Magrath Community Engagement Award Spotlight: University of Minnesota

In recognition of their extraordinary community outreach initiatives, four APLU member institutions have been selected as regional recipients of the 2021 W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award. As regional winners, the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of Minnesota, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Virginia Tech will compete for the national C. Peter Magrath Community Engagement Scholarship Award, which will be announced during the APLU Virtual Annual Meeting in November.

The University of Minnesota’s Robert J. Jones Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center (UROC) advances place-based, collaborative scholarly activities to cultivate untapped assets in North Minneapolis neighborhoods. Though these neighborhoods are asset-rich, they have been disproportionately impacted by systems and practices fostering a lack of investment, violence, out-of-home children placement, mass imprisonment, historic trauma, and lost human potential.

Working with stakeholders in the community, UROC advances community-identified areas of community health and wellness, education and lifelong learning, and community and economic development. All UROC projects are action-focused and required to be initiated in collaboration with community partners. UROC is currently home to 62 academic projects involving 100 faculty from 14 colleges, 398 students, 202 staff, 370 community partners, and over 8,200 community members.