Award Title
Connect with Your Community: Partnerships in Action
Awards Categories
Off-Campus, Commuter, Non-traditional, Graduate, Professional and related
Executive Summary
Connect with your Community: Partnerships in Action is designed to build community with those that reside in the neighborhoods surrounding The University of Akron. These programs are the Leggett Area Block Watch (LABW), Zipnic and Victim’s Assistance intervention and outreach. The Leggett Area Block Watch (LABW) was created to help community residence and students feel a greater sense of safety in their neighborhoods. Zipnic, a community picnic, encourages all that live in the targeted neighborhoods to meet each other and build relationships.
Victim’s Assistance and outreach is a service provided to those affected by traumatic events. It is through these programs that The University of Akron “Connects with our Community.”
Award Description
Twenty years ago, Ernest Boyer (1990) introduced the concept of an engaged institution: an institution that is interwoven in the fabric of its community. In this model, the Institution is not merely located in the community that surrounds it; but instead sees itself as a member(s) of the community with a vested interest in its well-being. Historically, universities have engaged with the community to place interns, and collaborate on research and other academic pursuits. Boyer
(2005) argued that universities must be responsive to the needs of the community vs. existing as an academic entity disconnected from the community (page 333). Though the “debate about whether universities are ‘of’ or merely ‘in’ their communities is not a new one” (Bond &
Patterson, 2005), it remains a consistent, though energizing, struggle to ideate initiatives that truly engage the University and community together. “Connect with your Community” is one such initiative. This comprehensive, grass roots campaign is a relationship building approach that addresses critical issues of safety and belongingness for off-campus students while establishing the foundation for neighborhood revitalization.
Specifically, Connect with your Community is a three-part program at The University of Akron
(a large, metropolitan and largely commuter-based campus) that promotes civic responsibility, provides safety education, and uses social norming strategies to achieve desired outcomes for our off-campus students and surrounding communities. The three components of “Connect with
Your Community” are: The Leggett Area Block Watch (LABW); Zipnic, a large-scale community-based event to promote engagement between student and non-student residents of the neighborhoods surrounding campus; and Victim’s Assistance and Outreach. All components of Connect with your Community are aimed at improving safety through engagement.

Leggett Area Block Watch (LABW)
The LABW began in Fall 2009 with a main purpose to increase neighbors “felt security” and reduce crime through increased community connection, looking out for one another and reporting suspicious behavior to the police. Goals include the following:
1. Instill positive values, foster good citizenship, and build self-confidence among community residents (i.e., students & permanent residents).
2. Enable students to become resources for preventing criminal and destructive activity both on campus and in the surrounding communities.
3. Empower community residents to report suspicious activities and crimes.
4. Foster a culture in which community residents become active partners with the University and city police departments.
5. Improve the perception of safety and “felt security” of all the residents south of campus.
The neighborhood watch program is a partnership between the University of Akron and the city of Akron. Leadership for the program is provided by the Division of Student Affairs and contributing partners include The University of Akron police; City of Akron police; City of
Akron crime analysts; City of Akron building services; University Park Alliance; the department of Public Service Technology in Summit College; Associated Student Government and Graduate
Student Government.
Over the past year, the LABW has held at least one meeting per month in the local elementary school. Dinner is provided at each meeting and groups of students, permanent community residents, business leaders and University personnel regularly attend. The focus of the meetings is on revitalizing a very disconnected community (the areas surrounding The University of
Akron) and creating a stronger “neighborhood” feeling. Student and non-student community members in LABW work together to create programs and initiatives in the neighborhood to accomplish important goals. Projects have included: the creation of a neighborhood welcome team, community holiday events, and clean-sweep days to improve the appearance of the neighborhood. Members of the LABW have also been awarded mini-grants, one of which included a local church who sponsored a barbecue for LABW members and others who assisted in a Clean-Up Akron Week community service project in the neighborhood.
A community guest speaker is brought in to almost every meeting (e.g., local politicians to hear from neighbors about issues they face; school board members; building services; community support organizations; health-based organizations for low income families) and the COPS
(Community Oriented Policing) officer for the area as well as a University of Akron police officer attends each meeting so that community members may create close relationships with the police force. Through this program, the University has also initiated ZipTip which allows the community to anonymously send text messages or web tips about suspicious activities, information about a crime or concern for another student to the University police.

