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A number of youth and family services originated at George Washington Community School
A number of services for youth and families throughout the Circle City originated with the development in 2000 of a focused community school, George Washington Community School (GWCS).
IUPUI played a key role in the development of the Near-Westside secondary Indianapolis Public School, and continues to serve the school community as an anchor partner with more than 70 services providers and neighborhood organizations that collaborate to provide youth, their families and neighbors with necessary conditions for learning—like tutoring, mentoring, health and mental health access, personal fitness, college and careers prep and workforce development opportunities.
Notable services and programs that originated at GWCS include Centers for Working Families, Teachers Treasures, school-based Probation Officers and IUPUI Physically Active Residential Community and Schools (PARCS) fitness programs.
- Centers for Working Families, sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, began in 2004 as part of the community school’s commitment to serve the needs of the broader community. In 2007, the first CWF moved from GWCS to nearby Hawthorne Community Center, and in 2008 to three additional neighborhood centers in Indianapolis that host the family-strengthening, financial opportunities program, now a program of the Local Initiatives Support Corp. (LISC). For more information, visit http://liscindianapolis.org/2016/03/centers-for-working-families-retrospective/.
- Teachers Treasures was founded through a partnership with Kroger Co. in 2000 at GWCS by 1953 George Washington High School Valedictorian, Mrs. Phyllis Imel (retired principal of nearby Daniel Webster Elementary School #46), to address the more than 100,000 Indianapolis students affected by poverty. The nonprofit moved to East 10th Street in 2006. It provides more than 2,400 teachers from 250 schools each year with secured school supplies their students need for learning. For more information, visit http://www.teacherstreasures.org/.
- Probation officers became a staple of all non-charter public high schools in Marion County after GWCHS founding principal Eileen Champagne convinced then-Judge James Payne to pilot an onsite officer at the Near-Westside community school in 2001. It had been a strategy to increase student attendance but within the first couple of years had helped to reduce the school-site probation officer’s caseload by 50 percent—an outcome worth replicating at all high schools of the city. For more information, visit http://indy.gov/eGov/Courts/Superior/CourtInfo/Pages/juvenile.aspx.
- The IU School of Physical Education and Tourism Management at IUPUI began a personal fitness program at GWCS in 2004, then working mostly with Washington student athletes. When IPS invested in a $27 million renovation of the school, it featured a state-of-the art fitness facility on the back side of the building, accessible to provide low- or no-cost fitness activities managed and provided by IUPUI students in late afternoons and evenings for youth, school staff and area adults. Today, 250 IUPUI students make an annual fitness impact with more than 10,000 participants of PARCS programs at Washington, Ben Davis High School and the Chase Legacy Center of the Tech High School campus on the Near-Eastside. For more information, visit https://petm.iupui.edu/community/parcs/index.html.
For more information about youth and family services throughout the Circle City that originated at George Washington Community School, contact IUPUI Family, School and Neighborhood Engagement at 317-278-2000 or email at IN-FSNEWeb@exchange.iu.edu.
IUPUI students provide real-world answers to Community Partners
In late August, nearly 30,000 students will converge upon the beautiful and welcoming IUPUI campus in downtown Indianapolis, each on their own path to a career and future. While they have a wide variety of career interests such as: engineer, biologist, writer, technologist, doctor, lawyer, police officer, artist, social worker, nonprofit leader, anthropologist, professional trainer, or teacher, many of them are connected by engagement.
Engaged learning is a hallmark of an IUPUI education. IUPUI students gain knowledge and experience and make important connections through applied learning. In turn, Indiana companies, nonprofits, and government agencies gain needed expertise and assistance from IUPUI students.
IUPUI students are some of the most engaged students in the state. Each year over 15,000 IUPUI students enroll in engage in community-based courses and conduct over 1 million hours of work for community partners through experiential class projects, technical assistance and research, internships and practica, service initiatives, and volunteerism.
