Rich, Claire Sifton, Finn Sipes, Marco Syrett, Marta Abrams