Grant helps link U. to community

A grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation has allowed the University to boost its involvement in city and community activities this semester. The grant -- which will total $500,000 in the next three years -- will link intellectual resources with community needs in three areas: culture and community studies, environment and nutrition and health. English Professor Peter Conn, Center for Environmental Studies Director Robert Giegengack, a Geology professor, and Anthropology Professor Francis Johnston are the faculty leaders of the three programs. "This [grant] is important because it enables undergraduates and faculty members to undertake significant academic work and help make contributions to the community," said Ira Harkavy, director of the Center for Community Partnerships, which supervises programs the grant will fund. The Kellogg Foundation had notified colleges and universities that it would be willing to support efforts to involve students with their surrounding communities. In response, Harkavy and College of Arts and Sciences Dean Robert Rescorla applied for the grant. So far, the Kellogg award has gone to purchase research tools, support education in neighboring schools, enable the development of new courses that involve the community and award fellowships to undergraduate and graduate students. "This is a really exciting opportunity to promote undergraduate research and make improvements in the community," said Penny Gordon-Larsen, a University administrator who oversees the day-to-day activities the grant has sponsored. Currently, nine students work under fellowships provided by the grant. College junior Karalyn Stanley has used the funds allotted to her to continue an environmental education program she began last semester at West Philadelphia's Shaw Middle School. "The grant has given me a great opportunity," Stanley said. "I am allowed to put a lot more time into the program to make it beneficial? It has given me a lot of freedom that I can run with." As program director, Stanley supervises eight classes for Shaw students that promote environmental awareness. Other programs the grant has supported range from the development of school-based community newspapers and magazines to nutrition work at Turner Middle School that will eventually improve the school lunch program. Gordon-Larsen hopes to share information generated by grant programs through a national conference so "people from around the country can see what we have accomplished." Harkavy emphasized that grant-funded work doesn't mark the beginning of the University's community outreach, but rather a continuation. He said Penn has already been recognized as a national leader of urban school involvement, pointing to the West Philadelphia Improvement Corps, which ties Penn students and faculty with neighborhood centers of learning, as an example of why Kellogg gave the grant to the University. "The grant helps to reconfirm Penn's work as significant and important," Harkavy said. "It shows doing good and doing well can be joined together."