IUPUIWESCO Partnership: A Campus and Community Collaboration

1
IUPUI-WESCO Partnership A Campus and Community
Collaboration

• Meg Easter-Dawson, IUPUI Office of Neighborhood
  Partnerships
• Diane Arnold, Hawthorne Community Center

2
IUPUI-Westside Cooperative Organization (WESCO)
Partnership

• Partnership with WESCO geographic area
  established in 1997
• Campus Infrastructure creation of IUPUI Office
  of Neighborhood Partnerships
• Funding from HUD Office of University
  Partnerships, Community Outreach Partnership
  Center (COPC) grant (1998 2003)
• COPC Council as partnership governing body
• Involved over 25 campus schools and departments
  to date, and over 200 students and 20
  faculty/staff annually
• Based upon the WESCO Strategic Plan, the
  Partnership initiatives focus on economic
  development, organizational development,
  educational policy and programming, health
  promotion and education, and financial literacy.
  

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Goals of IUPUI-WESCO Partnership

• 1. Develop a Council to act as a mechanism for
  continued dialogue between IUPUI and Near
  Westside.
• 2. HUDs resources will complement IUPUI
  resources already committed to building a
  partnership with the Near Westside through the
  Office for Neighborhood Partnerships.
• 3. Campus, Community, and external resources will
  be brought together to bear on the need areas
  identified by WESCO. These needs are WESCO
  organizational development, economic development,
  and education policy and programming, health
  promotion and education, financial literacy, and
  predatory lending.
• 4. Substantially increase and institutionalize
  the interaction and exchange of knowledge between
  the residents of the Near Westside and IUPUI.
• 5. Create a means to coordinate the interaction
  of the distinct academic units on the IUPUI
  campus with the residents of the Near Westside.

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Examples IUPUI-WESCO Partnership Initiatives

• EDUCATION POLICY AND PROGRAMMING
• America Reads Tutoring Program
• Westside Education Task Force
• ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
• Community Partner Scholar Program
• Fundraising School
• ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
• Economic Development Reports

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Examples IUPUI-WESCO Partnership Initiatives

• HEALTH PROMOTION
• WESCO Community Health Survey
• WESCO Health Report Card
• Health Promotion Programs
• Hawthorne Community Garden
• FINANCIAL LITERACY
• Financial Literacy Workshop Series
• Predatory Lending Campaign

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Why Campus-Community Partnerships?Benefits to
University

• Allows university to strategically focus
  resources and better track impact
• University and community develop better
  understanding of each others assets, needs,
  business practices, and cultural norms
• Community organizations become experienced in
  dealing with students, faculty, and staff and can
  better meet their needs as well as own needs
• Allows university to better respond to pressing
  community issues and concerns

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Why Campus-Community Partnerships?Benefits to
University (cont)

• Helps to build power collectively
• Ensures universitys are fulfilling their civic
  mission
• Increases relevance of academic programs
• Increases universitys visibility locally and
  nationally
• Recruitment of students
• Increased access to funding opportunities

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Why Campus-Community Partnerships?Benefits to
Community Partners

• College student understanding and potential for
  informed citizenship
• Exposure of young residents to the possibility of
  higher education
• Access to expertise of faculty members
• Access to people who can serve on boards or
  participate meaningfully in community planning
• Access to campus resources (libraries, gymnasium,
  and other intellectual and recreational
  facilities)

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Why Campus-Community PartnershipsBenefits to
Community Partners (cont)

• Expansion of community partners own approaches
  to an issue
• Opportunities to learn new skills and tools
• Expanded resource base, including grant
  opportunities
• More legitimacy, stature, or credibility for
  affiliation with higher education
• Mission advancement

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Assessing Partnerships

• What is the impact of the universitys work on
  the community organizations and/or community
  members?
• What is the communitys impact on the university,
  students, and faculty?
• How does the community conduct business
  differently because of the partnership?
• How does the university conduct business
  differently because of the partnership?
• Relationship Assessment (difficult issues,
  variety of activities)

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Assessing IUPUI-WESCO Partnership

• Fundamental purpose to consider whether the
  collaborative relationship between WESCO and
  IUPUI had improved over the course of the COPC
  grant
• First of two goals stated in the original grant
  proposal
• use a COPC Council to sustain discourse between
  IUPUI and WESCO.
• to solve real problems of daily life through
  research and outreach projects,
• Community partners input on assessment design
• Interviews with 21 individual stakeholders from
  campus and community

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IUPUI-WESCO Assessment Results

• Of program areas, education component viewed as
  most successful
• 90 of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that
  IUPUI institutional leadership have demonstrated
  support for improved relations with WESCO
• 95 agreed or strongly agreed that interactions
  between WESCO and IUPUI during the past 3 years
  have increased as a result of COPC activities
• 95 agreed or strongly agreed during the past 3
  years, there is clear evidence that IUPUI and
  WESCO can discuss difficult issues with each
  other
• Positive growth in the relationship between
  IUPUI and WESCO, as evidenced by increases in
  spontaneous activities not related to COPC
  programs

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Follow Up to Assessment

• Focus more attention and resources towards
  education initiatives
• Re-energized commitment to partnership and
  building on success to expand
• Clear and ongoing communication

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Summary

• Sustainable long-term partnership
• Mutually beneficial
• Continues to evolve as community and campus
  change
• Stay within missions
• View each other as neighbors with interrelated
  futures