Students tackle issues facing urban areas

Matt Davison '03 talks to students at James Madison School of Excellence after a game of baseball. Davison, a Rochester Urban Fellow, worked with urban youth all summer to learn more about the issues affecting their lives.

tudents participating in the new Urban Fellows Summer Internship Program are learning that making the world a better place can sometimes be accomplished one person and one place at a time.

Supported by a partnership between the University, Leadership Rochester, and the 19th Ward Community Association, the program put students to work this summer collaborating closely with urban organizations and leaders to tackle some of the city's persistent challenges. Nonprofit groups and agencies in Rochester neighborhoods, including the 19th Ward, Plymouth-Exchange, and South Wedge benefited from the program. And so did the students.

Radhika Dewan '03 from Syracuse spent the summer with Sector 4 Community Development Corporation to develop a business recruitment package to bring potential investors and store operators to Genesee Street near campus.

"The most important part of the program is translating my research for a community group into an action plan," says Dewan. "The people I've met have really given me the drive to continue working for the betterment of the community. Either you say, nothing is ever going to get done so why bother, or you try recruiting businesses that might have a shot at being there."

Beyond the hands-on work inside neighborhoods, the students also participated in workshops aimed at increasing their knowledge and awareness of social issues through faculty seminars as well as programs with city and community leaders. Creating a corps of urban fellows builds on Leadership Rochester's new Civic Engagement Program for college students, which began last September and brought together students from the University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Monroe Community College, St. John Fisher College, and SUNY Brockport.

"We expect our students to learn how to be leaders, and to marry the 'practical' to the 'theoretical,'" says Jody Asbury, dean of students in the College. "We're delighted that the Rochester Area Community Foundation is helping Leadership Rochester, the University, nonprofit organizations, and other local colleges to use this young intellectual talent in our urban communities."

For one of the University's closest neighbor, this new collaboration is "one of the most important ever announced" between the two, points out John Borek, president of the 19th Ward Community Association. "I have always thought it worth noting that the two most diverse communities in Monroe County--the University and the 19th Ward--are neighbors."

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