Core Value #1: The University District shall be a model for university-community relationships.

The neighborhoods around Ohio State are linked to the university and its central educational mission. Just as the university is a model educational institution, the Plan provides the opportunity for the Neighborhoods to become a model teaching community in which the central characteristic of its common environment is education in the broadest sense. The partnership between The Ohio State University as a world-class university, the neighborhoods surrounding it, and the city of Columbus provides an unparalleled opportunity to achieve this goal. Residents, the City, and the university have come together to transform the University District. This investment and partnership can be secured and strengthened by establishing the University District as a model teaching community committed to educational excellence in every dimension of its life, and as a national benchmark for urban university area revitalization.

Education is both broadly understood in the University District and intrinsically linked to the human, intellectual, and physical resources of The Ohio State University through its academic departments and administrative offices. Education is a life-long activity, and the University District encompasses the full range of the life cycle in its educational mission.

Community life in the District’s "Teaching" Neighborhoods is being built around education as a way to understand relationships between residents, organizations, and institutions. Education for community living, understanding diversity, and civic responsibility are key elements in creating a sense of self-determination and community. Responsibility for neighborhoods, families, and neighbors becomes a critical area for teaching and learning in community life. Creating community while honoring the diversity of the Neighborhoods will establish a paradigm from which other urban areas throughout the country will benefit and learn.

Education also provides the key to the continuing and pressing problems of public safety and crime, housing code enforcement, and neighborhood clean-up. In each area, modifications in public policies and services will only partially address the problems. Resident, agency, and provider education are essential dimensions of effective solutions.

Through a comprehensive, broad-based approach to teaching and learning, the University District and the university are establishing an environment and resource base for creating an exemplary community. The community will demonstrate new techniques for building on the strengths of citizens and institutions, and structure relationships to enhance the many assets that exist in this teaching community. This unique and comprehensive approach to the University District revitalization has placed The Ohio State University in a leadership role for addressing complex urban issues in university communities. With education as the cornerstone of the approach, the intellectual and human resources of the university will strengthen the community, providing a foundation for new and lasting partnerships.

The University District is a city within a city made up of a number of distinct neighborhoods. Each of these neighborhoods has a unique character, strengths, and deficits, and each neighborhood serves as a focal point for achieving educational excellence. Each neighborhood provides opportunities for maximum interaction, communication, and learning among residents. A full range of opportunities will assist in creating a teaching and learning community in each neighborhood.

Residents report that schools, community centers, senior centers, and worship centers are natural gathering places for community activities. These gathering points facilitate interaction, communication, and education. Social service agencies and health care delivery sites help individuals build upon their strengths as well as address their limitations.

Teaching and learning opportunities can be community or neighborhood based as well as institution based. Many institutions recognize that the more closely tied to the community their services and educational activities become, the more effective they are. Focusing education and services in neighborhoods wherever possible strengthens each neighborhood, its residents and families, and assists in building excellence as well as a sense of community.

There is no doubt that existing public schools, social service agencies, health care facilities, child care providers, and religious organizations are considered by the majority of residents as among the key neighborhood resources. Residents repeatedly identified these institutions and their staffs as among the most significant assets in the community. There are approximately 198 such agencies and institutions spread throughout the University District Neighborhoods. These institutions and agencies are the heart of the human service system for university area residents and others who find their way into the community.

As a major resource, the university can offer its human capital to the University District. Community-based teaching and inquiry, therefore, will contribute directly to strengthening the community as well as the curriculum of the university. The principal objective for faculty participation in the University Neighborhoods is as follows:

These Neighborhoods also provide an important urban opportunity for teaching and learning. Working with community residents, agencies, and organizations, university faculty and their students will build new partnerships that enhance teaching. Community-based teaching can provide a context in which to apply learning while helping revitalize the Neighborhoods.

Recommendation 1.1.1: Develop and implement increased opportunities for community-based teaching and inquiry in partnership with existing agencies, schools, businesses and industries, community organizations, and other partners and assemblies of citizens to better prepare students in their discipline of study.

Recommendation 1.2.1: Develop and implement a University Neighborhoods Faculty Seed Grant Program to encourage faculty and graduate student inquiry in the University District.

