April 2008

The HUD COPC initiative, funded by the Office of University Partnerships at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is a long-term effort to build strong and sustainable partnerships between the University of Maine and Bangor .  The three-year grant is designed to build and grow opportunities for partnerships between the community and university.  The Bangor-UMaine partnership focuses primarily on three areas: Community Inclusion, Youth Empowerment, and Affordable Housing.  For a visual narrative, please see our diagram and exhibit:  http://www.umaine.edu/mcsc/COPC/aboutus.htm
 

Downtown Dialogues is a collection of interviews with young adults taken in downtown Bangor during the summer of 2007.  The genesis for the project came from a series of COPC meetings where both Bangor and University stakeholders wanted to have a better sense of what Bangor ’s young people thought about the downtown. Posing questions such as “What do you like about the downtown?” and “What would you like to see happen?” the footage seeks to engage young adults in a conversation about their perceptions of the downtown’s atmosphere. 

Each of the eighteen mini interviews total just under an hour of footage, ranging in topics from favorite places to go, Bangor’s culture, the homeless population, Pickering Square, the bus schedule, pedestrian safety, sidewalk conditions, and even noise.  However, the two reoccurring themes were (1) the desire for a sense of community in the downtown, and (2) a sense of the generational gap between the young and the old population’s ability to coexist in the same space.

View QuickTime clips from Downtown Dialogues:
Interview & Theme

Interview 1:    Pickering Square, Homeless population
Interview 2:    Bus schedule, Pickering Square ,
Interview 3:    Drug problem, Skateboard Park
Interview 4:    Homeless population, Graffiti & vagrancy, Generational gap, 
                       The arts
Interview 5:    Tourism, City development
Interview 6:    Sense of inclusion for young people, Pickering Square
Interview 7:    Nightlife, Marketing Bangor
Interview 8:    Nightlife, City development  
Interview 9:    Ofelia’s, Downtown arts & culture, Sense of inclusion for young
                       people 
Interview 10:   Nightlife, Downtown development, Bangor as a destination, 
                       not a gateway
Interview 11:   Wealth disparity, Bicycle / Walking paths along river 
Interview 12:   Bangor as a last stop before reaching Downeast, Movie night in
                       Pickering Square
Interview 13:   Climate, Culture, Bus schedule, Lighting at night
Interview 14:   Sidewalks, Pedestrian safety, Need for sense of community, 
                       Store hours
Interview 15:   Movie night in Pickering Square , Nightlife
Interview 16:   Nightlife, Culture, Store variety & hours
Interview 17:   Nightlife
Interview 18:   Penobscot Theatre, Bookstore, Generational gap, Sidewalks,
                       Pedestrian Safety, Bicycle paths, Economy

What do volunteer artists from New York and Bangor area teens have in common?  FREE workshops! 

On Sunday April 20th the UMaine New Media Department and four artists from SLIGHTLYaskew, the volunteer artist collective from New York City ,  will convene at the Bangor Y to mentor area teens.  Through digital art and media, the camp will introduce teenagers to innovative approaches to media while learning about Bangor ’s history.   

During the week of April 20th-25th, which coincides with spring break for Bangor schools, 16 high school students will take part in an intensive week-long workshop in the areas of performance, documentary, and interactive design.  Each of the workshops will focus on creating an interactive installation and performance project that involves local youth, Bangor artists, University of Maine students and other members of the community. 

To find out more information and/or register for the workshops, go to http://www.thecyberproject.org/ or contact New Media graduate student Abby Stiers at mailto:abigail.stiers@umit.maine.edu. 

The art camp will culminate in an interactive, free public exhibit on Thursday April 25th and Friday April 26th at the Bangor Y. 

UMaine’s application will be submitted by September 1^st, and by December Carnegie will make its announcement.  The Faculty Senate also plans to create a campus newsletter on engagement and has been devoting funds for mini-grants for the infusion service-learning into the curriculum.  Additionally, in partnership with the Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center and Maine Campus Compact, the Faculty Senate will host a two-day Curriculum Development Institute: Problem-Based Service Learning workshop [download brochure] for faculty to learn about integrating innovative teaching approaches into their curriculum.  The workshop, which will take place at the UM Student Innovation Center on June 2^nd and 3^rd, pulls in Kelly Young, Assistant Dean of Interdisciplinary Studies at Woodbury College in Montpelier Vermont, and  Tom Redden, Associate Professor of History and Politics at Southern Vermont College in Bennington College in Vermont.  

With the spring semester coming to a close, students in Professor’s Lindenfeld’s Advertising Campaigns class are preparing to pull together weeks of work with six Bangor area businesses into one final public presentation. 

On Thursday May 8^th from 4:30p.m. to 6:30p.m. at JB Parker’s, UMaine students will suggest an array of print, radio, television, and web marketing tools that the businesses could use.  [download invitation]  Not only is class a pilot project, but it is also the first time many of the businesses have had the opportunity to develop an ongoing relationship with UMaine students. 

Jim Kelly, co-owner of JB Parker’s, remarked that the timing was perfect since they have been in business about four months and were new to the experience as well: 

When we met with the students, we let them know that we were a new business and were wide open to any of their ideas.  Our experience with the students has gone very well, and the class is an innovative approach to giving the kids real-world skills. The University does a pretty good job of advertising itself, but classes like this one could go a long way in promoting collaboration with local Maine businesses.

The Penobscot Theatre was another business that the students worked with.  Scott Levey, its Director, has taught classes at UMaine before, but this is the first time he had worked with them from the business perspective, “I have had a great experience and would be glad to do it again.” 

Even the students do not seem to mind the extra work and time that has been required of them:

The class is phenomenal and Professor Lindenfeld is one of those professors you want all professors to be like.  The best part of the class is that you are getting to work with real businesses and are learning how to communicate with people in the real world.

Students will also present advertising campaigns for the UM Recreation Center , Giacomo’s Italian Grocery Store, Nostrano’s, and Bella Luna’s Clothing Store on May 8^th at 4:30p.m.  JB Parker’s will host the event and anyone is welcome to attend.         

For a comprehensive list of national events related to campus civic engagement, 
visit the Campus Compact website calendar.

UMaine Service Learning Retreats.  Please mark your calendar:

4/25/08        from 8:00am -10:00am in the Bumps Room (Student Union) 
6/2-6/3        from 8:00am -4:00pm location Student Innovation Center

The Institute on Global Service-Learning  online registration is open.  
The Institute will be held at Cornell University , April 25-26th. 
For more information go to: http://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?eventid=194783