In Pawtucket, Rhode Island, a university and community partnership used collaborative planning to strengthen a neighborhood. Marcia Marker Feld of the University of Rhode Island describes Woodlawn's Community Outreach Partnership Center Program.Universities and colleges - Rhode Island ; Economic development - Rhode Island

Marcia Marker Feld

English

Research Papers in Economics

desegregate public schools in the
1960s, the federal courts ordered a
few partnerships between higher-
education institutions and failing
public-school districts. In the 1970s,
Congress passed the Urban Grant
University Program entitling land
grant universities and state higher-
education institutions in urban areas
fiscal support from the U.S. Depart-
ment of Education; the program also
supported learning about community
service in urban public schools.
Despite these developments, there
was no real national direction for
universities to work with their urban
higher education. The first and sec-
ond Morrill Acts of 1862 and 1890
formalized partnerships between
land grant institutions and their sur-
rounding areas. These Acts pioneered
unique American institutions —
cooperative extension and agricul-
tural experiment stations — that have
a mandate to intervene and strength-
en their regional economies. 
More recent partnerships between
communities and universities took
root in the late 1950s, when the Ford
Foundation tested a model of urban
extension at the University of Dela-
ware. Then, following the fight to
Q
uestion: How does a Rhode
Island neighborhood, replete
with abandoned properties,
crime-ridden streets, unemployment,
and very few residents who have
completed secondary or higher edu-
cation, become a model of neighbor-
hood revitalization? The answer is
by partnering with educational,
municipal, and community organi-
zations on a comprehensive and
inclusive strategic planning process. 
University Partnerships and 
Urban Neighborhoods
Partnerships have always been an
important aspect of American public
Children walking home after playing
in Woodlawn’s Payne Park, which was
renovated under the direction of the
Woodlawn COPC.
Partnerships and Collaboration
Rebuild Communities
A Case Study in Pawtucket, Rhode Island
by Marcia Marker Feld19 c & b
neighbors until 1992, when President
George H. Bush signed the Housing
and Community Development Act,
which established the U.S. Depart-
ment of Housing and Urban Devel-
opment (HUD) Community Outreach
Partnership Center (COPC) Program.
The COPC Program was created so
that universities and colleges could
assist urban communities through
outreach, use community advisory
committees to help define university
activities, and conduct applied
research together with the commu-
nity. It encouraged universities to
work on a level playing field with
the community and municipality to
resolve neighborhood problems. 
Further strengthening of the COPC
program occurred in 1994, when
HUD Secretary Henry G. Cisneros
established the Office of University
Partnerships to administer the COPC
and other university-related pro-
grams. Cisneros believed in the
potential of university-community
partnerships for urban revitalization.
As he expressed in an essay, 
Our nation’s institutions of
higher education are crucial to
the fight to save our cities.
Colleges and universities must
join the effort to rebuild their
communities, not just for the
moral reasons but also out of
enlightened self-interest. The
long-term futures of both the
city and the university are so
intertwined that one cannot, or
perhaps will not, survive with-
out the other. Universities can-
not afford to become islands of
affluence, self-importance, and
horticultural beauty in seas of
squalor, violence, and despair. 
The Office of University Partnerships,
which remains the only unit of the
federal government with the primary
mission of supporting university and
neighborhood partnerships, has pro-
vided over 200 COPC grants for
community economic development
initiatives including social action.
COPC program funding continues to
be authorized though 2003. 
Case Study of the Woodlawn 
COPC: A Personal View
The partnership between the Uni-
versity of Rhode Island’s Urban Field
Center and the Woodlawn neighbor-
hood was both serendipitous and
substantive. As director of the
University of Rhode Island (URI)
Urban Field Center, I had just
returned from HUD as the founding
director of the Office of University
Partnerships and was actively search-
ing for a neighborhood interested in
working with the university on a
COPC proposal. I began by calling
my former students, now planners
and community development offi-
cers at municipal planning depart-
ments, and asking if their city fit
the federal COPC criteria. Pawtucket
and some of its neighborhoods had
the required characteristics, and, in
addition, the city’s community devel-
opment block grant officer welcomed
the opportunity to collaborate with
URI. He recommended the Woodlawn
neighborhood because of its needs
but also because of its assets.
Pawtucket’s mayor and community-
based groups were also in favor of
working with URI. 
The Woodlawn neighborhood was
diverse with recent immigrants and
burdened by homelessness and aban-
doned property. Two-thirds of the
residents earned low or moderate
incomes and over one-half had not
completed high school. The neigh-
borhood residents needed child-care
services and an expansion of pro-
grams for literacy, life skills, and drug
and school-dropout prevention. Chief
among the neighborhood’s assets was
a hugely admired community activist
and neighborhood association presi-
dent. In addition, the local faith-
based institutions were committed to
helping the community.
With many partners — ranging from
residents, local unions, businesses,
and community-based organiza-
