The award recognizes the university-school partnership for advancing student success and community impact.
The University of Rochester-East Educational Partnership Organization (URochester-East EPO) has been awarded Campus Compact’s 2026 Excellence in Community-Engaged Partnerships Award, a national honor recognizing higher education programs and initiatives that make a meaningful impact by partnering with communities to address complex social issues.
The URochester-East EPO was selected as one of only five programs nationwide to receive this prestigious award, highlighting the University of Rochester’s decade-long collaborative partnership with East High School and the broader Rochester community to improve student outcomes and strengthen educational pathways.
Established in 2015 through a partnership between URochester, the Rochester City School District (RCSD), and the New York State Education Department, the EPO was created to prevent the closure of East High School, which at the time was the lowest-performing and most persistently struggling school in New York State.
Guided by principles of collaboration, sustainability, and shared leadership, the University’s Warner School of Education & Human Development worked alongside East educators, families, and community stakeholders to co-design a comprehensive school transformation strategy. The plan emphasized high-quality teaching, culturally responsive-sustaining curriculum, and social-emotional well-being, while leveraging a transdisciplinary approach that engaged more than 15 URochester schools and departments across education, health, and workforce development.
“This recognition is a testament to the power of collaboration and our shared commitment to creating opportunities for all students to thrive,” says Shaun Nelms ’04W (MS), ’13W (EdD), vice president for community partnerships at URochester, the William and Sheila Konar Director of the Center for Urban Education Success (CUES) at the Warner School, and former East EPO superintendent. “The URochester-East EPO has not only transformed East but also demonstrated what is possible when universities and communities come together to address systemic challenges. The impact of this partnership extends far beyond the walls of East, serving as a national model for advancing access and opportunity in education. I am deeply proud of the students, families, educators, and University partners who made this transformation possible.”
Through the EPO, East educators, students, families, and Warner faculty developed and implemented a comprehensive, embedded redesign of the school. By the conclusion of the formal EPO in June 2025, East achieved measurable and sustained progress. The school’s graduation rate rose dramatically—from 33 percent when the partnership began to more than 85 percent during the course of the EPO—alongside improved student academic outcomes, increased attendance, school culture transformation, and expanded university partnerships.
“I have witnessed firsthand the transformation this partnership made possible. It stands among the most consequential and ethical examples of university–public school collaboration in the nation,” wrote Marlene Blocker, chief of innovation and school reform for RCSD and former East EPO superintendent, in a letter supporting the partnership’s nomination for the Excellence in Community-Engaged Partnerships Award. “In deep partnership with families, educators, scholars, and community stakeholders, this initiative was guided by a simple but profound belief: with sustained, high-quality teaching, culturally responsive curricula, and robust social-emotional support, every scholar can succeed. This was not a short-term intervention but a fully embedded collaborative redesign effort.”
Building on this progress, the Warner School will continue to support students’ academic success and well-being through new and ongoing initiatives. The Center for Urban Education Success, housed at Warner, will remain a hub for research, resources, and tools designed to help urban schools thrive and scale effective, community-engaged educational practices.
The Excellence in Community-Engaged Partnerships Award is presented as part of Campus Compact’s Impact Awards, which recognize shining examples of meaningful, impactful civic and community engagement work. The recipients of these awards are recognized at Compact26, Campus Compact’s annual conference.
