Facilitators of Change: OUP’s Connections and Resources Continue to Transform and Empower Communities

by Office of University Partnerships

Facilitators of Change: OUP’s Connections and Resources Continue to Transform and Empower Communities

FACILITATORS OF CHANGE

OUP’s

Connections

and Resources

Continue to

Transform

and Empower

Communities

Facilitators of Change: OUP's Connections and Resources Continue to Transform and Empower Communities highlights the history of the Office of University Partnerships and examines some of the many future options and opportunities the Office will explore.

To view this publication online, visit www.huduser.org/portal/ or the Office of University Partnerships Web site at www.oup.org. To request a hardcopy version of this publication, please call HUD USER at (800) 245-269l and choose option 3 (University Partnerships Clearinghouse) from the voice menu. You may request publications by e-mail at oup@oup.org.

All OUP publications are free of charge.

FACILITATORS OF CHANGE

OUP's Connections and Resources Continue to Transform and...

Prepared by:

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

Office of University Partnerships

February 2013

Table of

Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Anchor Institutions: Strengthening IHE/Community . . . . . 7

Partnerships and Building Capacity Within Communities

Delivering Technical Assistance and Training . . . . . . . . 19

With a Digital Twist

OUP’s Role in Helping IHEs Establish Volunteering . . . . . 25 and Service-Learning Opportunities for Civic Engagement

Partnering With Purpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Endnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Introduction

Facilitators of Change 1

A strong nation is built upon the foundation of strong communities. Healthy, resilient communities provide their residents with safety, stability, possibility, and purpose. They shelter, educate, heal, and employ. In turn, a community can only be as strong as its weakest links. Issues such as unemployment, homelessness, and crime and recidivism, to name a few, slowly whittle away a community’s fortitude, leaving its residents prone to the misfortunes that befall the unprotected.

Our nation has long understood these truths and has worked to provide the tools necessary to keep communities powerful and progressive. One of these tools is the presence of an institution of higher education (IHE) in a community. Starting with the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890, which established land-grant colleges throughout the United States, the federal government sought to strengthen the educational infrastructure of this rapidly growing nation. Since then, IHEs have continued to expand their presence throughout communities across the United States. These deeply anchored institutions have served their surrounding areas well: They have expanded access to postsecondary education, provided qualified employees to meet the demands of an ever-evolving workforce, performed research that leads to new knowledge and innovation, and offered job stability, even in trying economic times.


What is missing from all these positive impacts, however, is direct input from the community. IHEs benefited their communities simply through their presence and operation, but they were not actively engaging surrounding residents in a dialogue on specific needs or ideas. The discord of the 1960s, however, introduced a new element to the campus-community relationship. IHEs and community activists alike examined ways to harness the increased engagement and passion of students seeking to address the social and community issues they were witnessing beyond the walls of their schools. Colleges and universities reexamined their relationships with the

neighborhoods that surrounded them and how they could play a more significant role in responding to community needs through their invaluable pool of knowledge, research, and resources.

By decade’s end, several IHEs were sufficiently convinced about the positive impact they and their students could have upon their communities; they convened a special Mid-Continent Conference to discuss the evolving social complexities surrounding these IHEs and to outline the initial tenets of this burgeoning IHE-based community development movement. The ideas that grew out of this conference steadily took root, emerging as examples of organizations and initiatives intent on cultivating successful campus-community partnerships. The Community Development Society, which grew directly from the events of the Mid-Continent Conference,1 Campus Compact, and Campus-Community Partnerships for Health are prime examples of organizations that came out of this changing focus and that continue to champion the cause of campus-community partnerships.

To facilitate campus-community engagement on a federal level, academic leaders and organizations also began advocating with the U.S. government for the development of programs designed to encourage and support these

2 Facilitators of Change

alliances. The government heard this call, signing into effect numerous Congressional acts and Presidential Executive Orders that would lay the foundation for what would soon become the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) Office of University Partnerships (OUP) (see Exhibit 1).

Congress’s passage of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992, which included the Community

Outreach Partnership Act, contained the origins of what would ultimately become OUP. This act allocated

HUD funding for a new grant program that would increase the facilitation of partnership and outreach activities between IHEs and their local communities and governments. Funding would be available to all accredited 2- and

4-year IHEs and would include a research component that would document and facilitate a deeper understanding of the problems of large and small cities in an attempt to combat these ills.2

HUD’s response to this allocation was the 1994 launch of the Community Outreach Partnership Centers (COPC) grant. COPC’s purpose was to assist communities in implementing outreach and applied research activities that would address problems that afflicted these urban areas, while encouraging changes in how IHEs related to their neighbors.3 To oversee management of this new grant program, HUD established OUP.

OUP was also HUD’s formal recognition of the crucial role that campus-community collaborations were already playing and could continue to play in addressing local problems and revitalizing the nation’s communities. OUP’s mission was to encourage and expand the growing number of campus-community partnerships. The Office was dedicated to supporting and increasing these efforts through grants, interactive conferences and workshops, technical assistance (TA), and research to achieve three original goals:

• Recognize, reward, and build upon successful examples of universities’ activities in local revitalization projects.

• Create the next generation of urban scholars and encourage them to focus their work on housing and community development policy.

• Create partnerships with other federal agencies to support innovative teaching, research, and service partnerships.4

In addition to COPC, OUP also launched the Doctoral Dissertation Research Grant (DDRG) program in 1994. DDRG supported the Office’s second original primary goal by providing funding for doctoral candidates to develop and conduct applied research on policy-relevant housing and urban development issues.5

OUP’s initial investments quickly compounded as word of the Office spread throughout the IHE community; its offerings grew to include the following grant programs:

• Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian Institutions Assisting...

• Community Development Work Study Program (CDWSP), a HUD...

• Early Doctoral Student Research Grant (EDSRG), which...

• Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities...

HISTORICAL TIMELINE

Facilitators of Change 3

• 1980—President Jimmy Carter signed Executive Order 12232,...

• 1981—President Ronald Reagan signed Executive Order...

Initiative on HBCUs.

• 1989—President George H.W. Bush signed Executive Order...

• 1992—President George H.W. Bush signed the Housing and...

• 1993—President Bill Clinton signed Executive Order 12876,...

• 1994—HUD established the Office of University...

Outreach Partnership Centers (COPC) and Doctoral Dissertation Research Grant (DDRG) programs.

• 1996—OUP took over management of the Community...

• 1999—OUP initiated its Hispanic-Serving Institutions...

• 2000—OUP initiated its Alaska Native/Native Hawaiian...

(AN/NHIAC) grant program.

• 2001—OUP initiated its Tribal Colleges and Universities...

Research Grant (EDSRG) programs, and took over management of HUD’s HBCU program.

• 2002—President George W. Bush signs Executive Order...

• 2005—OUP responded on HUD’s behalf to the devastation...

a one-time grant opportunity called Universities Rebuilding America Partnerships (URAP).

• 2010—President Barack Obama signed Executive Order 13532,...

• 2011—President Barack Obama signed a Presidential...

Hispanic-Serving Institutions Week.

• 2012—President Obama signed Executive Order 13621,...

Educational Excellence for African Americans.

4 Facilitators of Change

• Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU),...

• Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP), which...

Each of these programs was designed not only to meet the growing demand for campus-community partnerships and research, but also to do so in a way that would ultimately present diverse solutions to meet the needs of a diverse nation.

Indeed, it is this level of customized response from OUP, particularly through its minority-serving institution (MSI) grant programs, that differentiated the Office from similar programs at other federal agencies. OUP recognized that its more nationally recognized COPC grantees—Yale, Georgetown, Duke, and Clemson, to name a few—had the presence, connections, and resources to implement large-scale projects designed for large-

scale needs. However, the less prominent but equally influential MSIs were uniquely qualified to help connect OUP to communities located in some of the most remote—and often overlooked—regions of the country. From institutions serving Native Americans, the country’s oldest residents, to those serving Hispanic Americans, the nation’s fastest growing minority population, OUP’s MSI grantees have initiated and continue to support projects designed to help improve and advance distinctively diverse communities that would have otherwise fallen outside the parameters of progress.

In OUP’s 18 years of dedication to helping grantees and their communities accomplish greater goals and aspire to greater heights, the Office has awarded nearly $400 million to more than 530 individual colleges and universities located in almost every state of the Union and two U.S. territories (see Exhibits 2 and 3).

TOTAL OUP FUNDING AWARDED TO IHEs, 1994–2010*

HSIAC

TCUP

$34,679,483

URAP-CD**

$2,000,000

URAP-HBCU

$3,149,682

AN/NHIAC

$34,626,960

CDWSP

$75,964,240

HBCU

$115,016,209

$30,460,257

COPC

$87,728,755

TOTAL FUNDS AWARDED: $383,625,586

*Excludes DDRG and EDSRG funding.

**Universities Rebuilding America Partnerships-Community Design

Source: Numbers collected from grantee map database and phone books on the OUP Web site, www.oup.org.

This tally includes:

Facilitators of Change 5

• Nearly 90 percent of the IHEs designated as “land-grant colleges” by the Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890 and the

Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994.6

• Nearly 90 percent of the country’s Tribal Colleges and Universities.7

• More than 75 percent of the country’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities.8

• Approximately 25 percent of the country’s Hispanic-Serving Institutions.9

In 2005, HUD selected OUP to respond on the Department’s behalf to the government-wide call for aid to the

Gulf Coast regions devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In a collaborative effort with the Corporation

for National and Community Service (CNCS), OUP launched the Universities Rebuilding America Partnerships (URAP) initiative, which inspired IHEs to come together from across the country to renovate the landscape and revive the spirits of the communities most damaged by the hurricanes. URAP recipients ranged from nearby Gulf Coast IHEs in Louisiana and Mississippi to schools from as far as Washington state and New York.10

OUP GRANTS PER STATE, 1994–2010

*Includes original COPC, COPC New Directions, and COPC Futures programs.

Source: Numbers collected from grantee map database and phone books on the OUP Web site, www.oup.org.

6 Facilitators of Change

Versatility in the Face of Volatility

Right now, the nation is struggling against the most severe economic upheavals seen in generations. The across- the-board challenges are large enough that not even the federal government is immune. Federally funded social empowerment programs have sustained numerous deep congressional cuts made in an effort to redirect the nation back toward financial equilibrium. As a result, OUP became one among many programs to experience significant funding reductions.

While the Office may find itself currently without grant funding, it does not find itself without purpose. Difficult times have made partnerships between IHEs and their communities more important than ever, with many communities depending heavily upon the intellectual capacity and service-learning strengths of these institutions. Additionally, IHEs can sustain the vitality of our nation’s communities through their far-reaching influence into areas such as education, research, employment, service, housing, job training, purchasing, real estate development, hiring, business incubation, and cultural development.

Right now, OUP’s greatest resource in these unsettled times is its “pool of power”: The knowledge, experience, contacts, and resources gained through 18 years of galvanizing successful and productive partnerships between communities and IHEs. The Office is primed to refocus its energy on most effectively communicating this knowledge and expertise to any and all who need help.

