This fall, Cornell researchers launched a new Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research initiative: Cornell Project 2Gen, a project focused on developing new approaches to support vulnerable families and disrupt the intergenerational cycle of poverty.

Project 2Gen, led by co-directors Laura Tach and Rachel Dunifon of the College of Human Ecology’s Department of Policy Analysis and Management, focuses on addressing the needs of at-risk children and their parents to capitalize on the strong connection between parents’ well-being and children’s healthy development.

“Project 2Gen takes a two-generational approach to addressing the needs of vulnerable families by supporting research and programs that consider both parents and children,” Dunifon said. “The two- gen approach acknowledges that parents’ well-being and children’s well-being are intertwined, and that we really can’t address one without the other.”

The project reflects the mission of the College of Human Ecology, which combines that of a land-grant institution and an Ivy League university, Dunifon said. Through this focus, the project aims to build a vibrant research community and outreach network.

“Project 2Gen is going to be a hub of innovative work that brings together research, practitioners and policymakers, developing and carrying out work in this area, testing new approaches, evaluating their effectiveness, and implementing them locally and throughout the state,” Dunifon said.

The project, which will promote collaboration between students and faculty members across Cornell, is developing partnerships with community, state, and national organizations and government agencies to support parents and children simultaneously.

Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick ‘09, who graduated from Cornell with a degree in communications, attended the Oct. 23 symposium that launched the project.

“I want to say thank you for the work you do,” said Myrick, who as a youth took part in the Head Start program, which promotes the school readiness of young children from low-income families through agencies in their local community.

“My siblings and I all had an opportunity to start working at age 16, and we were all able to be successful because of [this type of research and work you are doing], to prove that this isn’t only the big-hearted thing to do, but the hard-headed thing to do.”