Join in! Below are fall 2017 and spring 2018 opportunities to engage IUPUI students in your company’s or organization’s success:
Fall 2017 / Spring 2018 Public Management and Nonprofit Planning Projects
IUPUI School of Public and Environmental Affairs capstone students conduct policy analysis, program evaluation, and sustainability plans. Graduate student teams conduct comprehensive research and deliver a technical analysis and actionable recommendations. Undergraduate students conduct survey research and deliver data, findings, and recommendations.
Fall 2017 / Spring 2018 Kelley I-Core Business Projects
Kelley School of Business Integrative Core (I-Core) students conduct research for a client company, analyze findings, and provide recommendations for revenue growth. The ideal company for I-Core is an S corp, C corp, or LLC; has been operating for three to five years; and has shown an operating profit for at least one year.
Spring 2018 Organizational Continuous Improvement Projects
IUPUI School of Science Psychology seniors work with partner organizations to develop a plan for assessing program outcomes, determining appropriate measures, conducting informational interviews, and/or working with existing data to formulate a continuous improvement strategy. An ideal project would be for social service, education, health/mental health organizations.
Ready to learn how IUPUI students can bring value to your organization? Contact Teresa Bennett, Assistant Vice Chancellor, Office of Community Engagement, at tkbennet@iupui.edu.
Bonner Leaders Scholarship Program launches at IUPUI
This change comes as an effort to provide students with more consistent opportunities for growth and engagement. The Bonner Leaders Scholarship program provides incoming first-year students with the opportunity to renew their scholarship of $3,000 a year for the next three years for a total scholarship award of $12,000 over four years.
“I see this as an exciting evolution for some of our SHJ programs, one that allows us to be thoughtful about our commitment to both student success and our deepening relationships with partners,” noted Charli Lienemann, program director for community service and civic engagement who oversees the Bonner program at IUPUI.
The Bonner Leaders will also have the opportunity to work with a community partner with the support of the federal work-study program. This will provide them with the opportunity to build relationships with those they work with and networking opportunities that can benefit them through college and beyond.
Other added benefits of being a Bonner Leader include being able to participate in the Bonner Summer Leadership Institute, attend national events, and engage in networking and leadership opportunities with Bonner students across the country.
“I’m excited to be a mentor for the Bonner program next year to see all of the new and improved changes we are making,” stated Kailey Vernon, first year Bonner mentor. “The thing I am most excited about is watching the students learn and grow throughout the year. Not only will they grow the first year, these students will be in the program for the next three years as well. In my opinion, this will allow them to truly gain vast knowledge about community engagement, themselves as an individual, and IUPUI and the Indianapolis community.
By being a part of the Bonner Program, these students will be changed individuals,” continued Vernon. “Coming from personal experience being a part of a scholarship program for the past three years, I am a more well-rounded individual. I can confidently say that I understand who I am and how I can improve the community by serving and volunteering.”
The Bonner Scholarship program was established in 1990 in partnership with Berea College in Kentucky. The mission of the program is to provide diverse, low-income students with the opportunity to attend college while engaging their talents and educations in building and supporting communities. With the addition of AmeriCorps Education Awards in 1997, the Bonner Leader Program enabled other campuses to replicate the model, using other resources like federal work-study. The program is the largest privately-funded, service-based college scholarship in the country. It provides students with high financial need and an ethic for service with four-years of financial aid support and an opportunity to participate in an intensive cohort experience. More than 60 campuses nationwide now engage around 3,000 students annually according to the Bonner website.
For more information about the Sam H. Jones Scholarship Program, contact Lorrie Brown at lorrbrow@iupui.edu or for the Bonner Leaders Program contact Charli Lienemann at charli@iupui.edu.
Preparation is key to student success – before and after launching degree pursuit
Two phases of preparation are key for college student success and degree attainment. The first is preparation that occurs prior to arriving on campus. The second involves experiences provided by the university as students matriculate to empower effective transition from campus to careers and citizenship.
IUPUI emphasizes both phases. Our campus engagement of families, neighborhoods and schools in Indianapolis, as well as collaboration with key community partners, helps enhance readiness of incoming students.
After enrollment, initiatives designed to augment academic performance and expand learning opportunities beyond the classroom embody our welcoming campus environment.