With this publication, OUP invites you to learn more about its next phases, which include emphasizing lessons learned, mapping new ways to reach those most in need of support and knowledge, renewing trusted partnerships, and forging new collaborations that will span agencies, governments, businesses, and beyond.

OUP remains steadfast in its belief in its mission and goals and in recognizing that its mission, while altered, continues on, more important than ever.

Facilitators of Change 7

Anchor Institutions: Strengthening IHE/Community Partnerships and Building Capacity Within Communities

Nearly two decades of funding projects designed to improve and empower the nation’s more distressed communities have given OUP an invaluable resource—its grantees. These IHEs have taken the lead in a diverse range of community redevelopment projects, including driving economic change, improving community living conditions, and developing the capacity of communities to take charge of their own destinies. The ways in which OUP’s grantees have been able to create partnerships, leverage grant funds, and meet community needs is a body of knowledge that can be shared with other IHEs seeking to create similar programs to solve the common problems associated with underdeveloped and under-resourced communities.

One of the primary reasons that IHEs can—and should—play a more significant leadership role in their communities is their standing as anchor institutions. This term refers to long-standing and deeply rooted community organizations that often are the largest contributors to their communities' continued economic stability and strength. IHEs are not the only organizations that can be anchor institutions, of course. Any

large enterprise or organization—hospitals, churches, nonprofits, housing cooperatives—that brings together economic and financial assets, human resources, and physical structures, and has an established presence in the community can act as an anchor institution. IHEs, however, are especially well-placed to lead in communities and

develop partnerships with other anchor institutions (see Exhibit 4).

MAKING THE CASE FOR IHEs AS SUCCESSFUL ANCHOR INSTITUTIONS

• By virtue of their size and resources, IHEs naturally have a greater chance of enacting community-wide improvements.

• IHEs are deeply rooted into their communities, providing residents with far more than higher education opportunities. They also provide much-needed services such as employment opportunities, revenue, health and educational services, and stability, to name a few.

• IHEs can contribute to a sense of neighborhood identity: for example, imagine Cambridge, Massachusetts, without Harvard or MIT, or imagine Ann Arbor, Michigan, without the University of Michigan.

• The symbiotic relationship that IHEs share with their communities gives ample incentive for them to invest in improvements from which both parties will inevitably benefit.

• IHEs contribute to economic growth by generating new ideas that can become the seeds for business development, from high-profile biotechnology and high technology industries to more modest efforts such as creating local affordable housing or local small business incubation.

• IHEs work to create and educate future community leaders. A recent study pointed out that “the single most predictive factor of regional economic growth was the percentage of the population with a 4-year college degree.”11

• IHEs are well-placed to lead other similarly placed potential anchor institutions, such as hospitals, churches, and nonprofits.

8 Facilitators of Change

Why Is Community Involvement From the Anchor Institutions in

Particular so Important?

According to one estimate, approximately 11 percent of the nation’s IHEs are located in distressed central-city neighborhoods.12 For these communities, the fixed and enduring physical presence and substantial financial investments of IHEs can often become their greatest sources of stability and reliability, and can ultimately lead to more considerable investment opportunities. IHEs are situated to exercise leadership in revitalizing central-city neighborhoods and underdeveloped communities, particularly in their capacity to set up strategic partnerships and coordinate the activities of other anchor institutions such as religious institutions, businesses, nonprofits, and hospitals.

Furthermore, many IHEs are research- and knowledge-based institutions, granting them the ability to offer diverse programs across a multitude of disciplines that come into play when revitalizing central cities. Most IHEs have expertise in education, law, medicine and healthcare, business administration, social work, the humanities and the arts, engineering and architecture, and urban planning—to name a few common departments. OUP recognizes that this expertise, especially when it taps into the resources, talent, and human capital within communities, can help transform distressed communities into vibrant and desirable places to live.

What OUP Grantees Accomplish as Anchor Institutions

Our nation’s current economic volatility has only increased the need for creative solutions to the ongoing demands of neighborhood revitalization and community redevelopment. It also underscores the importance of devising smarter ways to use the already available assets that anchor institutions possess. Proponents of the increased involvement of anchor institutions recognize that IHEs—with their talent, resources, and expertise—can play a vital role in this evolving model. IHEs that seek to accept this role would greatly benefit from interaction with other IHEs that have preceded them in embracing their “anchor institution” status within their communities.

Since 1994, OUP has built a repository of IHE grantees that have been successfully playing this anchor institution role in diverse communities—from small towns in Oklahoma to Alaskan Native settlements to central-city Rust Belt neighborhoods. In fact, the idea of IHEs as key players in the success of their surrounding communities formed the background of the COPC program, one of OUP’s inaugural grant opportunities that received congressional funding for 11 years. COPC left an inspirational legacy for the IHEs and for the communities that benefitted from the outreach projects funded by the grants.

In their capacity as anchor institutions, grantees have used their OUP funding to call upon established connections and create multiple opportunities for community and economic development. They have helped communities construct, rehabilitate, and expand public facilities, including recreation centers, daycare facilities, computer centers, parks, and playgrounds. Moreover, they have tackled major contemporary social issues, taking on roles that colleges and universities do not normally play. They have established crime prevention programs, provided services for the homeless, and sponsored energy conservation counseling and testing efforts. Some have also created affordable housing opportunities in their communities. Others have worked with communities to create opportunities for small businesses.

Anchor institutions create educational, training, and job opportunities for individuals and families. In addition to their educational opportunities for more traditional students, many OUP grantees have established adult education initiatives, including literacy, jobs training, vocational training, General Education Development (GED) preparation, and self-improvement. They have also contributed to the health and well-being of communities by establishing community gardens, daycare centers, health and wellness facilities, and substance abuse counseling programs. They have even set up tutoring, mentoring, and educational enrichment opportunities for children and youth, investing now in the success of the future innovators and leaders of our nation.

Facilitators of Change 9

In many of these scenarios briefly mentioned above, OUP grantees have stepped in to fill a void, after listening to community residents describe their needs. That may be the most important lesson of all—listening to the community and empowering its residents with the ability to act in their own interest. To this end, grantees

have created forums for community dialogue and empowerment. They have provided training in community capacity-building for sustainability and, together with community leaders, have assisted in the development and implementation of comprehensive plans for housing, land use, conservation, historic preservation, environmental sustainability, and economic development.

OUP’s Partnerships With Anchor Institutions

With 18 years’ experience in facilitating effective campus-community collaborations, OUP is uniquely qualified to facilitate partnerships between anchor institutions. The Office’s IHE grantees have been playing this role in their communities for a very long time. Its programs encompass diverse populations (African Americans, Alaska Natives, Hispanics, Native Hawaiians, and Tribal communities), diverse types of IHEs (community colleges,

4-year colleges, research universities), and diverse types of communities. The common thread in all these examples is that its grantees all offer real-life practical solutions to real problems. Community partnerships have always been a cornerstone requirement for every IHE-based OUP grant.

OUP has also recognized that matching and leveraging resources are important. Demonstration of the capacity for this resourcefulness has also been another major factor in winning OUP funding. Grantees learned how to reach out to find the financial backing not only to support their grant program efforts, but also to ensure the sustainability of those efforts once the OUP grant periods came to an end. Indeed, OUP grants can be likened to drops of water that ripple outward, having an impact on the entire community.

The knowledge and experience that grantees have gained by winning funding to initiate their programs and subsequently learning how to sustain programs when funding has come to an end constitute a valuable

resource. OUP now has the ability to harness and share this grantee knowledge with other institutions seeking to accomplish similar successes in their communities. Grantee experiences are even more valuable, particularly at

a time when the pool of available funding for government programs of all kinds grows ever smaller. OUP and its grantees have lessons to teach to those IHEs that are continuing to seek funding for community and economic development projects (see Exhibit 5). In the sections that follow are descriptions of some successful OUP

projects where grantees have become anchors in their own communities.

OUP’S FUTURE FOCUS ON SHARING KNOWLEDGE ABOUT ANCHOR INSTITUTIONS

OUP can:

• Design live events, based at grantee locations, to provide selected grantees with a setting in which they can share their experiences and knowledge.

• Record these live events and post them as webinars to the OUP online community.

• Design stand-alone webinars as “training modules” that interested parties and organizations can stream from the OUP Web site.

• Facilitate an online community to encourage networking among anchor institutions.

10 Facilitators of Change

OUP Grantees Revitalize Distressed Neighborhoods Through Community

Development Corporations

One way of getting capital and expertise into distressed neighborhoods is through the creation of a nonprofit community development corporation (CDC) that can incorporate to develop residential and commercial programs, offer services, and engage in other activities that promote and support community development. CDCs usually serve a specific location—but they can extend to a wider, regional focus. CDCs have taken on a wide variety of challenges and projects such as building affordable and decent housing for low- and moderate-income persons; improving neighborhood aesthetics; improving safety; attracting commercial enterprises to blighted areas; and increasing educational opportunities and academic achievement.

In 2005, Community-Wealth.org, a University of Maryland project through the Democracy Collaborative,13

collected some basic statistics on the achievements of CDCs nationwide. While these numbers are out-of-date, they speak to a growing trend (see Exhibit 6).

BASIC STATISTICS ON COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATIONS (CDCs) (Based on 2005 industry census)

Number of CDCs Median CDC age Median CDC staff size

CDCs that have completed non-residential projects

Average annual housing production (1998–2005)

Average annual commercial space production (1998–2005) Total CDC sector employment

Jobs created by CDC activity per year (1998–2005)

CDCs that have equity investments in business operations

CDCs that operate one or more businesses

CDCs that offer individual development accounts

Many grantees from every OUP program have initiated or collaborated with already existing CDCs that have accomplished a great deal for their communities. The Grantee Spotlight on the following page is an example of one such program.

OUP Grantees Assist Small Businesses With Incubation and Development It is easy to take for granted, when one lives in an affluent metropolitan area, the wealth of shops, services, and businesses that are available to the fortunate residents of prosperous neighborhoods. It is hard to believe, in the midst of all that commercial abundance, that there are communities—urban and rural—across the country where one cannot easily find a grocery store selling fresh and healthful food, or a locally owned business to have a car fixed, or a clinic to see a health practitioner. Without encouragement or incentives, private enterprises tend not

to invest in areas that they perceive as being “bad” business risks. Would-be entrepreneurs within underserved

communities might have the desire to provide their communities with much-needed services, but without access to capital and know-how, their ideas will not get very far.

Facilitators of Change 11

LeMoyne-Owen College, Memphis, Tennessee

HBCU grantee LeMoyne-Owen College established its CDC in 1989 as a means of helping it connect better with the surrounding community and to make the college more accessible to residents. This attempt has been exceedingly successful, with the CDC tackling community empowerment tasks

such as health and wellness programs, afterschool programs and social services, revolving loan funds, service-learning programs, homebuyer training, and career training and job placement assistance, to name a few.

