Outreach and service

Businesses develop tomorrow’s technology leaders through K–12 programs

Businesses join forces with college and K-12 educators to ensure tomorrow's leaders get the science and math preparation they need from an early age. [Continue reading in Connect.]

Inspiring parents; educating youth

Family engagement is one of the most important factors in a child’s academic success. The Learning Dreams program achieves this goal by supporting the parents’ involvement in their own educational dreams.  [Continue reading in Connect!]

College extends help down river

In early January a team of eight faculty, staff, and students joined forces to provide crisis-intervention services to rural Mississippi communities still suffering from the impact of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The focus of the college’s From Minnesota to Mississippi initiative, as it is known, was to undertake needs assessments at the individual, family, and community levels, particularly in the area of mental health. After ascertaining the level of need, the team was able to refer clients to local service providers and to begin building a sustained, intentional relationship between the college and the affected areas. [Continue reading in Connect!]

Partnership responds to bridge disaster

When the Interstate 35W bridge collapsed in August, the public and officials turned their attention to rescue efforts and traffic challenges. Few people immediately considered the event’s potential impact on children. Few people, that is, besides Abigail Gewirtz, assistant professor in the Department of Family Social Science. [Continue reading in Connect!]

Project Intersect: Anishinaabe Arts Meet Standards-Based Curriculum

The Institute on Community Integration (ICI) has teamed up with two northern Minnesota schools, American Indian artists, and the Department of Curriculum and Instruction to create an innovative project that's enhancing students' understanding, enthusiasm, and performance in standards-based art education, language arts, mathematics, and science. It is called Project Intersect.

Program fosters collaboration between corrections, advocates, communities

A safe return for prisoners and their loved ones
While many organizations offer support to former prisoners or to domestic violence victims, few recognize the intersections between the two groups and their concerns. Since 2003 the School of Social Work’s Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community has worked to strengthen programs for intimate partners of former prisoners. Its Safe Return Initiative focuses specifically on preventing domestic violence in communities and families living with newly released prisoners.
PartnersWork, December 2007

Outstanding Community Service Award winners

This award is given by the University's Office for Public Engagement.

2007: Ernest C. Davenport Jr., Department of Educational Psychology
2006: Mark Umbreit, Professor, School of Social Work
2005: William Doherty, Family Social Science
2004: Van Mueller, professor emeritus, Educational Policy and Administration

More partnerships

The Hennepin County Community Corrections Department worked with the School of Social Work to study factors that lead to successful transitions for youth offenders exiting the Hennepin County Home School Intensive Aftercare Treatment program. The study investigated changes in recidivism rates and risk scores, and also considered perspectives of youth offenders.

Early Childhood Research Collaborative, sponsored by the college's Center for Early Education & Development and the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, fosters multidisciplinary research on early childhood development from birth to age 8.

The Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI), a collegewide center that provides evaluation and assessment services in Minnesota and nationally to K–12 districts, recently concluded a research assessment of all-day kindergarten in the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District.

The Institute on Community Integration (ICI), another collegewide center, is dedicated to work that supports the right of all persons with developmental and other disabilities to live as valued members of local communities. As part of its work, ICI occasionally partners with other researchers, especially within CEED, to examine issues or to design services and training for professionals working with infants and young children.

The University's Literacy Initiative, which is housed in the college, includes a broad-based tutoring program. The initiative has forged partnerships with specific schools, community centers, and health care clinics to provide books, volunteer readers, and tutors. In addition, college faculty are active in this area, developing a research-based teacher training program, examining issues of preliteracy, assessing reading comprehension, developing policy, and evaluating the role of family.

The college has a long tradition of addressing the educational problems endemic to our core cities. We have created programs such as the Common Ground Consortium (CGC) in collaboration with a group of Historically Black Colleges and Universities to educate both graduate students of color as teachers and in other educational and business fields, and we have worked in partnership with several city schools, including both Minneapolis and St. Paul, to create sites for teaching, research, and P-12 teacher development and support.

Other college initiatives that support this effort include the Homegrown Teacher Partnership Project (HTPP), a program to recruit and prepare students of culturally diverse backgrounds as teachers; the Multicultural Teacher Development Project (MTDP), a program to recruit and prepare students of culturally diverse backgrounds for teacher development programs; the Shirley Moore Laboratory School for pre-school children; parent and family education; and programs for first-time, at-risk parents.

Revised March 2008