Purdue ad hoc Task Force on Citizenship Education
Purdue Campus Compact
UNIVERSITIES AS CITIZENS – PURDUE UNIVERSITY
A newsletter about service learning and campus-community collaboration
Volume 3, Number 4
Update:
*** Over 20 people attended the Open Forum on “Building
Capacity for Campus-Community Partnerships” on January
15, 2001. Those present included representatives of: the
Community Development departments of Lafayette and
West Lafayette; a number of community agencies; the
Cooperative Extension Service at state and local levels; and
other campus areas, as well as Task Force members. An
especial thanks to State Rep. Sheila Klinker for taking time
out of her busy schedule to attend, and also to Mary Ellen
Burke of the HUD office in Indianapolis for her
participation.
*** Task Force assistants, led by Rebecca Spears,
facilitated numerous reflection sessions at the conclusion of
service activities for the very successful Martin Luther King
Jr. Day of Service organized by the Diversity Resource
Office.
*** Sara Solloway, Erin Taylor, and John Pomery gave a
presentation on service opportunities at the Mortar Board
Leadership Conference on January 27, 2001.
*** Undergraduate candidates for the Purdue University
(West Lafayette) nominee for the ICC Wood Award were
interviewed at the start of February. Recommendations for
this nomination, and for the national faculty-level Erlich
Award nomination, are expected to be with President Jischke
no later than February 9, 2001.
*** Candidates for the Service Learning Ambasador
Program are being sought. Eligible students should have
taken at least one service learning course, and be articulate
and enthusiastic about service learning. The application
process includes focus groups, a written application, and an
interview. (Rebecca Spears is Program Coordinator for the
Ambassadors.)
*** Mgmt 190S, “Intro to Service Learning,” is being
offered as an open enrollment course this semester, with a
varied group of participants. In Fall 2001 the course will be
offered as part of the Leadership and Service Learning
Scholars learning community for freshmen.
*** Kate Murray (SLA, 12/00) has joined the Task Force as
a professional assistant for a semester while awaiting
graduate school for Fall 2001. Kate joins graduate assistants
Peter Desmangles, Eva Ross, and Rebecca Spears, as well as
volunteer assistants Marisol Jimenez and Jack Tedeski.
*** Contact information: Task Force Chair, and Community
Service Director: John Pomery, Krannert 547, 494-4515,
pomeryj@mgmt.purdue.edu
Secretary: Brenda Allie, Krannert 544, 496-6912,
ballie@mgmt.purdue.edu
Assistants: TFCE desk, Boiler Volunteer Network, Stewart Center
G-4, 494-8864.
URL: http://www.mgmt.purdue.edu/centers/citizen_ed/ .
February 2001
Boiler Volunteer Network has a variety of Community
Action Days planned in the future including:
2/17/01 – Valentine’s Day – YMCA Women’s Shelter; IN
Veteran’s Home; 3/24/01 – Community Action Day – Mental
Health Association, YWCA Women’s Shelter; 4/7/01 –
Boilermaker Spring Community Day – multiple sites;
4/25/01 – Community Action Day: Project Move Out –
Memorial Union.
Hot needs (as of late January):
IN Veteran’s Home: general office duties
LUM Afterschool Program: activity leaders for K-5 children
Tippecanoe Community Health Clinic: clerical workers
Tippecanoe County Public Library: internet trainers
For more details on action days and hot needs, see:
www.housing.purdue.edu/BVN/bvnupcoming.htm
Questions about a “Purdue COPC”
[Background for current exploration of a proposal for a
Purdue-based Community Outreach Partnership Center.]
What is a COPC?
A COPC is a Community Outreach Partnership
Center, funded by the Department of Housing and Urban
Development through its Office of University Partnerships.
Institutions of higher education, working with community
partners, can apply for funding of a COPC. The application
should focus on a designated geographical area, preferably
one characterized by low average income or other
indications of high community needs. It must identify about
four community needs that will be addressed by providing
the community with increased access to resources of the
institution of higher education. A proposal should show
evidence of very high levels of current and expected
collaboration between campus and community. The
proposal should be very specific in terms of what is
proposed, and how the activities will be executed and
evaluated. A significant match is required. Funds can be
used for administrative purposes, and at most a small portion
is intended for programs in the community. Awards can be
up to $400,000 over three years.
What is the purpose of a COPC?