The most successful endeavor, however, is perhaps the rehabilitation and rebranding of the surrounding LeMoyne Gardens community into what is now known as “Soulsville USA.” Through its leveraging of more than $150 million in public and private funds against nearly $4 million won from seven OUP grants, LeMoyne’s CDC has been successful in developing the Soulsville community development project into

a thriving retail and mixed-use space, which has, in part: graduated 800 people through their Business Development Institute, creating 75 businesses and more than 180 jobs; trained more than 500 residents in highway construction through their Career Express program, with a job placement rate higher than 70 percent; and provided and continues to provide afterschool programs, homebuyer training, health and wellness programs, and accredited college course opportunities for high school students.14

OUP grantees have imagined creative solutions—bringing together public, nonprofit, and even private funding—to help their underserved communities gain access to the necessary resources for day-to-day life and to encourage local entrepreneurs to take risks to establish and grow their small businesses. The key to successful community development is involving all stakeholders in the planning and implementation process: public entities, private enterprises, and community leaders and members.

OUP Grantees Foster Community Engagement

One unfortunate characteristic of neglected and isolated neighborhoods is that the talent and potential of their residents remains untapped for lack of a catalyst or cause to bring them forward and unite them in a shared endeavor. When IHEs make the conscious decision to act as true anchor institutions, they can have the catalyzing effect of bringing community members together and bringing new resources to bear on long-standing community problems and local concerns. Just bringing parties to the table, however, is not enough. Often the hardest part

of bringing all stakeholders to the table is overcoming town-gown conflicts—in many cases the conflicts are the relics of many decades of misunderstandings and ill-considered actions. Relationship-building takes time and skill. Often the IHE is required to listen, as much as volunteer its expertise. OUP grantees have had to learn many new skills to develop successful community partnerships through their grants.

There are several aspects to constructing a sound IHE-community partnership: delineating the terms of IHE- community engagement, undertaking multidisciplinary work, and building sustainability. Setting the terms of engagement is a very important, though unquantifiable step; for example, success is more likely to result from project activities that are community-driven rather than IHE-driven. This means that research and service ideas should come from the community and fill community-perceived needs—and not always be “what the experts say.” It also means that the IHE should invest resources in building community capacity and leadership. An IHE engaging in multidisciplinary work is another success factor: Community work might require IHE departments that would normally go separate ways to come together and co-sponsor projects, even if it means that some

12 Facilitators of Change

St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, Texas

The alliance between St. Mary’s University (St. Mary’s), a 2008 OUP HSIAC grantee, and the

San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce led to not only the sustainable redevelopment of a depressed neighborhood around the university, but also engagement with the City of San Antonio and beyond. The St. Mary’s University Neighborhood Revitalization Project (Revitalization Project), which occurred in three phases, collaborated with area residents, businesses, and other community partners on an ambitious program of housing and commercial redevelopment as well as education, quality of life, and infrastructure improvements. It has devised goals and strategies to grow local businesses, conducted research to support commercial growth,15 fostered innovation and entrepreneurship, communicated with residents, partnered with local government, expanded homeownership opportunities, and educated community members in financial literacy so they could purchase their own homes or start or expand their businesses. A key component of the success of St. Mary’s venture was the 2009 rehabilitation of a multipurpose center with dedicated staff—a task that was completed with St. Mary’s $600,000 3-year HSIAC grant. The center offered homeownership counseling, meeting space, economic development and small business assistance, community outreach coordination, and other activities. Another key success factor was the way in which the revitalization project was able to attract other grants and in-kind assistance from other foundations, the City of

San Antonio, and local businesses to broaden and sustain its programs. “For example, the City of San Antonio awarded a $10,000 project partnership grant, as well as various types of in-kind assistance to residents and businesses. St. Mary’s also partnered with the Community Development Loan Fund and received a Citi Foundation community grant of $10,000, which provided for technical assistance outreach to small businesses.”16 By 2012, some types of businesses had flourished (restaurants and eateries, grocery stores, gas stations, auto supply stores) while others still needed to be encouraged

(department and clothing stores, furniture stores, booksellers, and non-retail establishments).17

Revitalization Project Task Force Area

The logo that is used for the Revitalization Project's communications and brochures consciously markets and brands the St. Mary’s neighborhood as a unique destination in San Antonio, a city that is proud of its history and culture.

The different phases of the Revitalization Project have moved beyond the immediate area around St. Mary’s (marked 1 on the map) to cover adjacent San Antonio West Side neighborhoods.

Facilitators of Change 13

people will be working slightly outside of their comfort zone. Finally, building sustainability and longevity for the community organizations that will staff and keep projects going is crucial, so that community involvement with the IHE can last beyond a specific event or grant term (see Exhibit 7). Community organizational sustainability may mean developing local sources of funding and in-kind contributions. It also may mean developing and nurturing local talent.

COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS: WHY THEY DISAPPEAR AND WHAT THEY NEED

Why Community Organizations Disappear

What They Need

Energy

Resources Time

Strategy

Organizational

Infrastructure

Mission

Vision

Leadership

Diversity

University of Maryland, Baltimore

The University of Maryland, Baltimore’s Social Work Community Outreach Service (SWCOS) was the recipient of two OUP COPC grants, which started around the time that a HUD Empowerment Zone grant was awarded to Baltimore City. The grant’s focus was redeveloping the city’s distressed West Side neighborhoods around the university. SWCOS had to overcome neighborhood hostility toward the university and the hostility among neighbor groups—a challenge that took patience, perseverance, and listening on the part of the university as well as communication among all involved parties. SWCOS described the COPC grant experience as having three outcomes: teaching the university how to work

with the communities, bringing additional income into the neighborhoods, and changing the community hostility toward the university into support. Although the COPC grants have long since ended, SWCOS

is still going strong and working on rebuilding Baltimore’s community-based organizations. SWCOS has shifted to helping organizations develop their own strength and capacity (see Exhibit 8). SWCOS places graduate students in neighborhood-based organizations to increase their staff, fostering cross- generational training in core leadership skills, connecting young people to the nonprofit sector, and assisting organizations in improving and expanding their funding bases.

14 Facilitators of Change

BUILDING ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY

Leadership

motivate, inspire, and lead by example mentor and coach individuals build teams

develop vision

Funding

create accessible operating support look for matching grants

set up community organization endowments

cultivate funding sources within the community

Community

Organizations

Awareness

educate public on organization’s role encourage community cohesion organize and mobilize

tap human capital in the community

Efforts to rebuild the organizational capacity of community organizations have to strengthen capacity in three areas:

funding, leadership, and increasing awareness.

OUP Grantees Connect and Create Communities Through Shared Culture Many grantees in the AN/NHIAC program have to overcome geographic isolation, which scatters the communities that they seek to serve. Their first challenge is creating connections among dispersed communities, whether located in the Alaskan tundra or scattered throughout the Hawaiian Islands. In some cases, AN/NHIAC grantees have employed their unique knowledge of native cultures to find creative ways to revitalize target areas and serve communities that may not be connected by geography but are united by a shared culture.

OUP grantees recognize that it is important to help constituents move forward while valuing and preserving culture, providing connections with native elders and cultural heritage, and increasing opportunities for academic achievement.

OUP Grantees Bring Minorities Into the Mainstream of American

Economic Life

The work that OUP’s grantees have done to bring minorities and immigrants into the mainstream of American economic life cannot be underestimated. Training in entrepreneurship, financial literacy, health and nutrition, and job skills are all ways that minorities can better engage in the wider community. These opportunities may not

be available in resource-poor communities without the intervention of a forward-thinking IHE. Some of the most inspiring work has come from the Office’s many HSIAC grantees, as they pave the way toward true economic integration for their Hispanic constituents, the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population, according to

the 2010 census. The census also shows that Hispanics have created new businesses in record numbers.18 As evidenced in the Grantee Spotlight on Midland College, HSIAC grantees have a deeper understanding of how to help Hispanics integrate and understand the inner workings of the American economic engine.

University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Interior-Aleutians Campus

Facilitators of Change 15

The Gaalee’ya Spirit Camp for high school students, part of an intensive summer educational program, keeps native traditions alive for the younger generation and helps troubled youth turn around their lives. The camp is a centerpiece of the Upward-Bound program sponsored by the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF) Interior-Aleutians Campus, which manages six rural learning centers in Alaska’s

interior region and along its Aleutian chain. Because Alaska Natives have a high school dropout rate that is twice the national average, a college education can seem like an unattainable dream for many Alaskan youth, who will be cut out of good, high-paying, and highly skilled jobs without an advanced degree. A lack of community engagement and healthy activities, as well as high substance abuse rates, can add to the challenges of pursing higher education. Committed to changing these grim statistics, UAF’s Upward- Bound program delivers intensive educational and social activities to high school students to ensure that they graduate from high school and go on to college. After a trial run in 2008, the Spirit Camp and its cultural immersion programs have become part of UAF’s intensive summer educational session. Getting in touch with their cultural heritage helps youth develop leadership skills and self-esteem and avoid

self-destructive behaviors. They are strengthened both personally and academically and put on the path to become community leaders. But the camp had to provide these services inside a structure that badly needed renovations. With an AN/NHIAC grant from OUP, the university was able to leverage some strategic partnerships with the Interior Regional Housing Authority, the Cold Climate Research Center, and Alaska Native organizations and leaders that ensured that the necessary work got done and the camp could continue to serve youth. The program now provides “relevant STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) programmatic education, with an emphasis on environmental science, through the Associate’s level for students.”19 The unusual curriculum has had positive results. For example, in 2010, all eight student graduates from the program were college bound.20

OUP Grantees Provide Much-Needed Services to Underserved Native

Communities

Native communities suffer a similar lack of basic services such as health programs, job training programs, and economic development initiatives that the central cities do. These rural and isolated areas also suffer some of the issues of geography and dispersal that are seen in the Alaskan and Hawaiian communities. As anchor institutions, Tribal colleges and universities must step into the void and help create the institutions and services that their communities lack.

IHEs have the economic potential to leverage their assets and revenues to promote local private sector development. It is, however, their effectiveness at serving as an advisor, partner, or network builder within the community that is the make-or-break key to their success as an anchor institution. The pathways to setting up partnership and capacity building within communities are the major takeaways from OUP’s grantmaking history.

As these examples have shown, OUP’s grantees, when embracing their roles as anchor institutions, have accomplished great achievements in community and economic development, engagement, and capacity building—but they did not do it alone. Each example is a demonstration of how grantees worked with other community institutions and partners to develop partnerships to sustain programs beyond the life of their initial funding. These

OUP grantees have something valuable to offer other institutions seeking to accomplish similar programs in their communities—their collective experience on how to succeed as an anchor institution and how to sustain programs.

16 Facilitators of Change

Midland College, Midland, Texas

Midland College revamped its recruitment, programming, and neighborhood relations after a survey of and focus group with residents from various Midland neighborhoods—in this case, a low- and moderate-income Hispanic neighborhood in south Midland—expressed their feelings of unease when coming to campus and their view of the school as a place for rich White people. Midland saw these results as a wake-up call, even after the school had already invested resources to make the campus inviting, worked to keep classes small and tuition low, offered full scholarships to graduates of Midland high schools who maintained a 2.5 or above grade point average, and tried to make sure that the percentage of Hispanic students attending Midland at least matched the percentage of Hispanics living in the city. Midland administrators felt that they needed to do much more—and they did. Among other actions, they sought an OUP HSIAC grant in 2003 to help accomplish their outreach goals to minority students and the community. One important step was establishing the Cogdell Learning Center in the heart of the Hispanic community, to provide a community satellite location for the Midland College Adult Basic Education Department, which sponsors GED, English language, and citizenship classes.