In an effort to strengthen how the campus is structured to support student success, an Institute for Engaged Learning is forming. This unit, which will be housed within the Division of Undergraduate Education, will bring together units that support practices that have a high impact on student learning. These include research and service learning. As a result, beginning July 1 the Center for Service and Learning will become a part of the Division of Undergraduate Education. We are excited to see the improved accessibility and opportunity this will provide our students.
From a programmatic standpoint, the campus also offers a number of outstanding examples of programs that support student success. For one, the IUPUI School of Informatics and Computing offers summer workshops that provide students a hands-on, high-energy glimpse into how informatics and computing is shaping our world through innovation in mobile and web applications, interactive media and digital games along with health and medical research.
Workshops will provide courses that include 3-D animation and digital sculpture, creature and character design with Pokémon and application of bioinformatics methods in personalized medicine.
Summer also brings high school students who are passionate about art to the Herron School of Art and Design Summer Teen Intensive. This program offers immersive art experiences in professional state-of-the art professional studios where students explore the latest techniques, taught by Herron faculty and graduate students.
Student preparation also advances through programs provided by community partners such as the Center for Leadership Development (CLD) where instruction and training focus on five principles for success: (1) educational excellence, (2) community service, (3) effective leadership, (4) character development, and (5) career achievement.
An outgrowth of this collaboration is the IUPUI Norman Brown Scholarship administered through CLD in cooperation with IUPUI. This fall, we will welcome to campus 2017 scholarship recipient Khrisma McMurray. Her story is included in this edition of the Office of Community Engagement newsletter.
While at IUPUI, she will discover involvement options offered to IUPUI students such as the Sam H. Jones Community Service Scholarship program. Alum and former Sam Jones scholar Sharvonne Williams recalls her years spent with in the program from 2011 through 2013 as she worked her way through graduate school. Being paired with the Greater Indianapolis Urban League helped Sharvonne transition from Harlem to Indianapolis.
“Being part of the Sam Jones Scholar program helped me appreciate the dynamics of local nonprofit organization networking and building relationships. I later became an Urban League volunteer and officer with their young professionals group,” said Williams. She now serves as director of operations at the Martin Luther King Community Center in Indianapolis. Learn about exciting changes coming to the Sam H. Jones program in this issue of the newsletter.
Through the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) College Program, IUPUI students add to their resumes working at the largest single-day sporting event in the world, serving thousands of race fans at the 988-acre world-class speedway. The IMS program allows students to advance their strengths, interests and leadership through workshops.
This year’s IUPUI participant is Natania Van Sickle. Students are paid and may receive intern credit while their time at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway provides learning experiences to help prepare them for transition from campus to careers and community.
Real world application of academics help prepare students for transition at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy through a course called, “Learning by Giving.” Students get hands on experience with how philanthropy works as they weigh applicants and determine grant recipients in their peer group.
“Learning by Giving” teaches students the process of giving wisely and making grants, from deciding what community issues to address, writing requests for proposals, conducting site visits, evaluating applications and deciding where to give grant award money. Doris Buffett, sister of Warren Buffett, provides the funding.
These are only a few examples of the many ways in which IUPUI is committed to supporting student success through expanded and sustained collaborations that tie learning experiences to real-world career and community expectations.
Gaining skills for the future workforce
IUPUI is fulfilling the promise to our students and the community by preparing students for a lifetime of success, while helping the Indiana workforce to thrive by building a talent pipeline for the careers of tomorrow.
Numerous campus resources – in collaboration with our community partners – focus on the preparation of students for success in the real world. Three shining examples are: the Informatics Diversity-Enhanced Workforce (iDEW) program, the School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) Community Corps program and Splunk® IT industry training at Kinney Group, Inc. These programs, and many more, connect talented students, beginning in high school, with Indiana businesses, organizations, leaders and beyond to prepare them for high demand jobs of the future.
High School Students Prepare for Promising Futures in Technology through ‘iDEW’
High school students are introduced to a career in technology even before they reach college through the Informatics Diversity-Enhanced Workforce (iDEW) program, an IU School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI workforce development initiative. This program received national recognition in 2016 with a US2020 STEM Mentoring Award for Excellence in Public-Private Partnerships presented at the White House.
iDEW began with an approach by JP Morgan Chase inquiring about how they could “work together to address workforce needs and to prepare young underrepresented populations for promising futures through lucrative careers in technology.”
