The University of Oklahoma Center for Outreach, Research and Education

CORE Facts

• Total Operating Budget: $820,222
• Federal HUD COPC Grant Award provided: $386,051
• Community partners contributed $70,600
• OU-Tulsa in-kind contribution (match): $311,936
• OU-HSC in-kind contribution (match): $51,635
• Interdisciplinary collaboration with College of Architecture (Shawn Schaefer), College of Arts & Sciences (Chan Hellman), College of Allied Health (Steve Hoppes)
• Multi-faceted, emphasizes community-building, partnering with community
• Direct alignment in support of the OU-Tulsa 2005 Strategic Plan
• The federal HUD grant creates an actual Community Outreach Partnership Center at OU-Tulsa, one of 13 in the nation, established by Federal Government HUD funding.
• Additional COPC 2005 Grantee Awards include: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Univ. of California, and State University of New York, University of Arizona, University of Maine (www.oup.org), among others.
• Impacts student learning, community outreach, strengthening and growing OU-Tulsa and community partnerships as well as the HUD impact in the community by addressing economic issues, quality of life, social justice, and more.
• COPC Project partners (contributing over $70,000) include:
  1. City of Tulsa Urban Development Department - contributor/partner
  2. Sparrows’ Landing - contributor/partner
  3. 12 & 12, Inc. - contributor/partner
  4. Domestic Violence Intervention Services, Inc. - contributor/partner
  5. Tulsa C.A.R.E.S.- contributor/partner
     
     and
     
     
  6. Hospice of Green Country - partner
  7. The Center for Individuals with Physical Challenges - partner
  8. Indian Nation Health Care Resource Center - partner
  9. Middle Earth Child Development Center - partner
  10. A Place of Hope - partner
  11. Tulsa Habitat for Humanity - partner
  12. The Tulsa Scottish Rite Clinic for Childhood Language Disorders - partner
  13. Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma - partner

In 1994 HUD established the Office of University Partnerships (OUP) in an effort to encourage and expand the growing number of partnerships formed between colleges and universities and their communities. OUP recognizes the crucial role these collaborations and partnerships play in addressing local problems and revitalizing our nation’s communities. Additionally, colleges and universities are making future generations aware of these issues by integrating partnership activities into their academic studies and student activities.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is working to nurture the unique contributions that faculty and students can make to their urban communities. HUD knows that partnerships between colleges and communities can produce healthier neighborhoods and revitalize large and small communities nationwide. By collaborating with local community development corporations (CDCs), institutions of higher education build those organizations’ capacity to fulfill their economic mission and also help develop local leadership.

Through its grant awards, HUD serves two important purposes. First, it encourages universities to work hand-in-hand with CDCs and other organizations. Second, it helps promote widespread use of the initiatives they collectively develop. Through the Office of University Partnerships, HUD funds a broad variety of locally targeted partnerships that: create job opportunities; support community-based entrepreneurship; expand such services as childcare, healthcare, and enhanced public safety; combat homelessness and housing discrimination; improve education and training opportunities; and meet other important local needs. HUD also provides funds for young scholars who focus their work on housing and community development policy through Work Study and Doctoral Dissertation Grant programs.

University-community partnerships can contribute enormously to community capacity and quality of life. Successful collaboration and lessons learned from these experiences serve as a guide for institutions of higher education interested in forming or expanding partnerships with community development corporations. Dynamic and constructive chemistry takes place when the insights and experience of local leaders are joined with the ideas and energy of the academic community.

Since 1994, the process of forming higher education-community development partnerships has been facilitated by support from HUD’s Office of University Partnerships (OUP) through its Community Outreach Partnership Centers (COPC) and Joint Community Development (JCD) programs. Between 1994-1997, these two programs have provided more than $40 million to more than 70 colleges and universities in support of their outreach and collaborative work for community development.