University of Dayton
EN-10: Community Partnerships

Many urban areas across the United States lack access to fresh, healthful foods and lush open green space. In an extraordinary statistic, the Dayton metropolitan area ranks worst in Ohio and 9th in the country in food hardship. Nearly every urban area in the Miami Valley is a food desert--the Dayton core is no exception. To assist in combating this problem the University of Dayton's Hanley Sustainability Institute has partnered with East End Community Services and Mission of Mary Cooperative to initiate change within the urban regions of Dayton through the development of Lincoln Hill Gardens, a community greenspace and urban ariculture center. Lincoln Hill Gardens is transforming five acres of previously vacant land within the Twin Towers neighborhood into a sustainable, multipurpose site. Agricultural, educational, and recreational elements incraese neighborhood access to fresh, healthful foods while offering open green space for community gatherings and nature play. A primary objective of the partnership is to maximize the opportunity for community members to participate meaningfully in the project. University of Dayton students, faculty, and staff collaborate with representatiives from East End Community Services and Mission of May Cooperatve to enhance community-based research in topics that include site soil conditions and ecosystem services, residential food access, community-based assets, and neighborhood-based economic development strategies. University of Dayton students conducted surveys with community members and East End Community Services staff to uncover their aspirations and concerns for site development. Residents and local businesses have also attended participatory planning meetings to shape the site design into an asset than can be used by all community members. https://udayton.edu/news/articles/2017/07/lincoln_hill_garden_update.php

Adventure Central. Adventure Central is a trusted, community-based, positive youth development partnership between 4-H, Ohio State University Extension, the University of Dayton and Five Rivers MetroParks. Adventure Central has served at-risk youth and their parents in the West Dayton community for over 10 years. With the aid of the natural world, staff nurture families in life-changing activities that strengthen values, build lasting life skills, and empower youth to explore life's possibilities. A high intensity, long duration and high frequency programming approach is used, and the primary delivery modes include afterschool, day camp, and teen programs. Parent and family engagement is a high priority. The program includes leader- and learner-directed opportunities for youth to engage with and experience the natural world. Filling an unmet need in the community, it features hands-on environmental education experiences, and sustained contact with nature, other children, and positive adult role models. A special feature of Adventure Central is that the center is physically located within a 60-acre urban park. Partnerships with local institutions and organizations provide resources to the program in the form of AmeriCorps members, student service learners, and other programmatic support. Applied research and evaluation efforts indicate that Adventure Central has been very successful in creating a high quality, positive youth development environment, and that youth and their families have developed a greater connection with nature. The University of Dayton contributes to this sustained, multi-year program by supporting UD students working with the program through the Semester-of-Service, River Stewards, and other community-engaged learning programs. https://www.metroparks.org/adventure-central/

To train future human rights advocates and development professionals, the University of Dayton through the Department of Political Science and the Human Rights Center sponsors an applied research practicum for undergraduate students in Malawi. Working closely with Determined to Develop, a Karonga-based NGO founded and directed by the University of Dayton alumnus Matt Maroon ’06, practicum students currently spend eight weeks living, learning, and serving in the northern region of Malawi. Mr. Maroon serves as the practicum’s in-country coordinator and hosts the students at his economic development lodge, Maji Zuwa. Working closely with the local community leaders and organizations and other Malawian university students, each practicum student designs and conducts a research project on a critical human rights or development issue. The practicum takes a community based approach to human rights from start to finish. For example, the choice of the topics that students conduct research are from a list sent by D2D and populated from village community members, chiefs and stakeholders. This research provides the community and leaders with much needed analytics and affords the students invaluable – indeed, life changing – experiences and opportunities to learn from the Malawians. The Marianists, who educate for adaptation and change and seek to educate the whole person, have had a presence in Malawi since 1963, most notably with Chaminade Catholic Secondary School & MIRACLE Technical College in Karanga District. The Determined to Develop partnership supports ecological health of the communities through reforestation projects. Social equity and wellbeing are addressed through programs through women’s empowerment and education initiatives and health and nutrition projects. Economic prosperity is addressed through the women’s empowerment initiatives as well as education and youth support programs. Financial support comes in the form of salary expenses paid to Determined to Develop’s coordinator. Material support comes in the form of students as community-based participatory researchers. https://udayton.edu/artssciences/ctr/hrc/malawi-practicum/index.php https://determinedtodevelop.org/