Midland then went beyond basic adult education courses. It stepped outside its comfort zone—a

shift made possible by the school’s second HSIAC grant in 2007—and set up Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) which allow low- and moderate-income individuals to open accounts to save for a particular asset purchase, such as a house or equipment to set up a small business. With an IDA, the sponsoring organization matches each dollar that the participant deposits in the account. IDA programs also sponsor financial education. The IDA accounts were the idea of the director of the Midland Community Development Corporation (MCDC),21 and were made possible by MCDC’s partnership with the Cogdell Learning Center and a local Community National Bank.

The IDA program, known as Saving for Independence, would disburse a $300,000 funding pool throughout 3 years to help 60 families purchase houses and 15 individuals set up their own businesses. Participants agreed to save at least $10 per month and complete all 10 sessions of Money Smart, the FDIC-developed financial literacy program. The IDA program also provided additional credit counseling to IDA participants who were not yet ready to purchase their homes, and helped people improve

their credit scores, some by as much as 100 points. Every partner in Midland College’s IDA program agreed that no one organization could have pulled off the IDA program by itself. Each partner seems to have made at least one contribution to the partnership that no other partner could have delivered. The nonprofits brought clients to the program and provided the required homebuyer training and the

expanded Money Smart program. Midland’s Business and Education Development Center provided the funding through its HSIAC grant, administered the program on a daily basis, and provided business and credit training. The combination of skills and collaboration made the 3-year program succeed.

Sustainability and the program’s short, grant-driven duration became a major issue.22 All of the partners would have liked to see the IDA program become a permanent community fixture. Midland and its partners sought to keep the program going, and also worked on strategies to increase the financial stability of program participants, through the Midland Asset-building Coalition, which was initiated during the HSIAC grant period. The coalition planned to hold conferences and bring together other financial institutional partners, state and local government, and nonprofits and foundations. The parties have remained committed to continuing to build assets in the community.

In 2010, Midland College won a third HSIAC grant, to continue to address community development needs such as the high need for access to affordable housing and fair housing education, the need for credit repair services, and the need for water/energy conservation and sustainability practices.

Facilitators of Change 17

Salish Kootenai College, Pablo, Montana23

In the late 1990s, the Indian Health Service collected statistics on the health of Native Americans

as compared to the rest of the U.S. population. As a group, the final report stated, Native Americans were 249 percent more likely than other Americans to die of diabetes, 20 percent more likely to die of heart disease, and 14 percent more likely to die from a stroke. They were also more likely to develop tuberculosis, become alcoholics, and commit suicide. After learning that the health statistics for Native Americans living in Montana and Wyoming were the second worst in the country, Salish Kootenai College (SKC) resolved to improve health outcomes for their community. SKC was already sponsoring health and fitness programs for the residents of the Flathead Reservation, but its facilities, consisting

of a 400-square-foot gym with only 10 fitness machines, were no match for the demand. The largest classroom on campus could only hold 300 persons, not enough space for the 1,000 attendees that the annual health fair attracted. SKC set out to build an expanded health facility, known as the Joe McDonald Health and Fitness Center, a 42,000-square-foot facility funded by two TCUP grants. The center—primarily used by students, faculty, and staff but open to interested community members

as well—included an indoor track, a gymnasium, and classrooms. SKC supplemented the OUP funds with a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which helped fund instructional classrooms for healthy cooking classes that could be broadcast on the school’s television station. SKC also leveraged foundation grants and secured a construction loan to finance the project.

TCUP grants primarily fund campus infrastructure construction, renovation, and expansion, but the SKC grants also expanded to include community outreach efforts, as the center has taken on a life of its own as a gathering place for community members and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. Tribal members are invited to use the facilities and participate in programs with no charge.

Community members who are not Tribal members pay a $10 monthly fee in addition to nominal charges for classes. The center is an important source for information that has helped community and Tribal members improve their health and their lives with the health fairs, activities, and classes. More than

17,000 people use the center in any given year. The center and SKC have taken an active role in closing the health gap between Native Americans and the mainstream U.S. populace. SKC has also conducted several community-based educational needs assessments in cooperation with Tribal departments and community members to determine how it can better serve local needs.

The collaboration between SKC and the community is further strengthened by the fact that SKC’s board members are selected by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Council. The social structure

of the reservation reinforces informal communication and agreements, which are as strong as formal ones. The spirit of cooperation works well on the reservation, but it also applies to any small community where organizations soon learn that they can be more effective if they work together. SKC intentionally fosters this collaborative spirit through an institutional philosophy that encourages faculty, staff, and students to become involved in the community by volunteering and serving on community boards. Nowhere are the walls between the community and campus more fluid than at the center, an example

of infrastructure growth that results in community benefits.

Through the realization of their OUP-funded projects, grantees have learned valuable lessons—in partnership development, leveraging resources, and community engagement, to name a few—that can be of immeasurable value to other anchor institutions. OUP can channel the accumulated knowledge and experience of its grantees to teach these other anchor institutions how to strengthen their own communities and help them move forward.

18 Facilitators of Change

Some of the many lessons that OUP grantees can share in regard to helping anchor institutions build strong campus-community partnerships include:

• Work with the community to identify their need(s).

• Develop a strategic plan.

• Do not rush into a project. Work for incremental changes, especially at the beginning.

• Establish partnerships with stakeholders with similar interests.

• Such partnerships work best where anchors are willing to share power, decisionmaking, and resources.

• Make sure all partners are on the same page and that each partner has a win-win strategy.

• Do what you said you would do.

• Build on existing strengths already present in programs and departments.

Likewise, OUP can demonstrate that anchor institutions are a good investment by showing that, in the role of anchor institution, IHEs:

• Deliver high-impact service for relatively modest investments.

• Have a wealth of expertise.

• Have enhanced their educational missions.

OUP, as facilitators of this wealth of experience and knowledge, helps to provide practical, holistic ways in which to deliver these lessons and continues to help IHEs and other anchor institutions transform and empower our nation, one community at a time.

Facilitators of Change 19

Delivering Technical Assistance and

Training With a Digital Twist

Providing grantees with opportunities to celebrate their successes, learn from their struggles, or seek help in overcoming their obstacles has consistently proven to be an integral and effective means of ensuring a greater level of project prosperity for all of OUP’s programs. To this end, the Office has always endeavored to provide ample opportunity for its grantees to share information and experiences, whether in the form of national and regional conferences, meetings designed to welcome and instruct new grant directors, or more specialized technical assistance (TA) and training designed to provide sometimes one-on-one guidance in the tricky process of grant acquisition and oversight.

OUP has used its national and regional conferences as a platform to share HUD’s evolving priorities and how the Office’s complementary efforts can continue to support the Department’s mission of creating strong, sustainable, inclusive communities for all.24 The Office has also provided training on topics such as:

• Construction management.

• Grant administration and financial management.

• Grant writing and proposal development.

• Housing and economic development.

• Low-Income Housing Tax Credits.

• Partnerships and resource development.

• Planning and financing.

OUP understands that building strong campus-community collaborations is a ground-up process that first requires a strong foundation for constructing effective community development efforts. New initiatives, such as HUD’s Choice Neighborhoods program, further build upon the truth that “transformation [requires] a focus on something far more ambitious [than improving the current state of public housing]: on physical health, on education, on access to economic opportunity. On meaningful outcomes that often [result] from the overall condition of the neighborhood—on which the built environment was a major influence.”25

Many of Choice Neighborhoods’ key components—emphasis on comprehensive community planning, resident participation in the planning process, involvement of local governments and community organizations—directly correlate to key components of the types of projects that OUP grantees have been successfully carrying out for nearly 20 years. In addition to this initiative, OUP has witnessed the formation of other similar initiatives, such as:

• The HUD-based Strong Cities Strong Communities Fellowship Program, designed to spark economic development in communities that have faced significant long-term challenges in developing and implementing their economic strategies.

• The Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, a cross-agency collaboration among the White House Domestic Policy Council and Office of Urban Affairs and the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, HUD, Justice, and Treasury, designed to catalyze and empower local action while busting silos, prioritizing public-private partnerships, and making existing programs more effective and efficient.

• The U.S. Department of Education’s Promise Neighborhoods initiative, the purpose of which is to significantly improve the educational and developmental outcomes of children and youth in the nation’s most distressed communities.

20 Facilitators of Change

OUP is encouraged by this increasing federal commitment to what has long been the Office’s strategy of community transformation through holistic community involvement. Further, it understands that its message is more important and more relevant than ever before and that, even in light of current budgetary constraints, it is OUP’s duty to support these efforts by continuing to spread its message and share its resources and knowledge in the most efficient and effective ways possible.

Sharpening OUP’s Digital Edge

The digital revolution continues to transform our ways of collecting and sharing information, whether on a global scale or the more familiar settings of our workplaces, our schools, or our neighborhoods. Boundaries dissolve within the virtually limitless realm of online connectivity and its multiple forms of social interaction. Knowledge and experience are rapidly becoming “open source” commodities to be exchanged among people with the ease and speed of a mouse click.

It is no wonder, then, that OUP looks more and more toward its ever-expanding online presence as a viable means of delivering its message and knowledge to constituents and beyond. Since the 1996 launch of OUP’s Web site, www.oup.org, the Office has continued to push the boundaries of its online realm in often uncharted and exciting ways designed to connect and coalesce its community of grantees, from the verdant vistas of Puerto Rico to the icy expanses of Alaska (see Exhibit 9).

TRANSFORMATION OF THE OUP WEB SITE,

1996–2012

1996 2000

2006 2012

Facilitators of Change 21

As the Office contends with its current fiscal constraints, it is examining cost-effective, viable ways in which it can continue to deliver the highest level of support to ongoing grantee projects and assistance in fostering a new generation of campus-community collaborations.

OUP’s Knowledge Network

From 2000 to 2010, the number of U.S. Internet users nearly doubled,26 while social media and networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube skyrocketed to astronomical heights of popularity with this rapidly growing online community. Even new entries to the social media foray, such as 2010’s arrival of photo-sharing site Pinterest or Google’s 2011 launch of their social network Google+, have hit multimillion subscriber numbers in record time. Additionally, blogging—regular online journaling of information, ideas, or opinions—continues

to remain popular, with blog hosting platforms such as Posterous, Tumblr, and WordPress reaching well into multimillion subscriber numbers.

It is no surprise, then, that this growing popularity in online use is reflected in the constantly climbing statistics that OUP collects for its Web site. Since the 2005 redesign of the Office’s site—the first redesign to begin tapping into the increasing power of dynamic, interactive features such as searchable databases used to run grantee

maps, event calendars, and dissertation abstract repositories—annual user numbers have surged from just under

1 million in 2005 to nearly 7 million in 2011 (see Exhibit 10).

