The University of Memphis is taking part in a conference called “Building Partnerships to Build Communities” all day today.
The conference is organized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and each year takes place in a different region of the United States. This is the fourth year of the conference, which includes representatives from colleges and universities across the southeast.
David Cox, director for The U of M’s Center for Urban Research and Extension, or CURE and University President Shirley Raines are participating in a session called “President’s Roundtable Discussion: Institutionalizing University Commitment to Community Partnerships.” The presidents of LeMoyne Owen College, Jackson State University and Southwest Tennessee Community College are also taking part in the discussion.
“HUD started to think of ways to show how communities and higher education can work together on a whole range of things,” Cox said.
Areas higher education can partner on include housing, health, education, transportation and economic development.
The U of M is involved with the community through a number of projects, one of which is the “Uptown Project,” Cox said.
The Uptown Project is dedicated to the community revitalization of the Uptown Neighborhood, which lies just north of downtown Memphis. This neighborhood is going through substantial changes due to St. Jude, the Memphis Housing Authority and downtown developments.
“We are asking, ‘what about the people living in these areas, how are they going to fit in, what’s going to happen to them?’” Cox said.
Michelle Owens, a graduate assistant working on the project for CURE, said she helped organize a community forum in the Uptown neighborhood for the residents of the now-demolished housing project of Hurt Village.
The housing was torn down because of new housing developments that will be private and marketed for mixed income individuals, covering all price ranges, Owens said. There will be considerably less public housing available than in the past.
“The residents talked about their problems and ideas and how they felt about the whole process,” Owens said. “We want to ensure that they have the information they need to keep their positions in the neighborhood.”
One of the ways the residents can get information about the developments in their neighborhood is by going to the website set up for the project. Here they can find maps telling baseline data about their neighborhood, including the locations of vacant lots, problem properties, churches and commercial properties.
“They are going to be changing so rapidly, they are going to need a way to keep up,” Owens said.
A crucial element to the community and higher education partnerships is that the community remain actively involved in the process of revitalization, because eventually The University will be less of a presence, Owens said.
“That’s why The University’s role is not to go in and do things to the community, and why we’re opening it up to the community and residents involved,” Cox said.
