| The University of Wisconsin-Parkside will receive $399,966 to establish a Community Outreach Partnership Center (COPC)in the Lincoln neighborhood in Kenosha and the West Sixth Street neighborhood in Racine. Residents, staff from the two neighborhood centers, local government and social service agencies, and faculty and staff from the university and its Co-op Extension Services have been planning the center's goals and activities for more than a year.
Specific activities to be undertaken include: providing education and job training, including offering communication/jobs skills classes and job information seminars and working with local agencies to identify work experiences for youth; creating neighborhood block watch organizations and strengthening existing community-based organizations; hosting meetings on housing availability and credit counseling opportunities; working with the city governments and landlords to improve local housing conditions; providing one-on-one counseling and advice on small business development; and developing a university-community service program with an academic learning component.
The COPC grant will also help transform the university, which has gone through a strategic planning process resulting in its making service to the region an integral part of the university's mission.
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