From fall 2012 through summer 2013, the Jones Center engaged in a local, community-based research project on predatory lending practices, in partnership with Public Allies Cincinnati. To demonstrate how legal participatory action research (“legal PAR”) works in practice, co-directors, Professor Houh and Professor Kalsem, co-authored It’s Critical: Legal Participatory Action Research, published in the Michigan Journal of Race and Law. This article introduces legal PAR as a way for legal scholars and activists to put various strands of critical legal theory into practice. This article utilizes legal PAR to contribute to legal literature on the “fringe economy” that comprises “alternative lending services” and products.
Dodging the Debt Trap
In November 2015, the Jones Center hosted a free day-long conference called “Dodging the Debt Trap” to examine the spiral of debt around short-term, high-interest loans.