Initiatives include: Lincoln Hill Gardens Malawi Practicum Gem City Market Arcade, Downtown Dayton Development Marianist Environmental Education Center The Hall Hunger Initiative was formed in December 2015 in partnership with the United Way of the Greater Dayton Area and with the generous support of the Jack W. and Sally D. Eichelberger Foundation. The goal of the HHI is to systematically address the issue of hunger by collaborating with community stakeholders to reduce food insecurity and increase food access. Abolition Ohio: We work in partnership with concerned community members and partner organizations in the Miami Valley and across the state and the country to prevent human trafficking, protect victims and survivors, and help prosecute the criminals responsible through awareness-raising, advocacy, education, and research. Neighborhood School Centers: The University of Dayton’s Fitz Center for Leadership in Community was selected in 2004 to design the concept and build partnerships for five Neighborhood School Centers, a major initiative of the Dayton Foundation and the Dayton Public Schools. This initiative encourages parent and neighborhood participation in learning, increases program resources through community partnerships, and improves the neighborhoods surrounding the schools. Because of its leadership in NSC, the Fitz Center works directly with the superintendent of Dayton Public Schools on her agenda and “non-negotiable” priorities. University faculty, staff and students working in these centers are engaged directly with school-specific data on attendance, performance, school readiness, and graduation, and are part of the strategies to improve each. Neighborhood School Centers are an important component of the DPS family and community engagement strategy as well as the larger community’s “Learn to Earn” initiative. The Fitz Center works with site coordinators to connect UD faculty, staff, and students with projects, research and volunteering. The Neighborhood School Centers bring together students, families, and neighbors, and act as a heart and hub of activity for the community. The result is a more connected community where we learn and share together to create a better world for all. Specific objectives of NSC include improving student performance; improving quality of life in the neighborhoods; attracting families with school-age children to the neighborhood; realigning community resources to support youth achievement; sustaining leadership and support for NSC; and developing in Dayton a replicable national model. Rivers Institute: HSI has partnered with the Rivers Institute to support its River Steward Summer Intern program and to help “green” the educational message and physical plant of the RiverMobile by investing in high-efficiency lighting and exploring ways to supply power through roof-mounted solar panels. A group of engineering students enrolled in a class at the Innovation Center are spearheading the solar-panel project, which is fostered through the Institute's sponsorship. Ohio Manufacturers Association: Recent connections made with the Ohio Manufacturers Association (OMA) are leading to new areas of collaboration with companies interested in sustainable energy solutions in their practices and processes. A significant project with an Ohio-based global manufacturer is currently underway in the Industrial Assessment Center (IAC), further expanding the reputation of HSI. Five Rivers MetroParks events, Outdoor Recreation Center, community gardens, and land stewardship department: Through a twenty-year partnership, students are engaged in various projects throughout the local area that help give students more life experiences and exposure to natural ecosystems as well as leadership opportunities to expand on professional and community building skills. The parks also give students the chance to apply classroom concepts to problems and processes happening within a unique urban/suburban park system. Many faculty engage with the parks to offer professional advice on water quality, river restoration, and water collection systems. The partnership also allows for ample opportunities to develop service learning courses. The partnership provides older youth opportunities to work as a scientist and to do something that helps their watershed; provides valuable watershed information that will help in monitoring water quality and knowing how to solve problems related to water resources; staffs a huge national community event to raise awareness about outdoor recreation; helps the celebration of natural resources; adds to vibrancy of the community; provides research and tools for the local food movement; and expands the capacity of community gardening in the local community. Leaders in Building Community: A collaboration of the Fitz Center, the departments of Political Science and Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work and the Public Administration graduate program, the Leadership in Building Communities seminar enrolls a mix of Master of Public Administration graduate students and undergraduates from the disciplines of political science, sociology, education, criminal justice and others. This seminar places UD students within a City of Dayton neighborhood to understand the inner workings of local politics. Through lectures, tours, neighborhood meetings, a team project, and extensive reading, the seminar teaches the art of building community. Participants are introduced to asset-based community development and learn about a neighborhood directly from its citizens, businesses, and leaders. The participants in this seminar function as a learning organization with the neighborhood. A neighborhood tour, two evening meetings in the neighborhood and individual interviews bring citizen leaders and community partners together with seminar participants to identify and explain the community’s own analysis of the past, description of the present, and vision of the future. The course culminates in a report presented to the community partners. https://www.udayton.edu/artssciences/ctr/fitz/academic_progs/leadership_building_communities_sem.php In partnership with Miami Conservancy District, Five Rivers MetroParks, Greater Dayton Conservation Fund, City of Dayton Water Department, and Partners for the Environment, the University of Dayton’s Fitz Center for Leadership in Community created the Rivers Institute to reunite Dayton and its rivers by building opportunities for the Dayton community to see the Rivers as the strategic natural resource central to the communal, economic, aesthetic and ecological vitality of the region. Programs and initiatives include the River Stewards program, a 3-year interdisciplinary program focused on leadership development and civic engagement around the region’s river and water resources; hosting Ohio’s Greatest Corridor Association’s annual River Summit, a regional endeavor to link cities, farmland communities, and individuals across the watershed; the Rivermobile and community outreach, bringing a traveling learning studio to schools and communities throughout the Great Miami River Watershed; and the River Leadership curriculum integrating multiple subject areas and applying them to river systems, available to students of all majors.