A COPC is designed to build capacity for the
institution of higher education to enter into, or to continue
and expand, sustained and effective collaboration with a
specific geographic population while addressing specific,
and community-identified, needs. COPC funds are not
sufficient to run large-scale programs, but they can support
the infrastructure upon which such programs can be built.
Continued on next page:
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Who is exploring a COPC initiative at Purdue?
The Task Force on Citizenship Education has been
in conversation with a large number of stakeholders both on
and off campus. A steering committee has been created,
including: Harry Brown (Executive Director of the Greater
Lafayette Volunteer Bureau); Dennis Carson (Executive
Director, Lafayette Urban Enterprise Association); Scott
Rumble (Tippecanoe County Extension Agent); Marne
Helgesen (Director, Center for Instructional Excellence);
Janet Ayres (Agricultural Economics and the Leadership and
Community Development arm of the Cooperative Extension
Service); Janet Gordon (Interim Chair, 4-H/Youth
Development); Pamala Morris (4-H/Youth Development);
John Pomery (Community Service Director and Task Force
chair); and Eva Ross and Kate Murray (Task Force
assistants).
What geographic area is under consideration?
The steering committee recommended an initial
focus on the (state-designated) Lafayette Urban Enterprise
Zone (LUEZ). This area, with some nontrivial additions or
omissions of a few blocks here and there, includes land to
the east of the Wabash River, to the south of the northern
stretch of US 52, to the west of the CSX railroad tracks
when north of Greenbush, and to the west of Elmwood
Avenue or the (soon-to-be-removed) Norfolk-Southern
railroad tracks south of Greenbush, and as far south as the
Cargill plant on Wabash Avenue (although not including
several blocks between Cargill and the Wabash Avenue
railroad underpass). This includes the downtown area of
Lafayette, the Linnwood, Washington, and Miller
elementary schools, and numerous businesses. (As noted
below, this choice is motivated by a desire to make the
strongest case for a COPC by identifying a clearly defined
geographic area which is already recognized as meriting an
influx of resources, by making strong ties with major
stakeholders in this area, and by focusing on a limited
number of needs and collaborative functional areas in the
context of very specific and concrete proposals.
Emphatically, this choice does not capture the willingness of
the Task Force to seek a much wider range of geographical
partners as the level of engagement rises.)
What are the potential benefits to neighborhoods
where COPCs operate?
The communities in the LUEZ are encouraged to
think about specific community needs that are being
insufficiently addressed, or not addressed at all, because of
limited or absent resources. Are there needs that could be
addressed if there were access to additional resources, in
terms of the knowledge and energy of Purdue students, the
research capability of Purdue faculty, and other campus
capabilities? While external funding would still be needed
for programs addressing such needs, the campus-community
collaboration inherent in a COPC provides a much broader
array of resources and skills, as well as serving as a
guarantee of campus commitment to long-term partnership
and an indicator of careful planning and of responsiveness to
community voice. Thus the presence of a COPC makes
bids for external programmatic support even more likely to
be successful.
What are the potential benefits to Purdue
University?
A COPC representing a Purdue UniversityLafayette Enterprise Zone collaboration should bring many
benefits to the campus. Such a structure is particularly
valuable to an institution such as Purdue, committed to
excellence as an engaged institution and already involved in
a wide range of outreach from community service and
volunteerism by students and student groups to outreach by
(for example) the Cooperative Extension Service, the School
of Education, the Technical Assistance Program, and a range
of service-learning courses. First, a COPC can help support
an administrative core of professionals who can link campus
and community as well as service with the academic
curriculum. Second, it provides a range of opportunities for
effective and reflective community-based learning
opportunities for students, with the attendant anticipated
benefits in terms of satisfaction with the college experience,
and in terms of studying, learning, retention, interpersonal
and leadership skills, ability to work with diverse
populations, and more. Third, it should strengthen the
positive image of the university in the local community and
with state legislators, as well as providing more students
with the kind of educational experiences that many
employers and alumni claim to value highly. (It seems
possible that it could also boost retention, after graduation,
within the state of Indiana.) Fourth, it can provide faculty
with challenging practical research options, and with
teaching experiences where students are typically proactive,
deeply involved and enthusiastic. Moreover, as indicated
below, a COPC can be a staging point for expansion, in a
wide range of directions, of the specific and geographicallyfocused activities initially proposed.
