Progress Report: Community Engagement

Action Item 1

“Consider a UB-wide structure that would create better coordination, assessment, and visibility of engagement programs. UB has a range of community-focused programs and initiatives that address social justice and racial inequities, but they largely function independently of each other and often lack visibility.”

• Recommendation 2: Office of Community Relations will constitute a Community Engagement Advisory Board comprised of UB faculty, staff and students (as appropriate) who are responsible for, and engaged in, community engagement.

o    Update: The Community Relations Advisory Committee has begun meeting. The Committee’s aim is to foster internal collaboration, with an eye on bolstering our existing partnerships. The committee will also strive to identify and achieve best practices for community engagement.

§  Currently, members are being asked to submit a sample of their community engagement data that will be used to populate a Community Engagement Map, which will serve as a visual representation of the community work that UB is engaged in across Western New York.

§  Internally, a database of all the community engagement efforts and partners is being planned. This database will allow community relations professionals across all decanal and VP units to see existing university partnerships and their UB points of contact. By making this information available, UB personnel will be able to build upon existing relationships instead of trying to forge new ones by working with their colleagues. In doing so, we will be able to identify new areas of collaboration with existing partners across a wider spectrum of UB entities.

• Recommendation 4: Office of Community Relations to facilitate, organize, for example, digital presence.

o    Update: The Office of Community Relations and Student Life worked to put together an “Off-Campus Living Guide,” which serves as an educational resource for students unfamiliar with the Buffalo area to find safe, acceptable housing, and as an informative resource for off-campus living. This guide also makes clear the UB policies and procedures to which off-campus students are expected to adhere, including behaviorally. By helping our students find safe rentals and providing information on everything from trash pickup to public transportation options, we are seeking to better our “Town/Gown” relationship. Now that the Guide is completed, both offices are working in conjunction to promote the guide to both students and community.  

Action Item 2

“Consider resources and support structures (ie. UB grant programs) for faculty and staff engaging in racial/social justice initiatives in the community to recognize and incentivize such work and avoid activist burnout.”

• Recommendation 1: The Office of Micro-Credentials, in partnership with the Office of Community Relations, develop and offer best practice training (lunch & learns)/micro-credential for students, faculty and staff who are interesting in conducting and or participating in community engagement programs.

o    Update: The Community Engagement Lunch and Learn Series, with an expected launch date of January 2025, will feature UB professionals sharing their methods of thoughtful preparation for community engagement, as a learning opportunity for other UB personnel who want to begin their own community engagement endeavors. Each virtual “episode” of the series will be open to UB faculty, staff and students. Accessible recordings will also be available on the Office of Community Relations website. The Series will focus on topics that highlight the university’s culture of citizenship and volunteerism, featuring speakers from myriad different UB schools.

Action Item 3

“Explore how to create a culture of trust between UB and communities that have been historically marginalized in the Western New York area.”

• Recommendation 1: Intentionally create interior and exterior spaces to ensure that the community feels welcome on campus (such as, complete renovation of Allen Hall so it can be re-established as the community’s front door to UB; memorial gardens; campus namings that reflect our university’s rich and diverse history).

o    Update: Allen Hall continues to host events bringing community members to campus, including Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples Stokes’ upcoming LLC Formation Clinic and a Tool Library Dare to Repair Café.

§  Soon the Office of Community Relations will be hosting an evening lecture series for community members to come learn about different research projects that UB faculty and staff are undertaking. With the aim of connecting UB personnel and the community, we hope to facilitate conversation about community needs that UB can engage with.

(We should partner with CTSI on this.)

• Recommendation 2: The University should support and encourage the expansion of K-12 pipeline programs for traditionally underrepresented students.

o    Update: Community Relations to help coordinate Science Exploration Day.

§  The Office of Community Relations continues to find opportunities to invite EOP and Admissions to speak to K-12 students when they are on campus for programming. (IE BPS’s Disproportionality Session on 1/11)

o    Update: Community Relations continues to strengthen its relationship with Buffalo Prep, exposing students to different activities on campus such as Athletics events.

o    Update: Community Relations is also working to support Science Exploration Day, which will bring 700+ students to North Campus to learn from STEM professionals across Western New York. This event is the result of a collaboration between myriad departments at UB, including the Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, the Graduate School of Education, the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Center of Excellence for Life Sciences and Bioinformatics.

o     By seeking new ways to grow out the existing K-12 pipeline, we help fulfill the mission of not just the PACOR, but also take up the charge of all public institutions of learning. As a public university, we are only as strong as the students we attract. By investing in our pipeline programs, we are able to better prepare the next generation of Western New Yorkers to be effective UB students and simultaneously contribute to statewide innovation and economic development.