Further analysis of monthly statistics shows that information-driven features—including the grantee map (which lists abstracts for every OUP-funded project, searchable by multiple indicators such as program, year, location, and/or activity), calendar of events, and DDRG grantee profile and dissertation abstract databases—consistently rank in the top five of OUP’s most popular features each month.

Internet use is flourishing and all indicators prove that what site visitors want more than ever is what OUP has in abundance—knowledge.

NUMBER OF ANNUAL SITE VISITS TO THE OUP WEB SITE, 2005–11

8,000,000

7,000,000

6,000,000

5,000,000

4,000,000

3,000,000

2,000,000

1,000,000

0

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

22 Facilitators of Change

With this sturdy online foundation already in place, the Office now looks ahead to new and exciting ways of harnessing the power, not only of its own site but also of these rapidly growing social media and networking opportunities. One such idea that the Office is currently considering is the OUP “Knowledge Network” (OUP-KN). This online peer network would provide grantees and interested visitors alike with a virtual space in which to exchange ideas, offer solutions, and form connections—all based on their common goal of campus-community partnership success.

A powerful component of this community of online options could be an actively moderated blog and accompanying forum. The OUP-KN blog could feature articles on Office-related topics and contributions by subject matter experts from former and current OUP grantees. This content would include input from

DDRG recipients, many of whom continue to rise in the ranks of highly respected contributors to housing and

community development research (see Exhibit 11).

DDRG’S EMPOWERING INFLUENCE

For more than 15 years, OUP’s DDRG program empowered a new generation of scholars to develop and conduct applied research on policy-relevant housing and urban development issues. The purpose of DDRG’s funding was twofold: to enable doctoral candidates to complete their research and dissertations on policy-relevant housing and urban development issues; and to fund research studies that could impact federal problemsolving and policymaking and that were relevant to HUD’s policy priorities and annual goals and objectives.

Upon receipt of their doctorates, DDRG grantees have gone on to return OUP’s investment in myriad forms, as professors, policy analysts, social scientists, and economists—from serving as the head of the National Low Income Housing Coalition27 to winning national acclaim and the opportunity to become

an executive to one of America’s most recognizable entrepreneurs.28

In 2011, OUP called upon Dr. George Carter III, Dr. Courtney Cronley, and Dr. Tatjana Meschede— three former DDRG recipients who each possess unique expertise on the ever-pervasive problem of homelessness in America—to lead the first of the Office’s three-part Empowerment Series discussions. This inaugural discourse showed the differing ways in which grantees are involved in ongoing research that is shaping the national discourse on pressing social issues.29

It is no wonder, then, that OUP will readily continue to turn to this impressive assemblage of knowledge and expertise as it begins to match subject matter experts with the evolving needs of the Office and its online community.

In response to the growing popularity both of previously mentioned social networking outlets and the use of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, OUP will look to the best options for establishing its presence or ramping up its activity on several of the more popular social media outlets, all of which are free and provide users with free mobile device applications for virtually unrestricted access. Options currently under consideration include:

• Increasing OUP’s Twitter presence. Since establishing its...

Facilitators of Change 23

• Hosting Twitter “Town Halls.” HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan...

• Establishing OUP-KN Facebook and/or Google+ accounts....

or Google+ as well as encourage those who have yet to make their way into the social networking world to establish their own accounts.

• Establishing an OUP-KN LinkedIn account. For a more...

• Establishing an OUP-KN Pinterest board. Sometimes...

• Establishing OUP-KN Skype and YouTube channels....

revamped capacity. One such option would be to record events and post the video online, either on an OUP YouTube channel or via HUD’s main YouTube channel. Additionally, OUP is researching the positive impact of establishing a Skype channel through which OUP staff and subject matter experts will be able to conduct more personalized one-on-one interactions for those network members who require slightly more tailored TA but lack the ability to connect in person.

• Conducting an OUP-KN Webinar series. Changing economic...

The most popular alternative is the webinar, which allows groups as small as two people to as large as several hundred participants to simultaneously view and hear real-time presentations in an online environment. Using a combination of streaming audio and visual technology, OUP staff could identify topics and work with subject matter experts to prepare and implement webinar events that would prove cost-effective for all involved.

• Establishing “branding” graphics to identify OUP-KN...

a particular product or service via indicators such as logo, color, or slogan, is an effective means of establishing a brand’s legitimacy, impact, and strength. Brand recognition carries with it the power to encourage familiarity and to instill confidence when associated with products or services with proven positive value (think of the power and recognition contained within the simple logo of an apple with one bite taken out of it). OUP could tap into this branding concept by designing a logo for OUP-KN members to display on their own Web sites or social media sites, which could then link back to the Office’s primary Web site. OUP could also design print versions of this logo that grantees could then display in some capacity on OUP-funded projects.

24 Facilitators of Change

Qualifying and Quantifying Grantee Impact

In addition to these new ways in which OUP will reach out to grantees and interested parties, it will also invest in an analysis of what it would take to implement an online monitoring and evaluation (M&E) tool designed specifically for grantees. With funding resources fading across the spectrum, from government to private sector, OUP understands the importance of having solid qualitative and quantitative data in which to support successful submissions for what grant money remains available.

To this end, OUP would like to build upon the existing success of the OMB-approved data collection tool it designed and implemented for grantees to use when submitting their quarterly or biannual progress reports. This tool streamlined the reporting process, providing the Office with the data required to confirm that the tasks proposed by the winning grants were being delivered in a timely and impactful manner.

To increase the reach of this tool, OUP will examine what would be required to convert the form into an online OUP-KN Dashboard tool, similar to the IT Dashboard launched by the Obama Administration in June 2009 as a way to make transparent to the American public the performance and spending of IT investments across the federal government.30

The purpose of the OUP-KN Dashboard would be to showcase hard statistical evidence that the federal funds invested into grantees are resulting in concrete community-wide improvements. The ultimate goal will be twofold: to provide grantees with a useful data collection tool that will improve their future funding acquisition efforts; and to collect data that could have a positive impact on OUP’s future funding status.

As a product designed by the federal government to support transparency, the IT Dashboard code is classified

as “open source,” which means that it is freely available for adaptation to the unique needs of interested parties. OUP will, therefore, look into ways the source code could be adapted to meet M&E indicators as determined

by progress reports as well as feedback from grantees on the key performance indicators they would like to see integrated into the OUP-KN Dashboard.

The ultimate goal of this dashboard will be a successful tool through which OUP will not only help grantees track and report on the hard data being generated by their projects but will also begin building solid statistical grounds for future refunding consideration.

Facilitators of Change 25

OUP’s Role in Helping IHEs Establish Volunteering and Service-Learning Opportunities for Civic Engagement

The ongoing impact of service by college students and young adults can be seen every day in communities across the country, through the achievements of national post-graduation service programs, such as AmeriCorps, and smaller, university-sponsored programs. Engaging in community service at a young age has long-term benefits and can influence a young person’s future choices. For example, 60 percent of AmeriCorps alumni go into public service careers and benefit their communities and their country.31

Service learning and volunteerism have become increasingly important parts of modern higher education curricula. IHEs continue to recognize the value of real-world experience and create more opportunities for volunteer-based service learning to supplement students’ more traditional classroom experiences.

OUP has long encouraged this trend toward greater student engagement. Its Community Development Work Study Program (CDWSP) offered “work stipends, tuition support, and other assistance to attract economically disadvantaged and minority graduate students to careers in community and economic development.”32 Through CDWSP's positive impact, OUP helped those students most in need of financial assistance and they, in turn, helped their communities by giving back both through the work-study requirements of the grant and the public service careers many ultimately pursued upon graduation.

Grantees from other OUP programs quickly realized how service learning could enhance their relationship with their communities. Students often provide the strongest community link that IHEs could hope for, as many arrive at the gates directly from surrounding regions. In light of the current economic recession, in fact, more

students than ever are opting to attend in-state colleges and universities. Forty-one percent of high school seniors surveyed in early 2012 by the College Board and Art & Science Group stated that they were strongly considering attending an in-state public institution in the fall for economic reasons.33 OUP grantees learned that even

those students who came from outside communities could prove valuable to their service-learning programs, possessing the enthusiasm and desire to affect positive changes on their surroundings.

It is no wonder, then, that many grantees included innovative service-learning programs as part of their funded projects, to help them more effectively engage with surrounding communities, revitalize neglected neighborhoods, and stimulate local economies. Furthermore, they learned that including a strong service-learning component to their programs helped increase community engagement.

Thanks to these lessons learned from its grantees, OUP is well situated to share best practices and encourage

the establishment or enhancement of service-learning programs with other IHEs. Service learning not only makes a difference in the lives of people but it also makes good economic sense, as valuable services—with a tangible monetary value—are donated to the community.34 Less quantifiable, however, are the significant personal benefits that participants in service-learning programs often gain through their service and engagement.

Through service-learning programs, IHE grantees learned how to tap into the energy in their communities. The economic value of services provided through service learning can be demonstrated very tangibly. First, volunteering can benefit the community. Service-learning programs can provide needed community services; stabilize neighborhoods in transition; offer a model for sustainable development and act as business incubators;

26 Facilitators of Change

create IHE-community partnerships and connections and improve town-gown relationships; and provide a way to deliver IHE expertise to the community.

Additionally, volunteering can bring benefits to the person who volunteers. Residents of all ages can engage in lifelong learning through volunteer activities. Students can gain career experience and skills enhancement, and develop self-esteem and community connections—all valuable advantages when embarking on a career path. Service learning can also provide an opportunity for students to apply classroom learning to real situations and an opportunity for mid-career professionals to transition to new avocations. Students and mid-career volunteers can enhance their sense of civic and community engagement and enjoy the satisfaction of having made a real contribution. The example below highlights one of OUP’s many grantees that have successfully embraced the value of service learning—a relatively young West Coast university that has incorporated service learning as part of its core educational mission.

California State University Monterey Bay, Seaside, California

California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB) is a relatively young university with a diverse student body that has sought to make community service and civic engagement integral parts of its mission. One of its flagship service programs is the Chinatown Renewal program—a project to revitalize a blighted urban neighborhood with a rich ethnic and cultural past—which has received three HUD HSIAC grants

and involved more than 20 faculty members and more than 900 students from every discipline (averaging

60 students per semester), since 2005. According to CSUMB’s previous president, Dr. Dianne Harrison, one of the school’s core principles for its service-learning programs is “to enrich the quality of life and well-being of the communities in the three counties that constitute our immediate service areas.”35

Through projects such as the Chinatown Renewal program, CSUMB has become an active participant in regional economic development initiatives. Since 2005, the project leveraged its OUP seed money and brought in $2 million in state and federal grants to support the planning and revitalization process.

According to Dr. Harrison, another core principle is “instilling a strong sense of social responsibility in our students.”36 To receive their degrees at CSUMB, students must complete 60 hours toward fulfilling lower- and upper-division service-learning requirements.37 CSUMB is the only university in the California state system—and only one of five public universities in the country—to require service learning for all students. Dr. Harrison shared that in any given semester, at least 45 to 50 percent of CSUMB students participate in a service-learning course, and students provide more than 6,500 volunteer hours.38 The Chinatown Renewal project has involved a great number of CSUMB students. Since 2005, students have provided more than

27,000 hours of service in this multi-faceted and comprehensive renewal program, in areas such as documenting culture and history, developing a jobs training program, and setting up a community garden.

