For the last four years, The University of Memphis has proved itself the heart of urban Memphis through the Center for Urban Research and Extension.
CURE was created in 1995 as a resource for communities, organizations and individuals outside of The University seeking answers to urban issues including housing, community and economic development, health, information systems, education and crime and safety issues.
David Cox, professor of public administration and director of CURE, said the Department of Housing and Urban Development created the program so universities would have to compete with each other for funds.
"The funds were made available so that students could get the training needed to work with communities on various projects," Cox said. "The University of Memphis won its first grant in 1996."
CURE is housed in McCord Hall. Cox's office there is filled with books on community development and grant writing, as well as publications on working with the community.
Cox said the grants create a link between The University and the community.
"The program finds ways to do research on questions and issues that a urban community has," Cox said. "Residents share the resources we provide, and we get to work together and support each other."
CURE also works with the school of urban affairs and public policy. The school links existing units within the College of Arts and Sciences to create alliances which focus on urban and regional problems. The director of that program is Stanley E. Hyland.
"Stanley Hyland and myself collaborated and received the first award," Cox said. "The funds were used to help the Orange Mound, Douglass and LeMoyne-Owen communities. One of the projects completed was the creation of a series of maps for South Memphis residents called 'Memphis Maps.'"
Cox said the residents of the South Memphis community had a need, and The University had the students and the resources to fulfill it.
"The grant provided the funds to train both the residents and the students on how to use a global information system (GIS) to generate information for the series of maps," Cox said.
"The two groups also learned how to do surveys. A Melrose High School science teacher, with experience in using GIS, helped with the training too."
The "Memphis Maps" program combined resources from the engineering and geography departments to produce these maps.
"All of the residents worked together and created a series of maps that resulted in winning several national awards," Cox said. "The University gained experience working with the community, and the residents received training in the use of technology and database creation."
Cox said CURE won another HUD grant last year.
"Our current grant was won in Fall 2000," Cox said. "The residents of the north Memphis communities, Greenlaw and Manassas, are our target areas now.
Cox said CURE works with the Memphis Housing and Community Development office and the City of Memphis.
"The city has provided CURE with a building in the target area," Cox said. "It was donated by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital to the city. We are now setting the building up as a computer resource center, linking the computers there to the ones on campus.
Residents will be able to access databases and other technology. Residents in the area can now train, and produce whatever they need, in their own neighborhoods."
Cox's background includes serving as director of the office of university partnerships within HUD from 1997 to 1998, and serving as editor of a national symposium on universities working with communities for HUD's journal, Cityscape.
Cox was recently appointed to the National Review Board on Engaged Scholarship, an effort funded by the Kellogg Foundation to review tenure and promotion applications by faculty members engaged in university-community programs.
Cox said students in other majors are welcome to apply and work with the program.
"We have several scholarship programs available to students who want to work with the community, such as the Americorps Grant," Cox said. "The grant provides funds for the tools and assistance needed for them to work in partnership situations. Americorps is sort of like a domestic Peace Corps."
Cox said other fellowships and graduate assistantships are also available. The City of Memphis Housing and Community Development internship is one such program -- it allows students to work with the community during the summer months.
Cox said CURE satisfies the needs of all people in all areas.
"The residents come to us and tell us what they need in their neighborhoods, and we provide the means," Cox said. "The program provides hands on, applied experience in working with the community. Everyone wins."