Faculty teaching and inquiry play a critical role in creating the environment for educational excellence in the University District. Community-based teaching strengthens faculty participation in the community. It enables faculty to offer students opportunities to learn directly about community involvement in the improvement of every dimension of the quality of life. It offers students a realistic and necessary context in which to develop and apply their knowledge and approach to their discipline. Community-based teaching also strengthens the university by providing settings for inquiry necessary to advance knowledge in nearly every field of study. Finally, community-based teaching provides opportunities to strengthen the University District by providing direct services to residents.

Partnerships will be formed within the community to achieve this goal. These partnerships will include existing and new community organizations such as the various "U" groups and neighborhood organizations, as well as religious organizations; youth, family, and senior organizations; block watch and parent groups; and other existing groups and organizations that bring strength, cohesion, and continuity to community life. Schools, health providers, social service providers, and City departments will also be included in the new partnerships established to achieve an exemplary community.

Partnerships are being established within the university to achieve a model teaching community. Linking the academic resources of the university through the Campus Collaborative will be a key element in supporting the central educational mission of the University District. An academic partnership to create this model teaching community will gather and focus the university’s human, intellectual, and fiscal resources to:

• Develop opportunities for faculty to become professionally involved in the neighborhoods in:
• Research and inquiry
• Teaching students and mentoring professional colleagues
• Service in community agencies and projects
• Develop opportunities for staff to become involved in the University District by enhancing the likelihood of:
• Patronizing neighborhood agencies, schools, services, and centers
• Volunteer service in the neighborhoods

An academic partnership can include all colleges, schools, and departments of the university. Currently those participating in the Campus Collaborative includes: Architecture, Board of Trustees Committee on Student Affairs, Campus Partners for Community Urban Redevelopment, Campus Planning, City and Regional Planning, Council of Graduate Students, Off-Campus Student Services, Education, Federal Relations, Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Health Sciences (including Allied Medical Professions, Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health, Optometry, University Hospitals, Veterinary Medicine), Human Ecology, Interprofessional Commission of Ohio, Law, Mershon Center, Ohio State University (OSU) Extension, Public Policy and Management, Rardin Family Practice Center, Social Work, Undergraduate Student Government, University Architects Office, University College, and University Libraries.

Partnerships between the community and the university may be among the most important to create a model teaching community. One such partnership is Campus Partners. Others include expanding or initiating relationships between university colleges, schools, and departments, and community agencies and organizations, public schools, and religious associations. The Campus Collaborative is building these relationships on the common theme of strengthening the entire University District through achieving educational excellence. Faculty, student, and staff participation in the life of the community and resident participation in the life of the university are the key ingredients in developing university-community partnerships.

Neighborhood residents will benefit by receiving course-related clinical services and/or instruction. Children and youth in the Neighborhoods will profit from having university resources linked to their schools and service providing agencies. Ohio State students will benefit from formal instruction grounded in practical experience, opportunities for research into urban culture, and access to sites for clinical education. Ohio State faculty will profit from expanded opportunities for community service, professional service, inquiry and research, and clinical instruction sites. Community agencies, schools, and religious organizations will have strengthened linkages through collaboration with each other and Ohio State and expanded resources for teaching and provision of professional services. The university as a whole will also benefit from improved relationships with its neighbors.

The educational excellence of the community and the university will be enhanced by offering site-based courses in the community from a majority of the departments in the university. The long-term potential is for Ohio State to be recognized nationally for its contribution to applied research in urban community building. This program will incorporate living/learning experience for faculty in the University District, including residential opportunities for faculty.

University faculty and graduate students who participate in the program, as well as their respective departments, will benefit from support of expanded opportunities for teaching and inquiry. Area residents who participate in studies sponsored by this program will increase their knowledge about themselves and their community. The various University District neighborhoods will benefit from the knowledge developed about healthier communities through the teaching and studies supported by this program. Other urban university communities will be able to profit from knowledge and teaching models developed in this program that can be applied to similar situations.

The impact of this program will include the creation of new teaching models and S studies conducted in the context of urban university neighborhoods. It will mean an increase in the number of campus area residents and professionals being included in university research projects, as well as additional faculty and students participating in the University District.