Volunteering and service-learning programs also benefit IHEs. Service-learning programs assist IHEs in developing partnerships and buy-in with its community; contribute to good community relations; expand the notion of “community”; enhance the value of education provided by IHE programs; can provide the IHE with positive public relations accounts (faculty and staff, students, alumni, and donors often highly value such activities); can attract students (through enriched learning) and faculty (through enriched teaching); and may bring additional resources to the university, such as faculty with practical experience in their fields, grants, and other benefits. The following example came out of the need to rebuild the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and Tulane University’s response to that need as part of the URAP program (see Exhibit 12).

WHAT IS URAP?

Facilitators of Change 27

Not only was OUP one of the forerunners of the university-community partnership movement, it was also the office to which HUD turned when tasked with the government-wide call for assistance after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast. The Office collaborated with CNCS on the Universities Rebuilding America Partnerships (URAP).

• OUP responded to the Katrina and Rita crisis with imagination and innovation.

• Its grantees ranged in location from Gulf Coast states such as Louisiana and Mississippi to New York to Washington State.

• The URAP program became the catalyst for New Orleans volunteer efforts.

Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana

According to the Web site for Tulane’s URBANbuild, the program “is a design/build program in

which teams of students take on the design and construction of prototypical homes for New Orleans neighborhoods.”39 The Web site shows happy students framing, sawing, and painting houses in New Orleans’s Ninth Ward. URBANbuild partnered in the development of these houses with a rich diversity of organizations, including actor Brad Pitt’s Make It Right foundation and the Neighborhood Housing Services of New Orleans, Inc. What is not readily evident in these photos on the URBANbuild Web

site is that the program was already in the planning stages before Hurricane Katrina hit. After the devastating storm, it evolved to become an integral part of OUP’s URAP program, which was a call by the federal government to address the crisis in New Orleans. According to their own proposal: “Tulane University School of Architecture (TUSA) will use its URAP-CD grant to develop the Tulane

URBANbuild program, an outreach community design and construction program, as a center for post- Katrina reconstruction efforts in the greater New Orleans area.”

The program, which provides architecture students and faculty with the opportunity to work collectively on the “design, development, and construction of affordable housing prototypes,”40 has been a model of collaboration among individuals, businesses, and nonprofits “committed to revitalizing New Orleans’s rich cultural and architectural heritage.” Architecture and design students gain experience in green- building and solving real-life architectural problems, and the community gains from affordable and sustainable designs—some of them LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-certified— that revive blighted neighborhood landscapes in some of the city’s poorest sections and improve the quality of life for the residents of the houses.

The URBANbuild program not only continues to be a successful addition to TUSA, but it also has won American Institute of Architects awards, was the subject of an exhibition at the Venice Biennale, has been profiled in prestigious architectural publications such as Architectural Record and Dwell, and was even featured in a six-part documentary/reality series, Architecture School, produced by Stan Berthaud and Michael Selditch for Sundance Channel.

28 Facilitators of Change

As with anchor institutions, partnerships are the key to creating sustainable service-learning programs. Service learning can also be a way for an IHE to experiment with strengthening their anchor institution status. Community-based organizations are always looking for volunteers to assist in their work. At the same time, IHEs are seeking ways to provide their students with practical, real-world experience to augment their classroom learning. Uniting these needs has led to the growth of partnerships among IHEs, community-based organizations, and businesses to sponsor service-learning programs in which students, faculty, and staff provide organizations with much-needed assistance or act as business incubators within the community.

Creating successful service learning requires a significant commitment from the highest levels of institution governance, as well as support from all levels of government and the private sector. Here is where the examples

of OUP’s grantees with successful service-learning components can act as valuable models for other IHEs seeking

to implement such programs (see Exhibit 13).

OUP’S FUTURE FOCUS ON HOW TO FOSTER SERVICE LEARNING

How to make service learning work at the IHE level:

• There must be leadership from the president’s office, and the institutional system must support it wholeheartedly. The faculty must be involved in leading long-term and sustainable project efforts, and the program needs to be recognized and organized as a full academic department, not merely a support group, that contributes to the university's mission.

• Institutions do not have to work alone. Partnerships are the key to success, and there are plenty of willing partners out there to boost the institution’s efforts.

• IHEs should perform a needs assessment in the community and see where the institution best fits in.

• The community-campus partnership must be democratic in its purpose, in its process, and in its impact. There should be a transparent, collaborative planning process that is both respectful and reciprocal.

• The multiple stakeholders within the institution and the community should be heard all along the way.

• There is strength in having a central place on campus to act as a clearinghouse.

• There is value in the true exchange of knowledge between the campus and the community and the recognition that this knowledge flows in both directions.

• Be clear about what the institution can and cannot do. There are always limits to expertise and resources.

What OUP can do to foster service learning:

• Engage in the continued encouragement of and by former grantees to reinvent their charters to include service learning as part of their curricula.

• Incorporate grantees who successfully used volunteers into their projects in future training events, both in-person and online.

• Continue to co-sponsor events with Campus Compact and CNCS.

Partnering With Purpose

Facilitators of Change 29

From OUP’s inception and through each of its grants, partnerships have always been the most intrinsic part of the Office’s existence—they are the bedrock of its ideals, efforts, and goals. Every IHE that has received funding has done so only because it has proven itself equally dedicated to establishing successful partnerships with its supporting communities and the organizations dedicated to serving their needs and supporting their aspirations.

All of OUP’s grantees have augmented the potency of their funding by securing the support of other federal agencies, local and state governments, philanthropic organizations, CDCs, financial institutions, and nonprofit organizations, to name a few potential partners. Built into OUP’s annual funding notices was the requirement that these partnerships provide some form of matching or leveraged resources, whether in the form of cash or in-kind resources, be it donation of materials (for example, equipment to outfit a public computer lab) or the time and effort of volunteers from the IHEs and the community.

In response, OUP’s grantees succeeded in forging partnerships that have delivered millions of dollars in funds, donated materials, and volunteered time and effort from their communities. For example:

• From 2005–10, HSIAC grantees leveraged an average of 137.9 percent of funds awarded.

• During this same timeframe, TCUP grantees leveraged an average of 100.2 percent of funds awarded.

• From 2007–10, HBCU grantees leveraged an average of 53.2 percent of funds awarded.

Through leveraging and matching requirements, OUP funding became the catalyst that initiated a nationwide level of improvement and empowerment, one community partnership at a time. Furthermore, these requirements inspired grantees to form enduring partnerships that reduced their dependence on federal outlays, increased the potential for program sustainability, and have continued even now to benefit their communities long after the lifespan of their OUP projects.

The 2-Year Journey to Job Readiness

In recent years, many politicians and policymakers have begun to recognize what OUP has always known with unwavering certainty: IHEs readily possess the resources needed to help their communities tackle many of the major community and economic development needs our nation is now enduring.

A prime example of this truth is how IHEs are in a perfect position to address the national unemployment rate. According to a recent New York Times article, there is a disconnect that needs to be addressed between the soaring number of unemployed Americans (13 million) and the rising number of job openings that continue

to go unfilled due to lack of qualified applicants (3.4 million).41 By fostering partnerships between IHEs and these businesses, OUP can ensure an honest understanding regarding how IHEs can provide residents with academic training that will better match the specific workforce requirements of these open positions. Just finding a collaborative way to fill these currently open jobs—through innovative IHE-business partnerships—could theoretically reduce the unemployment rate by more than 25 percent.

In his 2012 State of the Union address, President Obama recognized the value of these collaborations, particularly the important role that the nation’s 1,200 community colleges and their continuing-education programs play

in supplying employers with workers possessing in-demand skills. In that address, President Obama told the story of Jackie Bray, a single mother from North Carolina, who was laid off from her job as a mechanic. When German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG opened a gas turbine factory in Charlotte, it formed a partnership

30 Facilitators of Change

with Central Piedmont Community College. The company helped the college design courses in laser and robotics training. It paid Jackie’s tuition, and then hired her to help operate its plant.

President Obama suggested that these types of partnerships between business and higher education—the kind of partnerships that OUP has been working for 18 years to stimulate and support—was one way for “every American looking for work to have the same opportunity as Jackie did.” Furthermore, he stated that his administration had already lined up more companies that want to help accomplish this goal.42

To this end, OUP is recommitting itself to strengthening the ties it has already established with many community colleges and pushing forward to form new connections with these integral contributors to this nation’s higher education system. One way in which the Office will begin this renewal and expansion is to examine ways in which OUP can partner with organizations such as the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC). As “the primary advocacy organization for the nation’s community colleges,” AACC provides an opportunity for OUP to connect directly with representatives from the nearly 1,200 community colleges represented by the association, whether it be through an exhibitor capacity or more hands-on participation in their annual conferences, meetings, or workforce development institutes.43

The Education Correlation

Recognizing that higher education suffers along with their communities when elementary and secondary education falters, OUP has already begun its efforts to affect positive partnerships designed to address the state of the nation’s public schools. In September 2012, OUP facilitated the coming together of two grantees—the

State University of New York at Buffalo, a 2005 COPC grantee and winner of eight CDWSP grants, and Tennessee State University, which has won five HBCU grants as well as one of the nine URAP-HBCU grants—for an honest discussion about how strengthening the nation’s educational infrastructure must become a holistic community effort. Representatives from the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools joined OUP staff in Nashville, Tennessee, for this event, presenting an overview of the academic performance of the Pearl-Cohn cluster of public schools and participating in a facilitated brainstorming session on how they might better address their deficiencies and strengthen their achievements.

In return, participants were introduced to Dr. Henry Taylor, one of the nation’s leading authorities on distressed urban communities and inner-city development. He is also the coordinator for the University at Buffalo’s

Center for Urban Studies, which used the university’s COPC funding to initiate the “East Side Neighborhood

Transformation Partnership.”44

Dr. Taylor’s presentation reinforced the importance of community involvement and reminded participants that children often bring non-academic issues with them into the classroom, which can have a detrimental effect on their academic performance and thus impede their chances of moving further up the educational pipeline toward workforce sustainability. To improve one piece of the puzzle, he stressed, we must improve all of the pieces.

Using examples gleaned from his own experiences with the Center for Urban Studies,45 Dr. Taylor put forward the idea that it is the community’s duty to remove as many non-academic barriers as possible for these young students, and that only through persistent on-the-ground efforts will we engender the change that these young students need and deserve.

As OUP continues to support these cohesive collaborations, not just between IHEs and their communities but between its own grantees, it will continue to make the federal government a relevant and important partner in

the growth and revitalization of municipalities across the nation. Its efforts, however, will not be limited simply to fostering collaborations among its grantees and their communities.

