Posted by:
Steve Dubb
New bill aims to spur university community investment
Last month, Rep. Wu (D-OR) introduced the the Urban University Renaissance Act (HR 5567) in the U.S. House of Representatives. Text of the legislation is available here. At a press conference held at Portland State University, Rep. Wu noted that, “Urban universities can serve as the heart of economic renewal by sharing their skills and resources with the communities that surround them. My legislation will help urban universities, like Portland State University, as they lead communities, revitalize neighborhoods, and attract businesses and services to urban areas.” The introduction of the legislation is the culmination of a long effort. The Democracy Collaborative (host of Community-Wealth.org), for example, published a study in 2007 on the role of universities in community wealth building, titled Linking Colleges to Communities, which is available here. Our website also maintains sections on both university-community partnerships and anchor institution strategies. Leading the legislative charge is the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities, whose members are presidents from 47 urban universities across the country who have come together to promote greater university participation in partnerships both to promote community economic development goals and to reduce disparities in the nation’s health and K-12 public education systems. Other university groups that have also been broadly supportive of the legislative initiative include the Anchor Institution Task Force, a group of researchers, university presidents, and community partnership center leaders (including The Democracy Collaborative) who seek to “develop and disseminate knowledge to help create and advance democratic, mutually beneficial anchor institution-community partnerships” and the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU), which recently announced the appointment of Dr. Shari Garmise as the organization’s first Vice President for its newly created Office of Urban Initiatives.
As outlined here by Julie Krahe of Portland State University, highlights of the legislation include:
* Helping more teachers learn the specific skills needed to successfully teach in urban environments
* Encouraging urban universities to work alongside mayors, superintendents, and business leaders in their cities and regions to ensure that high school graduation requirements are better aligned with college and workforce expectations/
* Reestablishing a program in the Higher Education Act to support the varied beneficial work of urban schools.
* Supporting university research on environmental issues in low-income neighborhoods.
* Providing for public health research to reduce health disparities and improve care.
* Helping urban universities provide assistance to local nonprofits committed to community development and affordable housing.
* Strengthening innovation policies to promote partnerships that create regional economic growth.
More specifically, the legislation has three sections that outline a broad list of objectives in each of the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities’ priority areas—community development, K-12 partnerships, and community health. Regarding community development and community wealth building, the focus of Community-Wealth.org, a number of objectives are proposed, most of which are proposed to be realized through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). These efforts include:
1) Reauthorizing and expanding the Community Outreach Partnership Centers (COPC) program in the Office of University Partnerships (OUP).
2) Starting a new Urban Capacity Building Community Engagement Grants program to encourage institutions of higher education to create and sustain a campus-wide infrastructure and culture around working with and strengthening their local neighborhoods and communities.
3) Launching an Early Career Awards Grants for Researchers program, based on a similar National Science Foundation (NSF) program to conduct research in fields relevant to community wealth building.
4) Creating a National Urban Grant University Program designed to designate urban universities as leaders in community engagement, modeled after USDA’s land grant program, which is currently operated through the National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
5) Establishing an independent advisory council to advise the Secretary of HUD on oversight and evaluation of the various university partnership programs.
6) Initiating a competitive affordable housing grant program to promote university provision of technical and financial assistance to non-profit organizations to undertake community development and affordable housing projects.
Three additional community development goals incorporated in the legislation are:
7) Forming a federal National Innovation Council that would help oversee a Competitive Leadership for the United States Through its
Economic Regions (CLUSTER) program to create and sustain a series of initiatives to promote economic growth in industry groups.
8) Reauthorizing the University Centers program of the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) of the U.S. Department of Commerce, with priority to applicants that identify that a substantial part of their activities will benefit distressed areas.
9) Developing a new grant program at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), modeled after the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Outreach Partnerships Centers program, to develop research and provide direct service to help communities reduce environmental hazards impacting residents.