How might the activities of a COPC grow?
The initially-limited focus, both geographically and
in terms of needs or issues addressed, is not viewed as an
end-point, but rather as a staging point: to allow successful
programs or projects to be exported to other localities; to
permit additional needs and projects to be addressed as
collaborative experience and understanding grows; and to
allow benchmarking with other COPCs and other
communities throughout the state and the nation. There are
numerous networks in the state. Indiana Campus Compact
(ICC) provides a linkage of thirty campuses, where ideas
and resources can both be pooled and also directed to
geographic areas that make good locational sense. There is a
possibility of creating a network of Indiana-based COPCs as
one channel for higher education to contribute to the state as
a whole. The cooperative extension service has a network of
county-level agents throughout the state, and should this be
linked to the ICC academic network, the growing number of
COPCs, and other statewide networks, then the capability of
the extension service might be taken to new levels. In this
manner, Purdue University has the potential to grow in its
role as a coordinator and facilitator of resources to
communities statewide. One can add to this Purdue
University’s existing excellence in distance learning, the
suggestion of having service-learning experience as a
component of Advanced Graduate Teaching Certification,
and a move to expect service learning or community service
in Purdue University Lilly Endowment Retention Initiative’s
learning communities, honors courses, and first-year
experience courses; then one has the potential for
engagement to be interwoven throughout the campus in a
very transversal manner. Thus a well-thought-out and wellexecuted COPC is not a final goal, but an important
stepping-stone to continued growth in engagement in a
manner that is academically and pedagogically sound.
How competitive is the funding process for COPCs?
There were nearly 120 applications for around 16
new COPCs last year, and the competition is expected to
grow. However, thanks to the outstanding leadership of
Indiana Campus Compact in the area of developing service
learning and engaged campuses, Indiana colleges and
universities have tended to be more successful than the
national average. Purdue University has strength in its
current involvement in many sustained campus-community
collaborations. The Greater Lafayette community offers
proactive partners possessing effective infrastructure.
Where are there COPCs in Indiana?
There are currently several COPCs in the state of
Indiana. The range of possibilities is illustrated by this list
of some Indiana-based COPCs and their activities, as taken
from the “Outreach” page of the Office of University
Partnerships web site, URL: http://www.oup.org/.
(1) Indiana University Northwest (Gary): A
Business Plan for the Neighborhood; Access to Community
Services; Assessing the Business Climate; City Government
Liaison; Community Asset Mapping and Leadership
Development; Community Policing Substation;
Comprehensive Rehabilitation; Creating a Community Park;
Crime Prevention through Environmental Design;
Evaluating the COPC Project; Pilot School Program;
Teacher Training; Tutoring Neighborhood Youths.
(2) Butler University (Indianapolis): Art
Administration Training Program; Bringing the Permanent
Housing Model to Indianapolis; Commercial Revitalization
and Cultural Enrichment; Community Workshops on
Housing Law; Conducting Research on Community Issues;
Conflict Mediation Course; Creating Internships in
Nonprofit Organizations; Interventions to Address Urban
Problems; Measuring Housing Discrimination; Mediating
Conflicts Among Middle School Students; Mediation Skills
for a New Beginning; Reducing Violent Responses to
Conflict; Restoring Vacant Buildings; Studying Perceptions
of Crime; Tracking the Success of Preschool Instruction.
(3) Ball State University (Muncie): Citizenship
Education and Leadership Program; Core Revitalization
Study; Employment Opportunity Initiative; Homeless
Initiative; Neighborhood Support Initiative; New Fair
Housing Policy.
(4) Indiana University (South Bend): see list for
Indiana University Northwest (Gary).
(5) Valparaiso University: Improving Race
Relations; Mentoring Program; Reviving Fatherhood;
Student Research Supports Community Revitalization;
Training Local Leaders; Using Volunteers to Build
Affordable Housing.
How might a Purdue-based COPC fit with Purdue’s
mission and current vision?
Purdue University has an expressed vision in
moving to new levels of excellence in areas of discovery,
learning and engagement. In particular there is a
commitment to be a resource to the state of Indiana in ways
that fit with Purdue University’s comparative advantage as a
large, land-grant, Research-I institution with especial
strengths in areas involving high-tech dimensions of science,
engineering, communication and management. A COPC
would create the potential to tap into Purdue’s strengths in
response to community-voiced needs, in a way that benefits
the institution and its major stakeholders, including faculty,
students, staff, employers, local and statewide communities.