Zipnic
Zipnic is a “party with a purpose.” It is a community engagement event held at Buchtel Field, a large open-space field located centrally in the neighborhoods south of the University of Akron.
Zipnic’s purpose is to provide University of Akron students and community residents in the neighborhoods surrounding campus an opportunity to engage each other and strengthen the communities in which they live.
Goals:
1. To foster a sense of connection/ engagement between the students and community members who live in the neighborhoods surrounding campus.
2. To distribute appropriate and effective preventative safety information to students and community members in a fun atmosphere.
3. To promote a stronger sense of safety in the neighborhoods surrounding the University of
Akron campus in which students and community members live and work.
4. To provide a forum for residents to engage with law enforcement representatives in a proactive environment.
The Zipnic event is now annual and has been celebrated three times with between 350 and 700 participants in attendance. These numbers are impressive given that Zipnic is targeted to an offcampus neighborhood known to be transitional and disconnected. In order to both advertise for
Zipnic and further engage the community, this event has a tradition of going door to door (to over 1,000 homes!) with a volunteer team (UA staff, students and police officers) to talk to residents and personally invite them to Zipnic. Zipnic costs are covered in their entirety by inkind donations from University departments and community organizations and by a grant from a
University Partner, University Park Alliance. Events at Zipnic include free food and drinks; a community organization fair; organized games to connect neighbors with one another (e.g., each participant is given a name tag with their street name on it at registration; kickball teams are organized by street on which participants live); family and kids games; inflatables; meet
“Zippy,” the University’s mascot; and carnival-type games.
Victim’s Assistance Outreach
The third component of “Connect with Your Community” is the Victim’s Assistance Outreach program. This program is housed in the Office of Off-Campus Student Services. Staff members in this office, with supervision of the Vice-President for Student Affairs’ office, personally contact and intervene with every single off-campus University of Akron student who is the victim of any type of crime. As the University of Akron is in a metropolitan area, crimes range from bike and other belonging theft to assault and other violent crimes. Once traumatized by a crime, students often feel vulnerable, afraid and angry. Staff members assist with resource needs, triage student concerns and facilitate interaction with local landlords.

In addition to outreach and intervention to all individual students, the victim’s assistance program also involves neighborhood canvassing, triage and intervention during times of trauma to a community. For example, staff members have facilitated a relationship with the county
Victim’s Assistance program. In the case of a traumatic event, University staff and the county’s victim’s assistance program staff members will go out to neighborhoods and knock on all doors of residences in somewhat close proximity to the traumatic event.
Assessment Data
Basic Summary of Victim’s Assistance Outreach:
• From 9/22-9/29, there were 5 burglaries in the targeted neighborhood, 9 burglary victims were contacted by the victim’s outreach program, there were 2 auto thefts and 7 bicycle thefts. Unique for this time frame was that a student was shot at a large off-campus party. Over 300 people were present at the time. County Victim Assistance was on scene immediately and “Connect with
Your Community” was active the next day in victim outreach, neighborhood canvassing and programming as well as working with campus constituents (e.g., faculty) on the student’s behalf.
• From 9/30-10/3, there were 11 burglaries in the targeted neighborhood, 22 burglary victims were contacted by the victim’s outreach program, there were 0 auto thefts and 3 bicycle thefts.
Unique for this time frame was that a student died of drug overdose. He lived off-campus with four other students. Home visits/ neighborhood canvassing was conducted the next day by the victim’s outreach program for neighbors who knew the victim. University staff members also worked with campus constituents (e.g., faculty) on the various students’ behalves.
• From 10/4-10/10, there were 8 burglaries, 19 burglary victims contacted by the victim’s outreach program, 0 auto thefts and 1 bicycle theft. 75% of burglary victims during this time frame had a target hardening home security survey scheduled within 48 hours by UA Police.
Target hardening strategies are recommended and utilized as much as possible in the victim’s outreach program, in partnership with the University of Akron police department.
Zipnic Participant Survey Results (September, 2010 event)
Zipnic participants are asked the following questions (these are only a sample of the items on the exit survey)
1. I received valuable information at Zipnic about community organizations involved in the neighborhoods south of campus? a. 67% of survey respondents answered either “Agree or
Strongly Agree.”
2. I received valuable information at Zipnic about safety tips? a. 64% of survey respondents answered either “Agree or Strongly Agree.”
3. I believe events like Zipnic promote safety in the neighborhood. a. 76% of survey respondents answered either “Agree or Strongly Agree.”

4. I was able to positively engage with law enforcement at Zipnic. a. 88% of survey respondents answered either “Agree or Strongly Agree.”
Zipnic Participant Survey Results (September, 2009 event)
Zipnic participants are asked the following questions (these are only a sample of the items on the exit survey)
1. Did you receive any new information at Zipnic about community organizations involved in the neighborhoods south of campus? YES/NO a. 80% of respondents reported “yes”
2. Because of attending Zipnic, do you feel any more connected to your neighbors? a. 80% of respondents responded with the highest two response categories – either “Somewhat yes” or “A great deal more connected.” The other two response options were “Somewhat no” and “Not at all connected.”