tions to the housing authority, pub-
lic schools, municipal planning
office, and URI — the Woodlawn
neighborhood received a three-year
COPC grant followed by a two-year
implementation grant. While there
were many problems to fix, it was
critical to create a sense of empow-
erment among the residents of
Woodlawn. The resident neigbor-
hood association’s motto, “Bring
Back the Pride to Woodlawn,”
encouraged residents to embrace
their community. Active participa-
tion in the entire COPC process fur-
ther strengthened the neighborhood.
HUD has historically encouraged cit-
izen participation in its programs —
for example, there have been Urban
Renewal advisory councils, Model
Cities boards, public housing tenant
councils, and Empowerment Zone
committees — but the COPC Program
offers the most energetic and far-
reaching mandate for citizen partic-
ipation to date. According to the call
for proposals, community residents
must agree with the planned pro-
grams and join the advisory com-
mittee, which controls the programs
and their funds. Planning profes-
sionals are directed to act as facilita-
tors, mediators, and information-
providers, not decision-makers. The
governance structure also empha-
sizes community power. If there is a
vote, the votes of the community
representatives outweigh the com-
bined vote of the university, mayor’s
office, and planning department.
Along with empowering residents
and revitalizing the neighborhood,
the Woodlawn COPC aims to make
the university aware of the bonds
and common concerns it shares with
the community. Although federal
funding of the Woodlawn COPC
ends in September 2002, its commu-
nity development work will continue
through Woodlawn Community
Development Corporation, the non-
profit 501(c)3 formed by the COPC. 
Highlights of the COPC in Action
From a base of operations in an
unused parish house, the Woodlawn
COPC has made tremendous accom-
plishments, ranging from redevelop-
ing abandoned properties to provid-
ing residents with leadership and
citizenship training. The sidebar
“Improvements in Woodlawn” on
page 20 details some partnership
achievements. During the past five
What To Handle When
During the initial three years, the Woodlawn COPC tackled issues including
housing, neighborhood revitalization, education and social services, and com-
munity planning and organization. The COPC also worked to disseminate its
results. Neighborhood residents decided on the projects and policy direction and
the university provided technical assistance. Grant money could not be used for
physical development.
During the following two years, the Woodlawn COPC focused on microeconomic
development, job training, and a targeted neighborhood revitalization process. The
COPC programs and strategies were also incorporated into the newly created non-
profit Woodlawn Community Development Corporation.20 c & b
* Renovated a run-down property across from Payne
Park into a multiservice community center; restored
other neglected homes and properties
* Developed a neighborhood revitalization strategy, 
submitted it to HUD, and received designation of
Woodlawn as a revitalization area; this brought in
over $200,000
* Established a Woodlawn CDC with a broad mission
to improve socioeconomic and physical conditions in
the community
Education and Social Services
* Initiated dropout prevention programs beginning in
kindergarten and continuing through high school
* Encouraged parents, young adults, and senior citizens
to attend the Woodlawn COPC’s Institute for Leader-
ship Training; about 225 residents have participated
and 60 so far have graduated
* Offered parenting classes in two elementary schools,
often in two or three languages.
* Staffed two high schools with an Urban Field Center
staff member to implement the Guaranteed Admissions
Program whereby students are guaranteed admission
to URI, participate in summer enrichment programs,
and take field trips to visit different colleges
* Brought diverse ethnic and racial groups together
through workshops on literacy and diversity; the
workshops concluded with a community-wide 
Heritage Day event and an international fair
* Hosted the annual national COPC conference in
Providence and Pawtucket
Housing
* Organized local housing service providers into a
Woodlawn Housing Coalition
* Developed a priority list of abandoned and poorly
managed property; discussed it with the city council,
mayor, and city planning department
* Developed a Fair Housing Impediment Assessment and
a subsequent action plan with Roger Williams Law
School students
* Improved landlord and tenant relationships through
diversity training, mediation, and community policing
* Circulated knowledge of Pawtucket Housing Court
procedures to the neighborhood
Job Training/Economic Development
* Recruited public housing residents into technology
classes taught by Urban Field Center staff
* Assisted residents with career development plans
* Referred residents to general equivalency degree and
adult literacy opportunities
* Established the Woodlawn Business Association and
Manufacturing Alliance
* Created a microenterprise start-up program
* Organized the Woodlawn credit union into a commu-
nity development credit union
Neighborhood Revitalization
* Developed crime watch teams on each block
* Participated in a URI Landscape Architecture
Department-sponsored planning project, called a char-
rette; the focus was physical restoration of neighbor-
hood parks and playgrounds
Improvements in Woodlawn
Basketball players take advantage of Payne Park’s new
courts. The building (left) in the background is being
renovated into a multiservice community center. 
From initiating dropout prevention programs in the local schools to establishing
a local community development corporation, the range of activities undertaken by