Facilitators of Change 31

Reconnecting and Starting Anew

Throughout OUP’s years of service, it has made significant allies—from fellow campus-community organizations to national leaders in affordable housing, accessible healthcare, and community and economic development, to other federal agencies (see Exhibit 14). The Office believes in a “practice-what-you-preach” philosophy in which it has made a priority of constantly seeking out partnership opportunities with organizations and agencies that share its ongoing cooperative endeavors.

SAMPLE OF OUP PARTNERSHIPS

• American Indian Higher Education Consortium

• Anchor Institutions Task Force

• Association of Public and Land-Grant

Universities

• Coalition for Community Schools

• Coalition of Urban Serving Universities

• Community-Campus Partnerships for Health

• Corporation for National Service

• Council for Resource Development

• Fannie Mae

• Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta

• Federal Reserve Board

• Hispanic Association of Colleges and

Universities

• National Association for Equal Opportunity in

Higher Education

• National Association of Schools of Public

Affairs and Administration

• National Endowment for the Arts

• National Science Foundation

• NeighborWorks America

• Office of Personnel Management

• Peace Corps

• Small Business Administration

• Social Security Administration

• The Annie E. Casey Foundation

• University Park Alliance

• U.S. Department of Agriculture

• U.S. Department of Commerce

• U.S. Department of Defense

• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

• U.S. Department of Justice

• U.S. Department of Labor

• U.S. Department of the Treasury

• U.S. Department of Transportation

In addition, the Office has actively sought to engage in cooperative alliances with other offices and initiatives within HUD, including Choice Neighborhoods, Community Planning and Development, Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, Healthy Homes, Public and Indian Housing, and Sustainable Communities, to name a few.

Whether through invitations to participate in annual conferences, or deeper collaborative efforts to provide training or TA that is customized to the singular needs of grantees, OUP has acknowledged the value these agencies and organizations can add to the ongoing national discourse on campus-community partnerships. Many have played multi-part roles in the Office’s efforts, while others represent fruitful former partnerships that deserve revisiting.

Currently, for example, OUP recently participated in an interactive forum with the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and Widener University to discuss how cities and universities can work together to address the challenges of former manufacturing and industry-based cities in our post-industrial economy.46

32 Facilitators of Change

Additionally, OUP is in the process of examining ways in which it can reignite other relationships through future endeavors that could include collaboration with the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Democracy Collaborative, new rounds of TA and training opportunities via NeighborWorks America (see Exhibit 15), interagency initiatives similar in scope to HUD’s Choice Neighborhoods or the U.S. Department of Education’s Promise Neighborhoods, and joint service-learning ventures with URAP partner, CNCS.

CAPACITY-BUILDING OPPORTUNITIES SPONSORED BY OUP THROUGH NEIGHBORWORKS AMERICA TRAINING PARTNERSHIP, 2011

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

• Using the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit

(LIHTC) Program

ASSET MANAGEMENT

• Nuts and Bolts of Asset Management

COMMUNITY AND NEIGHBORHOOD REVITALIZATION

• Stabilizing Neighborhoods in a Post-Foreclosure

Environment

• Strategies for More Livable Neighborhoods

COMMUNITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

• Analytical Tools and Methods Used in

Community Economic Development

• Energize Your Local Economy With a Public

Market

• Positioning Programs for Success: Connecting

Program Design to Community Economic Impact

• Job Creation and Asset Development: Creative

Strategies for a New Economy

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

• Building Powerful Community Partnerships, Collaborations, and Coalitions

• Community Organizing: Beyond Mobilization, Volunteerism, and Outreach

• Community Engagement: Measuring Its Impact

• Influencing and Affecting Decisions in Your

Community

CONSTRUCTION AND PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT

• Healthy Housing Rehabilitation

• Intro to Healthy Homes

• Materials and Methods of Construction

HOMEOWNERSHIP AND COMMUNITY LENDING

• Lending Basics for Homeownership

Counselors

• Foreclosure Basics

• Introduction to Homeownership Counseling

• Developing and Implementing an Effective

Foreclosure Program

MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP

• Strategic Thinking and Planning

• Marketing Your Programs and Organizations

• Board Oversight and Governance

On the Road Again

OUP has always built its national and regional conferences around the belief that good works should be recognized, giving ample opportunity for grantees to present their success stories in ways that inspired and educated other grantees as well as fostered communication and potential collaborations among similar projects as well as across programs. It was from the most recent all-inclusive national conference, for example, that the Nashville collaboration between COPC and HBCU grantees first took root.

It is the Office’s intention to continue to showcase the inspiration and dedication of its grantees through future forums, taking these examples of success on the road and allowing grantees to share their experiences in practical settings such as the Teacher Training Center that played host to the recent Nashville experience.

Facilitators of Change 33

The Office has already begun to examine new cross-program collaboration possibilities similar to Nashville, with a new event, in the nascent stages of development and slated for early 2013, that will partner OUP with one of its HSIAC grantees as well as prominent national organizations such as the United Way, the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, and the Alliance for Equity in Higher Education.

In addition, OUP will continue to reach out to new audiences via its exhibiting efforts. For nearly a decade, the Office has made its presence known to attendees at a wide variety of conferences and meetings held by some of the most prominent names in community and economic development, higher education advancement, service learning, and housing planning and redevelopment, to name a few (see Exhibit 16). At these events, staff have disseminated thousands of materials, including program brochures and publications highlighting grantee successes and research.

SAMPLE OF PREVIOUS OUP EXHIBIT STOPS

• American Association of Hispanics in Higher

Education

• American Council on Education

• American Planning Association

• Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan

Universities

• Community-Campus Partnerships for Health

• Community Development Society

• Enterprise Network

• HBCU Faculty Development Network

• Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities

• League of United Latin American Citizens

• Learn and Serve America

• National Association for Equal Opportunity in

Higher Education

• National Association of Housing and

Redevelopment Officials

• National Congress for Community Economic

Development

• National Council of La Raza

• National Fair Housing Summit

More importantly, OUP has made connections with interested parties from a variety of outlets—IHEs, federal agencies, philanthropic organizations, and small businesses, as well as nationally recognized chains—that became valued contributors to its mission as peer reviewers, grant applicants, and participants at its own conferences.

OUP will continue this exhibiting outreach, as part of its ongoing effort to reaffirm its continued presence and dedication to campus-community partnerships as well as to share the word of its revitalized efforts as outlined in this publication.

Close to Home

In 2011, OUP joined forces with several organizations, including the Anchor Institutions Task Force, the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, CNCS, the Coalition for Community Schools, the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities, as well as several highly respected representatives from its grantee corps, to present an “Empowerment Series” of events based at HUD Headquarters in Washington, D.C. The topics of these three events were:

34 Facilitators of Change

• “The Key to Unlocking Homelessness in America: Emerging Trends in HUD-Sponsored Research.”

• “Evidence of Success: Institutions of Higher Education Engaging Communities.”

• “Anchor Institutions: Focus on the Future.”

In-person turnout was strong for each event, with audiences ranging from 60–90 registered attendees as well as onsite staff walk-ins. Additionally, online interest in these events continues to grow; since its March 2012 posting to the HUD YouTube channel, the Anchor Institutions event has received more than 1,500 views as of this writing.47

Based on these encouraging results, OUP will continue to examine ways in which it can continue to make

its mission known, including throughout HUD, and to share its grantees’ groundbreaking efforts, successes, and research findings. It is the Office’s hope that these events will broaden its reach and inspire new future partnership opportunities both through HUD and with like-minded outside organizations and agencies.

Electronic Buzz

As outlined earlier in this publication, OUP hopes to sharpen its online efforts into a Knowledge Network

(OUP-KN) designed to provide members with a virtual space in which to facilitate opportunities to:

• Share experiences, best practices, and lessons learned across programs.

• Deliver regular blog posts, written by current and former grantees, federal representatives, and subject matter experts.

• Identify contacts and topics for future regional meetings, panel discussions, and other related gatherings.

• Collect ideas for future written materials from popular forum suggestions and discussion points.

• Share relevant funding opportunities and connect members to relevant philanthropic organizations.

• Expand its networking reach via social media outlets such as Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, and YouTube.

• Facilitate online events, such as Twitter Town Halls, moderated by or featuring members from OUP’s pool of grantee-based representatives and subject matter experts.

In addition to these new online ventures, OUP will continue to stock its electronic repository of publications and newsletters with fresh offerings designed to highlight the ongoing research, practical application of experience, and idea exchanges throughout OUP-KN. The Office values the amazing efforts of all its grantees and acknowledges through first-hand evidence that many of those efforts are but the initial drop that continues to ripple outward in creative and inspiring ways.

To this end, the Office currently has three monographs based on last year’s Empowerment Series in final approval stages for printing, and plans are already in effect to prepare a monograph based on the recent meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. OUP will also be examining possible future electronic newsletter opportunities that will

help it share ongoing successes and strategies from its talented grantee pool. The Office hopes to include positive impact stories from those who played significant roles in the early history of the Office’s grant programs and have gone on to implement the lessons they learned to continued powerful effect in other communities (see Exhibit 17).

REVVING THEIR ECONOMIC ENGINE

Facilitators of Change 35

In 2010, the State University of New York (SUNY) announced a strategic plan to turn its network of

64 IHEs into an economic engine for the state. Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher’s strategic plan explored more than a dozen initiatives and declared that from “2010 forward, SUNY’s priority is the economic revitalization of the State of New York and a better quality of life for all its citizens.”48 The plan calls for a deeper involvement by student bodies and faculties in their communities. In many upstate

areas, those communities are hurting badly due to the retreat of manufacturing industries that once sustained them.

Among the specific ideas in the SUNY plan is an urban-rural teacher corps, an online healthcare database to test and develop national standards for treatment and delivery, and an entrepreneurial initiative that would identify research projects with commercial promise and help move them to market.

Dr. Zimpher is no stranger to OUP. For years, she has been a pioneering advocate for university engagement. She served as president of the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UW–Milwaukee) in 2002 when that university was an OUP grantee. Leveraging OUP funds, UW–Milwaukee implemented community revitalization initiatives in a central urban neighborhood in Milwaukee that

had experienced serious challenges related to poverty, housing, crime, and other social and economic conditions. That OUP-supported work was part of a larger initiative called “The Milwaukee Idea,” which was a community-wide initiative through which UW–Milwaukee sought to become a scholarly partner with its host city and to have that partnership energize the university’s teaching, research,

and service activities.

OUP made sure that all of its grantees learned about Zimpher’s successes in Milwaukee so they could use the power of their institutions to create similar partnerships. The Milwaukee Idea was featured in OUP’s Lasting Engagement Series of case studies, which was published in 2002.49

Conclusion

Facilitators of Change 37

Throughout OUP’s 18 years of service, it has been honored to lead the way in HUD’s ongoing efforts to galvanize durable, effective campus-community partnerships. By solidifying community connections to institutions best able to anchor them against the tumult of challenging times, the Office has helped facilitate significant and measurable improvements in the lives of thousands of Americans, including many residing in some of the most vulnerable and overlooked locations.

More so than this, however, is how honored the Office continues to be by the tireless and dedicated efforts of its grantees:

• Grantees whose hard work and determination not only helped more than double the original 5-year lifespan

of OUP’s keystone COPC program,50 but whose successes also inspired the expansion of that original program to include COPC New Directions and COPC Futures as ways of continuing to harness the collective positive energies they were generating.