This program is getting a head of the current workforce’s skills gap by building a technology talent pipeline in Indiana. iDEW brings together partners like JPMorgan Chase, IUPUI, high schools, the community and industry professionals to train underrepresented populations in Indianapolis high schools for in demand careers in technology.
“iDEW is bridging the gap between high school, college and the industry,” said James Lyst, lecturer at IU School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI.
Through a “wraparound” approach, students have access to skills workshops, internships, professional certifications, campus visits and tech company visits. iDEW students finish high school with in-demand IT certifications, as well as a dual college credit at the IU School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI.
The program maintains contact and engagement with these students over many years. “Personal interaction with the students over a sustained period of time is the key to making this program a success—repeated reinforcement and enrichment,” said Mathew Palakal, executive associate dean at the School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI, and program director for iDEW.
A second-year iDEW student from Arsenal Technical High School said, “I want to thank you guys for all the help you gave us in seeing our imaginations put to life on the screen… I like it so much that I do it outside of school and work on my own projects. So thank you for inspiring me to get out of my comfort zone and to help find a passion I will have for the rest of my years.”
SPEA IUPUI Students Prepare to be the Next Generation of Civic Leaders
A campus program that connects IUPUI students to the real world is the new Community Corps program, launched in 2017 by the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. This program partners with community nonprofit, faith-based, and public organizations to prepare students to be the next generation of civic leaders.
“SPEA remains committed to serving our stakeholders and the community by creating opportunities to help our students connect classroom instruction to real world problems,” said Marshawn Wolley, SPEA director of community engagement and strategic initiatives.
The first course in the program, Indy Community Development Network, gives students an introduction to many of the tools utilized in community development. Through this course, students are given the chance to discover how to turn their passion of making an impact in the community into a career.
Students are not only learning community development strategies in the classroom, but they also get hands on experience in the community and meet Indianapolis leaders who are nationally recognized as well.
SPEA students who participate in the Indy Community Development Network course are eligible to compete for one of three $5,000 PNC Community Development Fellowships. Through this fellowship, students will receive a paid internship at an organization that will allow them to have maximum impact on community development initiatives in Indianapolis.
IUPUI Juniors and Seniors Receive Training in Technology Industry Market-Leading Platform, Splunk®
IUPUI upper level students from the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI and the School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI are receiving IT Industry training at Kinney Group, a growing Indianapolis-based data center and solutions provider that designs, builds and integrates IT infrastructure solutions for government agencies and businesses.
Kinney Group reached out to IUPUI to provide students training in Splunk®, the market-leading platform that powers operational intelligence. This training is filling a skills gap identified by the Kinney Group for tech professionals skilled in use, setup, education and customer training.
“This class gives the students a chance to see the real world and meet people who are already successful in the industry,” said Michael Simko, course instructor. “It gives them a heads up to see if this is what they really want to do as a job and go right out into it.”
Upon successful completion of the course, some students will have hiring opportunities with Kinney Group.
These are just a few of the IUPUI programs that are reaching students along a continuum of high school, college and beyond to ensure success after graduation and into the real world. IUPUI values community partnerships because they build a pipeline of diverse talent that will stay in Indiana and contribute to a thriving workforce in the future.
For more information about partnering with IUPUI, please contact the Office of Community Engagement at engage@iupui.edu, or call (317) 274-7400.
IUPUI Anchor Housing Program: First mortgage and first repair loan pre-approved – IUPUI employees ready to purchase and remain in a home near campus
The Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership® (INHP) pre-approved the first IUPUI employee for mortgage assistance through IUPUI’s new anchor housing program.
IUPUI’s anchor housing program offers down payment assistance to full-time employees interested in buying a home near campus. It also offers financial assistance to make exterior home repairs to full-time employees who own and occupy a home in the targeted geography.
Interested in learning more about making repairs to your home or taking the first step toward homeownership? Visit the INHP Anchor Housing webpage. The program is available first come, first served through April 2018.
