UNLCOPC New Directions (2005- )
The original UNLCOPC grant period was from 2001 to 2005. Prior to the completion of the original grant, UNL submitted a proposal for extended funding through HUD's COPC New Directions (COPCND) initiative. The COPCND funding was meant to provide support for new and creative initiatives for previously COPC-funded programs. In Fall 2005 UNL was awarded a two-year COPCND grant.
Our UNLCOPC New Directions is an expanded level of effort in recognizing the role colleges and universities can play in rebuilding communities. Nationally only seven New Directions grants were awarded in 2005. The goal of this two-year grant is to extend the impact of the existing UNLCOPC. The New Directions initiative will further support and improve the quality of life in our original core neighborhoods by addressing the key issues of leadership, education, and health with the following three New Directions projects supported by our UNLCOPC Center:
- Project 1. Neighborhood Leadership Connect (NLC) will provide a series of leadership workshops and activities aimed at empowering neighborhood residents. This will expand the leadership capacity in the target neighborhoods by encouraging activities that identify pathways and opportunities for individuals and organizations to exert their influence with or without authority.
- Project 2. LAMP Parent Support Group (PSG) will extend the work of the Latino Achievement Mentoring Program (LAMP), whose goal is to strengthen the primary ties between mentees, mentees' families, mentors, and school staff to increase educational outcomes. This will be accomplished by working with mentees' parents to expand their knowledge base about the educational system and how it impacts the academic success of their children. This expanded knowledge and experience should empower parents to become more willing to interact with the schools and enhance the potential academic successes of their children. This, in turn will empower these parents to take more leadership roles not only in the schools, but in other places and venues in the community.
- Project 3. Neighborhood Service Exchange Pathways to Health (PTH) is developing a formalized structure to help meet basic human needs (primarily access to health services) of neighborhood residents by utilizing the neighborhoods' own assets and by providing better access to neighborhood-based health and human service community services. Existing organizations and agencies in the community are being identified and connected with neighborhood residents to address an important dimension of their every day lives - health.
These three New Directions projects directly reflect community identified needs and build on the existing UNLCOPC programs. Student and faculty involvement with UNLCOPC outreach and research activities are enriching the academic environment at UNL through the focus on service learning and its value as transferred between and among students, teachers, and the community. We fully expect this impact to continue with the New Directions grant. All UNLCOPC New Directions projects involve faculty and undergraduate and/or graduate students, thereby linking the progress of today with the successful outcomes of tomorrow.
UNLCOPC (2001-2005)
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Community Outreach Partnership Center
Funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Community Outreach Partnership Center Initiative, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and its community partners established the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Community Outreach Partnership Center (UNLCOPC) in late Fall 2001. The UNLCOPC focus was on some of the Lincoln's urban needs in the core neighborhoods surrounding the UNL campus. The target neighborhoods for the UNLCOPC comprises the Clinton, Everett, Hartley, Hawley, Malone, and North Bottoms areas, and parts of the Downtown, Near South, South Salt Creek, and Woods Park neighborhoods.
The Center, originally housed in the historical Whittier Junior High School Building but now re-located to Benton Hall, is a direct result of a systemic attempt by UNL to address needs identified by residents of the above-mentioned target neighborhoods through a Neighborhoods Strengths and Needs Study conducted by UNL researchers in Fall 1999. A report written in Spring 2000 recognized various needs identified by neighborhood residents and a subsequent COPC grant was successfully funded to accomplish the following:
- Established a University of Nebraska-Lincoln Community Outreach Partnership Center (UNLCOPC) to formalize and extend UNL's community outreach efforts into the target neighborhoods. The UNLCOPC ensured that research and outreach activities were identified and driven by neighborhood residents and neighborhood organizations and, in turn, broadened and expanded UNL's urban mission by offering faculty and students an opportunity to directly work with surrounding neighborhoods in need.
- Created the Neighbors Working Together (NWT) project which conducted leadership workshops to build strong neighborhoods through monthly meetings, neighborhood workshops, leadership training, political forums, and needs assessments. NWT worked with residents in developing collaborations, shared concerns, resources and ideas across the core neighborhoods. Additionally, NWT helped to identify emergent leaders and assisted in developing a dynamic capacity to lead effectively.
- Established the Latino Achievement Mentoring Program (LAMP) to provide emotional, academic, psychological, and social support to Latino youth (ages 12 -18) through individual one-on-one mentoring by students from UNL, Nebraska Wesleyan University and Union College. The program addresses specific needs of Latino youth and their families, including cultural adjustments, and identity issues, and serves as a preventive measure to help tackle the difficulties that contribute to low academic performance.
- Developed a Neighborhood Geographic Information System (GIS) that created a community-based database to enable residents of the targeted core areas to understand more clearly the changes occurring in their neighborhoods, more effectively participate in public debates, and improve their ability to influence outcomes about policies affecting their neighborhoods.
- Forged a Partnership to Revitalize the Heart of Lincoln's Neighborhoods (PRHOL) that worked with neighborhood residents, private and non-profit groups, and UNL employees and students to encourage homeownership in the target neighborhoods, to provide community service, leadership and neighborhood beautification opportunities. Neighborhood residents earned recycled computers by contributing 100 hours of service to their neighborhoods. Additionally, UNL students from several departments repaired and rebuilt porches in the neighborhoods.
