Charrise Hollingsworth

Charrise Hollingsworth evaluates place-based interventions to support youth and community thriving. A former middle school educator, Dr. Hollingsworth’s interdisciplinary training in community psychology focuses on ecological approaches to ensure community well-being, improving adolescent outcomes into adulthood, and participatory action research.

Her growing body of work focuses on community-based approaches to promote community safety and well-being by examining cross-sectoral efforts to improve community outcomes. Dr. Hollingsworth currently serves as project director for AIR’s evaluation of the Coalition to Advance Public Safety initiative, an ecosystems approach to reduce gun violence through coordinated training and technical assistance for community-based organizations, city leadership, hospital-based violence intervention programs, and law enforcement agencies. 

She is also the implementation lead for AIR’s study of credible messenger activities in Indianapolis as part of the city’s gun violence reduction strategy. By elevating the perspectives of violence interrupters, outreach workers, life coaches, high-risk individuals, and the broader Indianapolis community, this study will highlight the relational approach to credible messengering throughout the broader community violence prevention and intervention space.

Dr. Hollingsworth has also led projects supporting AIR’s organizational learning and development including the design and implementation of a pilot program to advance employment opportunities in research and technical assistance positions for individuals directly impacted by the criminal legal system. Funded by the AIR Opportunity Fund, this project supports AIR’s ongoing efforts to incorporate the lived experiences of impacted individuals and communities through participatory methods.

Prior to AIR, Dr. Hollingsworth served as a policy fellow in the Office of North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, and later as a senior leader in the Governor’s Office of Public Engagement. Through this work, she supported the work of the Governor’s task forces focused on expanding the educator workforce cross-agency COVID-19 recovery efforts across the state.