With the introduction of a community partnership office at 2300 S. Park St., UW-Madison leaders hope to revitalize the university's relationship with the city's south side.
Through the Morgridge Center, a campus volunteer organization, the university plans to work in cooperation with the South Metropolitan Planning Council, a coalition of south Madison neighborhood associations, to offer services from filing taxes to offering classes at the center.
UW-Madison Special Assistant to the Chancellor LaMarr Billups said he hopes the city's residents will, in turn, provide input and a purpose for the university in one of Madison's most ethnically diverse population pockets.
\A lack of [input] is our own fault,"" Billups said. ""We see this as ... a way to play a role in the neighborhood on the south side.""
Katherine Loving, coordinator of the Students as Neighbors program through University Health Services, said she hopes students will try to become more involved in their neighborhoods through the university outlet.
By identifying students who live in particular areas, the Neighbors program is able to inform student residents of volunteer opportunities in their own neighborhoods.
""[The program] allows us to involve students in a very targeted way,"" Loving said. ""The way we do that in campus area neighborhoods is by working through the neighborhood associations.""
The way we do that in campus-area neighborhoods program has yet to become formally involved in the community partnership office, Loving said it could facilitate student participation in adjacent neighborhoods.
""I think there are lots of possibilities there, and I think the actual details of how that's going to work have yet to be worked out,"" she said.
Morgridge Center Director Mary Rouse said the success of an outreach program at the University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign inspired UW-Madison leaders to approach south-side leaders in hopes of launching a similar university-involved community center.
""The term 'out reach' is a good way of describing it,"" Billups said, adding that he prefers to think of the location as a ""permanent resource.""
UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley also expressed his optimism for the center's prospects.
""We're going to have staff out here all the time,"" Wiley said, beginning with the ""equivalent of one full-time"" staff member on duty. He added that he expects the office to outgrow its facilities soon.
Since the SMPC includes the Vilas neighborhood, which contains a significant student population, Margaret Nellis, a lecturer with the UW-Madison School of Human Ecology, said she hopes students will become inspired to contribute to the community through the university center.
She added that she hopes the university and community members will take advantage of the university's presence in the neighborhood.
""It's an advantage for the university to have an ongoing relationship with the most diverse community in the city,"" Nellis said. ""I think to the extent that we have resources to bring, we can help them ... with our experts.""
mkrouse@facstaff.wisc.edubillups@mail.bascom.wisc.edujlmerrill@facstaff.wisc.edu