the Woodlawn COPC is broad. In most instances, the role of the University of
Rhode Island has been to provide technical assistance. The section below pro-
vides examples of Woodlawn COPC solutions for various community problems.Federal Reserve Bank of Boston,
spring 1999.
Harrison, Bennett and Amy Glas-
meier, “Why Business Alone Won’t
Redevelop the Inner City: A
Friendly Critique of Michael Porter’s
Approach to Urban Revitalization,”
Economic Development Quarterly,
vol. 11, no. 1, February 1997.
Porter, Michael E., “New Strategies for
Inner-City Economic Development,”
Economic Development Quarterly,
vol. 11, no. 1, February 1997.   
About the Author
Marcia Marker Feld, Ph.D., member AICP, is
a professor of community planning at the
University of Rhode Island and executive
director of its Urban Field Center. Dr. Feld
was the founding Director of the HUD
Office of University Partnerships. She cur-
rently participates in HUD’s peer review of
new Community Outreach Partnership
Center proposals. 
She also recently assisted in founding the
Association for Community and Higher
Education Partnerships (ACHEP) with sup-
port from the Rockefeller Foundation and
the University of Memphis. This organiza-
tion, which is composed of current and for-
mer COPC staff and board memberss, aims
to promote, enhance, and sustain partner-
ships between communities and institu-
tions of higher education for the better-
ment of residents of economically dis-
tressed communities.
Conclusion: Partnerships as a Strategy
for Neighborhood Revitalization
The Woodlawn COPC experience
demonstrates that a partnership
between a neighborhood and a uni-
versity can be an appropriate strate-
gy for neighborhood revitalization.
It also shows how such a partnership
can change a university’s culture
and curriculum. Through formal and
informal education, the Woodlawn
COPC raised the level of community
residents’ skills. The COPC also
increased residents’ awareness of the
various levels of civil responsibility:
neighborhood, city, state, and nation.
The success of the Woodlawn COPC
is testament to the fact that good
community development does not
happen effectively through direc-
tives; it occurs through collabora-
tion, teamwork, and partnership. 
Selected Bibliography
Boyer, Ernest L., “Creating a New
American College,” Chronicle of
Higher Education, March 9, 1994.
Cisneros, Henry G., “The University
and the Urban Challenge,” Cityscape,
Office of Policy Development and
Research, U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development,
December 1996.
Feld, Marcia Marker, ed., “The
University/Community Partnership
Symposium,” Journal of Planning
Education and Research, 1994.
Feld, Marcia Marker, “Advisory
Boards and Higher Education’s
Urban Mission: Four Models,”
Journal of Metropolitan Universities,
vol. 13, no. 1, January 2002.
Gill, Kathleen, “The Role of Funders
in University-Community Part-
nerships,” Communities & Banking,
years, neighborhood residents have
come together as a community, grown
to trust staff at the URI Urban Field
Center and Providence campus, and
become sufficiently engaged so that
they now discuss issues with the
mayor’s office and city council. 
In Pawtucket, the impact of the
COPC has been strong and measura-
ble. Mayor James Doyle has request-
ed that a “COPC-like” organization be
created in every neighborhood — a
process that has begun in Pawtucket’s
Pine Crest and Pleasant View neigh-
borhoods. The Woodlawn community
has obtained special HUD designa-
tions (and, therefore, funding) but
one of the most dramatic changes
within the community has been resi-
dent empowerment. Several resident
participants in the Woodlawn COPC’s
Institute for Leadership Training, for
instance, have run for public office or
have been appointed to city task
forces and advisory committees.
The University of Rhode Island was
also changed by the Woodlawn
COPC. The Graduate Planning
Department, the academic home of
the  Urban Field Center, opened an
Institute of Housing and Community
Development on the Providence
campus. This Institute trains Rhode
Island residents and staff of commu-
nity development corporations and
human service agencies. Rhode Island
participants in the Institute receive
partial scholarships from the Rhode
Island Foundation and the state’s
community development block grant
officer. The program, now in its fifth
year, allows participants to transfer
course credits to the URI Graduate
Department of Community Planning
and Landscape Architecture.
In addition, the Woodlawn COPC has
spurred other developments, namely
that the concept of universities and
communities working together has
gained footing in Rhode Island. For
instance, the state legislature passed
and funded the Rhode Island Hous-
ing Resources Act of 1998 which
established a Housing Resources Com-
mission. One purpose of this Commis-
sion is to “encourage and support
partnerships between institutions of
higher education and neighborhoods
to develop and retain quality
healthy housing and sustainable
communities.” Likewise, the Rhode
Island Housing and Mortgage Finance
Corporation has created a committee
on higher education and community
partnerships to share information and
encourage cooperation.
21 c & b
. . . Followed These Principles of Community Development:
* Promote active resident involvement to diagnose problems and fix them
* Recognize the comprehensive impact associated with possible solutions
* Disengage from efforts that might adversely effect the disadvantaged
* Design and implement a plan to solve problems by shared leadership
* Work to increase leadership capacity, skills, confidence, and aspirations
COPC Board Members. . .
*
*
*
*
*
*
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Partnerships and collaboration rebuild communities

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