Larry Gant

Professor Larry Gant’s research focuses on program evaluation of small and moderate-size human service and social action organizations in urban communities; the creation, implementation, and evaluation of community-based health promotion initiatives in the areas of early childhood development, substance abuse prevention, sexually transmitted diseases, and HIV/AIDS; the implementation and evaluation of community information technology centers; the creation, implementation, and evaluation of community-based high speed wireless access initiatives and the study of urban comprehensive community-based initiatives. His research has been based in southeastern Michigan cities and communities; the states of Illinois, California, and Ohio; and internationally in Niger, Nigeria, South Africa, and China.

Gant has a strong interest in the role of the arts in the community and in the classroom. He has created and piloted a program in Beijing that uses visual and performing arts to access HIV/AIDS education. He is working to leverage the School of Social Work’s art collection as a teaching tool, and to restructure vacated library space into a dynamic creative work environment where visual arts will play a key role.

Gant’s research has been supported by the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and numerous national and international private foundations. He is also a member of the SSW Community Organization Learning Community. Other areas of research/scholarly interest: community organization and social planning; public health social work, regional food systems, community supported agriculture, arts-based community development.