| The University of Northern Iowa instituted a Community Outreach Partnership Center (COPC) for the city of Waterloo, Iowa. The COPC addresses the pressing need for neighborhood organizing and planning; improvement of housing quality and opportunities; youth educational enrichment; and health improvement in the city. Waterloo is a small, ethnically diverse, industrial city with problems that mirror those of larger urban areas. It contains substantial areas of deteriorated housing, occupied by families with very low incomes, of whom large proportions are headed by single women. The city also contains a substantial concentration of African Americans.
The target area for the COPC consists of the Consolidated Urban Revitalization Area (CURA), identified by the city of Waterloo as the area containing the largest concentrations of poverty and substandard housing. It also contains significant numbers of children and youth who are at risk of failure in the educational system. Many children are also at risk for chronic health problems due to lead based paint exposure because of the age and deterioration of much of the housing stock in the CURA. Both public and private entities have made strong commitments to the physical renewal of this area. The mission of the COPC is to augment these investments in the physical capital of the area by enhancing the human and social capital of the area.
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