USU Community Bridge Initiative

Education for the Public GoodKate Stephens, Center for Civic Engagement & Service Learning;

Emily Malik, Logan City Conservation Coordinator

What is CBI?

CBI is an intentional, place-based approach to Service-Learning that enables students to utilize knowledge obtained in the classroom to tackle real-world problems identified by the community.

Courses are matched with community projects that have been identified by Logan City as high priority.

Win-Win Partnership Cities often lack the funds and capacity to implement

innovative projects. 

Ideas and human capacity abound in universities. College students have professional-level training and a need for practical work. 

CBI brings these two entities together in an exciting interdisciplinary partnership.

A Vision for the Future

CBI is much more than technical assistance; it is direct engagement, knowledge transfer, and visioning.

The model combines faculty expertise with student enthusiasm to offer the community a vision for the future.

Dr. Courtney Flint, SociologyAssociate Professor

Background The CBI model is loosely based on the University of Oregon’s

nationally recognized Sustainable City Year Program (SCYP).

In April 2014, a team from Logan attended the University of Oregon’s SCYP annual conference to learn more about how this model might be applied to our university and community.

The SCYP Model

A one-year partnership between the U of O and a City or County

Coursework spans multiple departments

Fee-for-Service

The CBI Model Like SCYP, CBI offers a multidisciplinary approach to

tackling community identified projects.

Logan is somewhat geographically isolated and many students have employment and family commitments - not feasible for USU students to travel outside of Cache Valley on a regular basis.

We wanted CBI to bridge the University-Community divide, and strengthen communication and establish greater reciprocity.

CBI is a long-term commitment to a single community (Logan) rather than one-year commitments to multiple communities.

How does it Work?

 CBI matches a multidisciplinary set of courses to a community identified set of projects. Process – Logan City employees submitted project

proposals to the mayor’s office. The top 10 projects were selected and USU matched them with faculty and courses.

Students and faculty work with community leaders to define meaningful solutions, develop action plans and implement projects directly relevant to their course curriculum.

Results  As a result…students are given greater depth to their

course content and come away with the experience of addressing locally relevant issues, and…

Cities gain the knowledge and inspiration needed to transform their communities.

2015 Pilot Year This spring, 7 classes are working on 4 projects.

This fall, we plan to have at least 10 classes working on 6 more City identified projects.

A community survey is being conducted by an ENVS graduate student, and the results will be used to inform the City as they identify and prioritize projects. The survey results will give project selection greater validity.

Graduate student is also surveying students and faculty participating in the first pilot semester and will utilize these results to make program recommendations.

Benefits to Logan City Thousands of hours of work from students - increased

capacity

Cutting edge ideas - a fresh look at projects with a lot of energy behind it.

The program adds breadth to the project - several disciplines may look at a project for a unique outcome

An opportunity to test the water and look at riskier solutions

Increased energy (Internally and as External Engagement)

Good Press

Re-trains staff

Progression of ideas we’ll be using for years to come

Air Quality: A CBI Pilot Roslynn Brain: Assistant Professor in Sustainable

Communities – College of Natural Resources.

Randy Martin: Research Associate Professor – College of Engineering

Courtney Flint: Associate Professor – College of Humanities & Social Sciences

Edwin Stafford: Associate Professor – Huntsman School of Business

Emily Malik: Conservation Coordinator - Logan City Environmental Department

Dr. Randy Martin, EngineeringAssoc. Research Professor

Dr. Jessica Lucero, Social WorkAssistant Professor

Want more info?

Kate Stephens, Asst. Director

USU Center for Civic Engagement & Service-Learning

kate.stephens@usu.edu

Emily Malik

Logan City Conservation Coordinator

emily.malik@loganutah.org