• Grantees who, through OUP’s minority-serving institution programs, have proven that there is no population too small, no community too remote to effect great change and achieve great goals.

• Grantees who continue to influence modern housing and urban development policy through their provocative research, rousing leadership, and active engagement in educating their successors.

• Grantees who rallied against the devastation and despair left by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita through projects that continue to spread optimism and innovation in a greener future across a once-ravaged landscape.

Forging Ahead, Together

As evidenced throughout this publication, OUP possesses all the key elements needed—including an inspirational and experienced corps of grantees—to provide substantive support to other IHE anchor institutions seeking

to connect with their own communities in similarly beneficial ways. The Office’s years of working closely with like-minded government officials, organizations, researchers, and activists have granted it unique perspectives into and valuable associates throughout the various circles that comprise the campus-community partnership collective.

As OUP forges ahead, it will refortify its existing partnerships with the HUD offices, federal agencies, and other organizations mentioned within this publication, as well as organizations it has encountered through its many grantees. It will also continue to seek out new similarly minded partners throughout the campus-community collective. The intent will be to strengthen the Office’s connections and resources to continue to successfully encourage and educate a new generation of IHEs seeking the guidance required to initiate their own successful projects with their communities.

Additionally, OUP will continue to strengthen current methods of online outreach and seek out new ways to connect grantees and partners via both digital and in-person forums. The Office understands that budgets are tightening across the board, and so it will focus even more on the easily accessible digital options available to keep interested parties in touch and informed regarding OUP’s invaluable campus-community resources and knowledge. It will also continue to arrange in-person meetings and trainings, recording and posting them online as it is able to do so, to expand accessibility to anyone with online access.

38 Facilitators of Change

Ultimately, the Office’s most important future role will be to continue to encourage and enable grantees to share their knowledge and experience with other anchor institutions and similarly minded organizations regarding

how to successfully collaborate with communities to address local problems, instill local pride, and effect local changes designed to provide maximum benefits to residents.

It was once stated that “the best way to predict the future is to create it.” With the ideas laid out within this publication, OUP begins to create its future—one full of renewed hope and reaffirmed purpose for all.

Endnotes

Facilitators of Change 39

1 Community-Development Society. (1989). The First Twenty Years: A History of the Community Development Society 1969–1989. Special Report. Available at http://www.comm-dev.org/pdf/CDSHistory.pdf, accessed September 20, 2012.

2 H.R.5334: Housing and Community Development Act of 1992. SEC. 851. COMMUNITY OUTREACH ACT. Available at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c102:5:./temp/~c102xqzoR9::,::, accessed September 21, 2012.

3 More information about the COPC program can be found at http://www.oup.org/programs/aboutCOPC.asp.

4 More information about OUP, including the current state of these three original goals, which have only moderately changed, can be found at http://www.oup.org/aboutOUP.asp.

5 More information about the DDRG program can be found at http://www.oup.org/programs/aboutDDRG.asp.

6 Land-Grant Colleges and Universities Map. (n.d.) Washington, DC: National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture. Available at http://www.csrees.usda.gov/qlinks/partners/partners_map.pdf, accessed November 26, 2012.

7 American Indian Higher Education Consortium. (September 2012). Tribal Colleges and Universities Roster. Alexandria, VA: AIHEC. Available at http://www.aihec.org/colleges/TCUroster.cfm, accessed September 19, 2012.

8 U.S. Department of Education. (May 2012). White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities Presidents/ Chancellors List. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. Available at http://www.ed.gov/edblogs/whhbcu/ files/2011/12/May-22-2012.docx, accessed September 19, 2012.

9 ¡Excelencia in Education!. (July 2012). Hispanic-Serving Institutions. Washington, DC: ¡Excelencia in Education!. Available at http://www.edexcelencia.org/sites/default/files/hsilist-2010-11-final_0.pdf, accessed November 26, 2012.

10 More information about URAP can be found at http://www.oup.org/programs/aboutURAP.asp.

11 Webber, H.S. & Karlström, M. (2009). Why Community Investment is Good for Nonprofit Anchor Institutions: Understanding Costs, Benefits, and the Range of Strategic Options. Chicago IL: Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, pp. 9–10. Available at http://www.chapinhall.org/sites/default/files/Anchor_Paper_04_20_09_0.pdf, accessed October 15, 2012.

12 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of University Partnerships. (2012). Anchor Institutions: A Focus on the Future. (Unpublished manuscript.) p. 5.

13 University of Maryland, Community-Wealth.org. Available at http://www.community-wealth.org/strategies/panel/cdcs/index. html, accessed October 15, 2012.

14 Axelroth, R. and Dubb, S. (2010). The Road Half Traveled: University Engagement at a Crossroads. Washington, DC: The Democracy Collaborative at the University of Maryland. Available at http://www.community-wealth.org/_pdfs/news/recent- articles/10-10/rht/axelroth-dubb_Section2-3.pdf, accessed September 26, 2012.

15 Nivin, S., et al. (2008). Westside Development Corporation Market Analysis Report and associated documents. Available at http://www.sanantonio.gov/wdc/files/Westside%20Development%20Corporation%20Market%20Analysis%20-.pdf, accessed October 15, 2012.

16 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of University Partnerships. (2012). Evidence of Success: Institutions of Higher Education Engaging Communities. (Unpublished manuscript.) p. 13.

17 Niven, S., et al. (2012). Market Analysis of the Westside Development Corporation Area. Available at http://www.sanantonio. gov/wdc/WestsideMarketAnalysis.asp, accessed October 15, 2012.

18 HUD, Evidence of Success, p. 6.

19 University of Alaska Fairbanks. (n.d.) STEM Project Brochure. Available at http://www.uaf.edu/iac/projects/gaaleeya-stem- project/brochure/, accessed October 15, 2012.

20 Rettig, M. (2010, July 19). “Howard Luke Camp combines Native culture, classroom lessons.” Newsminer.com. Available at http://newsminer.com/view/full_story/8818074/article-Howard-Luke-camp-combines-Native-culture---classroom-lessons, accessed October 15, 2012.

21 Midland Community Development Corporation Web site. (n.d.) Available at http://www.midlandcdc.org/our_partners.htm, accessed October 15, 2012.

22 Midland College Web site. Available at http://www.midland.edu/for_the_community/bedc/midlandsaves.php, accessed

October 15, 2012.

23 HUD, OUP. Collaborating for Change, Volume 1. pp. 59–68. Available at http://www.oup.org/files/pubs/collaboratingforchange. pdf, accessed October 15, 2012.

40 Facilitators of Change

24 To learn more about HUD’s mission, visit http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/about/mission, accessed September 25, 2012.

25 Prepared remarks for HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, “From Despair to Hope: Two HUD Secretaries on Urban Revitalization and Opportunity.” Washington, DC: National Press Club. July 14, 2009. Available at http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/ HUD?src=/press/speeches_remarks_statements/2009/speech_07142009, accessed October 15, 2012.

26 The World Bank. (2011). World Bank Data Indicators, Internet Users (per 100 people). Available at http://data.worldbank.org/

indicator/IT.NET.USER.P2, accessed November 21, 2012.

27 Dr. Sheila Crowley, president and chief executive officer of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, was a 1995 DDRG grantee. Read more about her dissertation and current work at http://oup.org/ddrg/ddrg_profile.asp?dprofileID=6&dtopic=5&i ntPageno=2&sltTLetter=&sltAletter=C&sltTopic=.

28 Dr. Randal Pinkett, winner of the fourth season of the NBC reality show The Apprentice, was a 2000 DDRG recipient. Read more about his dissertation at http://www.oup.org/research/dissertation.asp?dissid=18&intPageno=1&sltTLetter=&sltAletter= P&sltTopic=.

29 More information about the Empowerment Series event “The Key to Unlocking Homelessness in America: Emerging Trends in

HUD-Sponsored Research,” can be found at http://www.oup.org/conferences/presentations/empseries_presentations.asp.

30 According to the Web site www.itdashboard.gov, “The IT Dashboard gives the public access to the same tools and analysis that the government uses to oversee the performance of the Federal IT investments. The transparency and analysis features of the IT Dashboard make it harder for underperforming projects to go unnoticed, and easier for the government to focus action on the projects where it’s needed most.”

31 Remarks of Robert Velasco delivered at “Evidence of Success: Institutions of Higher Education Engaging Communities.” October 20, 2011. HUD, OUP., Empowerment series. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Cited in Evidence of Success: Institutions of Higher Education Engaging Communities, p. 5. (unpublished manuscript).

32 More information about CDWSPS can be found at http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/programdescription/cdwsp.

33 Gloecker, G. (2009, May 26). “Fewer out-of-state college students: Students stay closer to home and schools are paying the price.” Bloomberg Businessweek for NBCNews.com, available at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30870925/ns/business- us_business/t/fewer-out-of-state-college-students/, accessed October 11, 2012.

34 Evidence of Success, p. 10.

35 Ibid., p. 23.

36 Ibid.

37 More information about CSUMB’s Service-Learning Requirements, can be found at http://service.csumb.edu/sl-requirement.

38 Evidence of Success, p. 23.

39 Tulane University, URBANbuild Web site. Available at http://tulaneurbanbuild.com/index2.php#/rtext_2/1/, accessed

October 15, 2012.

40 Ibid., http://tulaneurbanbuild.com/index2.php#/rtext_2/2/.

41 Greenhouse, S. (2012, February 29). “Schools Try to Match the Jobless With 3.4 Million Jobs.” The New York Times. Available at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/01/education/schools-try-to-match-the-jobless-with-3-4-million-jobs. html?pagewanted=all, accessed October 2, 2012.

42 “President Obama’s State of the Union Address,” The New York Times, January 25, 2012.

43 More information about AACC can be found at http://www.aacc.nche.edu/Pages/default.aspx.

44 More information about this initiative can be found at http://www.ub-esntp.com.

45 More information about the Center for Urban Studies can be found at http://www.centerforurbanstudies.com.

46 Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. (2012). In Philadelphia’s Shadow: Small Cities in the Third Federal Reserve District. Special Report. Available at http://www.philadelphiafed.org/community-development/publications/special-reports/small-cities-in- third-federal-reserve-district.pdf, accessed October 4, 2012.

47 For more information about OUP’s Empowerment Series events, visit http://www.oup.org/conferences/presentations/

empseries_presentations.asp.

48 Foderaro, L. (2010, April, 12). “SUNY to Focus on Revitalizing the State.” The New York Times. Available at http://www.nytimes. com/2010/04/13/education/13suny.html, accessed October 2, 2012.

49 Lasting Engagement Series, Volume 2—The Milwaukee Idea: A Study of Transformative Change and many other OUP publications can be accessed online at http://www.oup.org/publications/oup_pubs.asp.

50 H.R.5334: Housing and Community Development Act of 1992. SEC. 851. COMMUNITY OUTREACH ACT. Available at http://

thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c102:5:./temp/~c102xqzoR9::, accessed September 21, 2012.