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CUP Runneth Over: Academics Spill Over into Community "Breaking barriers and building bridges." This is how LSU representatives described the mission of the school's Community-University Partnership (CUP) to a New Orleans convention hall filled with representatives from universities and communities across the country.
The April gathering was part of a conference celebrating the 10th anniversary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of University Partnerships, which was created to support the involvement of higher education institutions in community rebuilding and revitalization. LSU was one of the event's co-hosts, thanks to the success and progress of its young CUP program. LSU CUP aims to bring LSU and it adjacent neighborhood, known as "Old South Baton Rouge," together for mutual benefit. Old South Baton Rouge was once a thriving, working-class, racially integrated community between the LSU campus and downtown Baton Rouge. The area contained some of the city's best and most popular restaurants, department stores, and nightclubs, but, when hard times hit the area in the 1960s and 1970s, people and businesses began to move out and much of the area fell victim to neglect and blight.
CUP came together several years ago thanks in large part to a $400,000 Community Outreach Partnership Centers(COPC) grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The grant, awarded to LSU and various community partners, marked the first COPC grant to any institution in Louisiana. The Community Outreach Partnership Centers program is administered by HUD's Office of University Partnerships. Shelly Jourdan, CUP's new director, began working for the program while she was still a student. Jourdan was an English major, but explains that she felt a "calling" during her time as a student worker. She says that the experience helped her become more aware of the class differences in America and engendered in her a "community spirit" that inspired her to take on the role of director. Jourdan was a member of the LSU team who attended the New Orleans conference, passing on word of the CUP program's successes, from free legal clinic sessions for neighborhood residents, to beautification projects, the creation of a community newsletter, and workshops for business owners.
Despite these positive steps, Jourdan says that she and all the others involved in the program have their sights set on the future and the challenges that lie ahead. Finding additional funding for the program is tops on the list, according to Renee' Boutte Myer, the CUP liaison in the LSU Chancellor's Office. "We want to see how we can move to the next level," Myer says. "We want to listen to the community to find out what they want and need." One major piece of the CUP success over the past year has been student involvement through the growth of service-learning programs at the University. Service-learning is a "credit-bearing educational experience in which students participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs." These programs are worked into classes so that students "gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility." Service-learning programs have resulted in the construction of new playgrounds for neighborhood elementary schools and structural enhancements to area businesses.
The LSU representatives at the New Orleans conference pointed out that, in 1996, only five faculty members, three departments, and one college used service-learning programs. In 2003, all of the University's colleges, 86 faculty, and 32 departments were incorporating service-learning. Many of the programs involved projects in Old South Baton Rouge and the area surrounding LSU. Another focus for the future may be an increase in programs for Old South Baton Rouge youth. CUP has worked with neighborhood organizations and the Big Buddy program to provide in-school and after-school mentoring in neighborhood schools. "We have some the most passionate community residents working with the mentoring program," says Jourdan. "The whole idea is to make the children feel special and to provide a positive and stable influence in their lives. We only wish we could serve more of them." Contact Rob Anderson | LSU
University Relations Related Links Community University Partnership (CUP) |