Innovative IUPUI faculty receive support for community-based research
Exploring the invisible history of local Indianapolis. Helping seniors with memory loss. Finding and removing dangerous lead from soil. Creating a system that protects children and keeps them in school. What do all of these things have in common? The community-based research supported by the Charles R. Bantz Chancellor’s Community Fellowship.
In April 2017, the Charles R. Bantz Chancellor’s Community Fellowship awarded two innovative faculty members with a year of support for their community-based research that addresses a community issue in Central Indiana. Created in 2015 in recognition of the former chancellor’s leadership and contributions to the campus and the community, this fellowship reflects Bantz’s dedication to research that creates university-community partnerships and results in community impact.
Gabriel Filippelli, professor of earth sciences in the School of Science at IUPUI, received $50,000 for his research project titled “Building healthy cities through community-engaged science and action: Getting the lead out.” He is seeking to understand the cause of lead poison in Indianapolis in collaboration with youth leadership programs and community based organizations to research and be ambassadors in the community in order to gain knowledge to stop the exposure of lead.
Filippelli said, “This will help me engage a cadre of very passionate youth leaders within our current network of community based organizations to both implement the project at a neighborhood scale, and also to gain leadership skills.” He continued, “I hope to be able to finally nail down the hot spots of contamination that are present in Indianapolis and a lot of other cities, but we just don’t know where they are.” “The second thing I hope to achieve is a university-community connection where we are seen as an organization that provides important expertise and vehicles to help communities, but also provide them with the tools to help themselves,” said Filippelli.
Carolyn Gentle-Genitty, Director of the Bachelor of Social Work program and associate professor of social work in the IU School of Social Work at IUPUI, received the 2017 Community Scholar Award of $25,000 for her research project titled “Pathways to school success: Evaluation and support program (ESP) partnership with community partner Warren Township schools.” Her project will examine a consistent thread of challenges that k-12 students have who are suspended or expelled for disruptive behavior, resulting in school drop-outs. Her focus will include a pivot model approach in collaboration with Warren Township schools, police officers, probation officers, school counselors, social workers and more that will support students for a successful return back in school.
“The end result is that we have a consistent process of best practices that work in helping to disrupt the school to prison pipeline,” said Genitty. “Let’s pilot test it, and then essentially write up the findings and results into a model that other people can replicate. Whether it’s Warren or another school, or another state, maybe another country in terms of disrupting the school to prison pipeline.”
At the May, Charles R. Bantz Chancellor’s Community Fellowship Appreciation Luncheon, the 2016 awardees passed the baton to the 2017 awardees and reported the findings of their community projects and next steps.
Paul Mullins and Susan Hyatt, anthropology professors in the IUPUI School of Liberal Arts, received $50,000 in 2016 for their joint project titled “Invisible Indianapolis: Race, Heritage, and Community Memory in the Circle City” in partnership with the Concord Community Center and Ransom Place Neighborhood Association. Their project focused on the histories of communities throughout Indianapolis that most people know little about that they named “Invisible Indianapolis.”
“Sue and I had been doing some of this work for nearly 20 years, relatively individually, and now we both have had a year to work together intensively,” said Mullins. “In the space of a year we did probably what would have otherwise taken quite a long time. It gave us a whole bunch of new data.” To learn more about this project, click HERE.
Richard Holden, assistant professor of health informatics in the IU School of Informatics and Computing at IUPUI, received $25,000 in 2016 for his research into brain health-promoting information technology, in partnership with Joy’s House and Mental Health America Indianapolis. His research focused on Alzheimer’s disease and dementias. Today, according to the most recent data, there are 5.5 million people currently living with Alzheimer’s and dementia in the US. By 2050, the projections are about 50 million. There is currently no cure.
“Our hope is to influence the health of people in the community, and then go beyond the local community to influence health nationwide and worldwide,” said Holden. “We know we can’t do it alone as researchers, so having these partners who are going to continue the mission and help us disseminate what we’ve done, is probably our most likely path to that impact.” To learn more about this project, click HERE.
For more information about the Charles R. Bantz Chancellor’s Community Fellowship, click HERE.