What are the steps envisaged?
The initial Open Forum of January 15, 2001 is
being followed by a meeting on February 2, 2001, at the
Chamber of Commerce building at 337 Columbia Street,
Lafayette. This second meeting will involve some key
stakeholders within the Lafayette Urban Enterprise Zone. It
is designed to encourage sharing of ideas about needs in this
geographic area and about the potential of a COPC to impact
those needs, as well as to sound out the level of community
commitment to such an endeavor. This meeting will be
followed by interaction, including focus groups and
discussions, with a much wider range of stakeholders,
including individual residents, community agencies, local
businesses, and local churches. It will also be crucial to
identify the depth and breadth of support on the campus side
for such a project. Without adequate support on campus, the
proposal cannot get out of the starting gate. There is
expected to be another public meeting, open to anyone from
campus and community, in late March 2001, to offer an
outline of a possible proposal. At this meeting, the steering
committee will be very open to suggestions and criticisms
about the choice of which needs to target and about the
choice of methods proposed to deal with them. After this
round of feedback, a combined group of campus and
community members expect to craft a proposal that meets all
the COPC criteria and that is a strong candidate for funding.
The deadline for applications is expected to be in late May
or in June, 2001. If an application is submitted and is
successful then a Purdue-based COPC might start in Fall
Semester 2001 or by January 1, 2002.
Indiana Campus Compact: 2001-2002 Funding Opportunities:
Type of Opportunity
Amount
Deadline(s)
Applicants
(1) Faculty Fellows
$5,000
3/31/01
Faculty
For faculty to integrate community engagement and service learning into all aspects of their professional life. (Faculty who
teach first-year courses and/or engage college students in service work with K-12 youth especially encouraged to apply.)
(2) Scholarship of Engagement
Mini-Grants
$1,000 - $3,000
Round 1: 3/31/01
Round 2: 10/31/01
Faculty
Fund academic courses, research projects, or professional service activities that engage faculty in community. (Faculty who
teach first-year courses and/or engage college students in service with K-12 youth especially encouraged to apply.)
(3) Campus-Community
Dialogue Grant
up to $3,000
4/27/01
Faculty/staff
Awarded to groups of diverse individuals who commit to a series of topical discussions about a commonly perceived issue facing
w/ community partners their community.
(4) Community Engagement
Grants
up to $2,000
4/27/01
Faculty w/ community
partners
Issues-based grants funding development and implementation of partnership between a faculty member and a community
organization or K-12 school.
(5) Community Service Director
Fellowships
$2,000
4/27/01
Faculty/staff
in CSD role
Provides a new model of Community Service Director professional growth, with fellows identifying aspect of work allowing
personal and institutional growth.
(6) Student Citizen Fellowships
$2,000
4/27/01
Students
Supports student participation in public works through: (a) leader of student group or large-scale project; (b) liaison between
campus and a community organization; (c) as a SL assistant to a faculty member or academic department; or (d) as the
developer of a community-based research project.
(7) Community Service Mini-Grants
up to $1,000
15th of every month
Student groups
Fund projects planned and implemented by student groups (working with community partner and utilizing the COOL model).
(8) Partnership in Action Grants
TBA
9/14/01
Campus-Community
Dialogue Team
Will fund implementation of action plans developed through Campus-Community Dialogue program (or comparable processes).
See ICC Web Site for more details; web site often contains application forms. URL: http://www.iupui.edu/~icc/programs.htm
Mailing address: Indiana Campus Compact, c/o University Place Conference Center, 850 W Michigan Suite 200, Indianapolis,
IN 46202. Phone: 317-274-6500. Fax: 317-274-6510.
(Or contact the office of the Purdue University Community Service Director, or the Boiler Volunteer Network.)
Some Campus Compact Dates:
2/26/01 – Ohio Campus Compact: “From Service to Citizenship;” Colloquium, Ohio State Univ., Columbus, OH.
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Keith Morton, Providence College.
4/12/01 – Indiana Campus Compact Conference: “Social and Academic Development of K-12 Youth Working with College
Students in Service Learning,” Indianapolis, IN.
Task Force on Citizenship Education
1310 Krannert Building
Purdue University
W. Lafayette, IN 47907-1310