University of Rochester
EN-9: Community Partnerships

Pride of New York Program
Local purchasing member. This program was developed to help promote the sale and use of locally grown produce and locally processed food products, such as syrups, sauces, cheese, honey, meats, pasta and baked goods. Rochester was the first college in the state to join the Pride of New York Program.

Freshwise Farms composting partner. Dining Services began composting through a pilot program with Freshwise Farms, one of our local food suppliers, in 2007. The program has expanded, sending approximately 70,000 lbs of compost to Freshwise Farms annually.

Upward Bound Program
The University of Rochester’s Upward Bound program supports and challenges high school students in a year round effort to apply to and gain admission to college. We are comprised of two specific programs, Upward Bound Classic and Upward Bound Math/Science. They are designed to help first generation and/or low-income students who are enrolled in the Rochester City School District. Each year a theme is chosen as the foundation for student driven research, instruction and projects.

In a time of economic stress, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry students have opened a weekly free clinic for the homeless, working people without insurance as well as those with insurance whose financial problems limit access to health care.The mission of the UR Well clinic at Asbury First United Methodist Church is to address acute concerns and exacerbations of chronic conditions, including congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, gastroesophageal reflux disease. Acute conditions include respiratory infections, rashes, injuries, and musculoskeletal complaints.

The University of Rochester entered a partnership with East High School in the Rochester City School District to improve educational outcomes, graduation rates, and support economic prosperity and social wellbeing. For the period up through June 30, 2017, the University of Rochester will serve as the Educational Partnership Organization (EPO) to East High School. The University of Rochester will work with the goal that East High School be a best practice, comprehensive community high school. By this we mean that students from East realize a full and rich high school experience, similar to what is offered in nearby suburban districts. The University of Rochester will use the NYSED Diagnostic Tool for School and District Effectiveness (DTSDE) as our working definition of "best practice." The DTSDE is research based and serves as the NYSED Joint Intervention Team (JIT) evaluation tool for all Priority and Focus Schools. East will be evaluated on the DTSDE rubric and the University of Rochester will design our Comprehensive
School Plan using that standard of practice. Since the community is critical to the success of East High School, we also see the school as centered in and serving primarily the larger community surrounding the school. The University of Rochester/East High School committee-shall consist of Warner faculty, East teachers, students, and/or administrators, and family/community members. The committee will ensure that the above criteria are met and will monitor the numbers of studies that are conducted so as not to overburden the East community or disrupt the EPO partnership’s mission.

The program's goal is to be results driven:
• Improving Attendance - East High’s current attendance rate is not conducive to credit completion and graduation. An initial focus is to increase the attendance rate for middle school students to 92% in Year 1, 93%; Year 2, and 94% in Year 3. Attendance rates will be closely monitored, with supports in place and a range of interventions designed to motivate students and improve attendance.
• Improving graduation rates - The proposal outlines targets for increased graduation rates for all students, improving over time. Students who enter East as 6th graders in the first year under the new plan are expected to reach the NYS standard of 80% graduation rate.

The Seychelles Child Development project has been operating since the 1980s to evaluate impacts of environmental exposure to pollutants with child development.

Information on Seychelles program at https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/pediatrics/research/seychelles-child-development-study.aspx

Information on the partnership with East High can be found at https://www.warner.rochester.edu/researchprojects/projects/EastHigh