UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 14
December 12, 1996
New center to focus on community social issues

     Effective Jan. 1, the University will have a Center for
Community Development and Family Policy, focusing on social and
economic equity issues as they relate to the development of
communities and the strengthening of families.
     "This new name recognizes how much collaborative work is
already under way at the Center for Community Development, as we
respond to requests for assistance from public, private and
nonprofit organizations," said Timothy Barnekov, director of the
center, which is in the College of Urban Affairs and Public
Policy. There also is growing interest among graduate and
undergraduate students and practicing professionals for
additional educational opportunities relating to community and
family development issues, strategies and techniques.
     "Faculty from the Department of Individual and Family
Studies have been talking with the Center for Community
Development about their joint interests in family and community
issues," Dene Klinzing, dean of the College of Human Resources,
said. "It seemed likely that the research and service agendas of
one group could reinforce those of the other."
     A proposed reorganization of colleges at the UD would
combine the colleges of Education, Human Resources and Urban
Affairs and Public Policy into one unit.
     "In addition to shared and complementary research interests
and public service activities," Marion Hyson, chairperson of the
Department of Individual and Family Studies, said, "we also are
looking at how the center might enhance our graduate programs."
In 1997-98, five research assistantships in the Center for
Community Development and Family Policy will go to graduate
students in the Department of Individual and Family Studies.
     Faculty and staff in the Center for Community Development
also have been discussing collaborative efforts with faculty and
staff in the Center for Disabilities Studies, now administered by
the College of Urban Affairs and Public Policy, and with faculty
and staff in the Education Research and Development Center and
the Center for Intercultural Education, both in the College of
Education.
     "Expanding on the strengths of the current Center for
Community Development, the renamed center can support faculty,
staff and students in a consolidated College of Human Resources,
Education and Public Policy in three ways," Dan Rich, dean of the
College of Urban Affairs and Public Policy, said.
     "The center will contribute to the dialog that defines and
evaluates the current public policy agenda in areas related to
social policy. It will help support an integrated program of
research, graduate and undergraduate instruction and public
service in a broad range of areas related to the strengthening of
families," he said. "And, it will work closely with the state's
Family Services Cabinet Council and its constituent departments
to develop programs at the University that are directly
responsive to evolving state needs."
     In addition to working with public and nonprofit
organizations throughout the state, the Center for Community
Development also has an increasingly active presence at the
national level. The center recently was selected by the U.S.
departments of Education and of Housing and Urban Development to
organize the first-ever joint national conference of university
community service programs.
     The new Center for Community Development and Family Policy
will be one of the largest research and public service units at
the University, and it has already organized an RFP system that
this fall helps link the state's priorities for research and
training with University faculty and staff. Seven proposals
totaling $45,000 were funded, involving 15 faculty and staff from
four colleges. The projects ranged from studies of classroom
management and school discipline for the Department of Public
Instruction to staff training assistance for the Division of
Services for the Aging and Adults with Disabilities to surveys of
the satisfaction of child-care providers with services offered by
the Office of Child-Care Licensing. This initial program is
expected to continue in an expanded fashion in the years ahead.
     "I encourage all University faculty and staff with expertise
and interest in the development, implementation, monitoring and
evaluation of community and family programs and policy to
affiliate with the Center for Community Development and Family
Policy," Barnekov said. "We're developing a long-term research
agenda and service program, and we'd like the broadest possible
base upon which to build."
                                             -Mary Helen Callahan