In a context of scholar-activism and organizing in response to structural racism and violence, what does centering the voices of directly-impacted communities look like? The era of mass incarceration coupled with recurring incidents of police brutality against Black and Brown communities has heightened racial tensions and reinforced long standing distrust in social institutions, including spaces of research and advocacy. Communities that experience high rates of mass incarceration, police violence and racism continue to be plagued with persistently high rates of collective trauma, and often asked to share and repeat their stories in contexts that revictimize them and create harm. Increasingly, advocates and educational institutions have taken steps to engage justice-impacted individuals in efforts to reform practices of existing institutions. Unfortunately, these attempts often do not address the culture of institutional discrimination, unresponsiveness, and apathy. This collaborative seminar will examine the role of research and activism that centers communities that are directly impacted by these issues. We will discuss how some research and advocacy practices cause harm within marginalized communities and contribute to an overwhelming sense of institutional distrust. We will then investigate alternative modes of human-centered research such as collaborative, constructive and participatory action research methods. Students will explore active community based organizing models that are using collaborative and participatory action research as tools for creating strategies for structural change within the communities they serve, centering their voices and agency, beyond testimonies and storytelling.