Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 52.77
Liaison Teddy Lhoutellier
Submission Date May 15, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

University of Miami
EN-10: Community Partnerships

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 3.00 Teddy Lhoutellier
Sustainability Manager
Environmental Health and Safety
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability :
Civic Engagement High School Partnership

Does the institution provide financial or material support for the partnership? :
Yes

Which of the following best describes the partnership timeframe?:
Multi-year or ongoing

Which of the following best describes the partnership’s sustainability focus?:
The partnership supports at least one, but not all three, dimensions of sustainability

Are underrepresented groups and/or vulnerable populations engaged as equal partners in strategic planning, decision-making, implementation and review? (Yes, No, or Not Sure):
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability, including website URL (if available) and information to support each affirmative response above:

The High School Partnership pairs UM undergraduates in History, English, and STEM fields with high school teachers at Southridge High School in South Miami Dade and Booker T. Washington High School in Overtown to produce a mutually beneficial collaboration among high school teachers, UM undergraduates, and high school students. The goal is to promote a college-going culture among traditionally under-served students; enhance the public school curriculum with innovative lectures and projects; enable UM students to translate their research interests into practical classroom learning; and foster intellectual engagement among the youth of our community. To achieve these goals, UM students work with their partner teachers to enhance the curriculum, give guest lectures and demonstrations, and mentor students.
(http://miami.edu/index.php/civic_community_engagement/initiatives/southridge)


Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability (2nd partnership):
Community Scholars Program

Does the institution provide financial or material support for the partnership? (2nd partnership):
Yes

Which of the following best describes the partnership timeframe? (2nd partnership):
Multi-year or ongoing

Which of the following best describes the partnership’s sustainability focus? (2nd partnership):
The partnership supports at least one, but not all three, dimensions of sustainability

Are underrepresented groups and/or vulnerable populations engaged as equal partners in strategic planning, decision-making, implementation and review? (2nd partnership) (Yes, No, or Not Sure):
Yes

A brief description of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability, including website URL (if available) and information to support each affirmative response above (2nd partnership):

Community Scholars in Affordable Housing is an innovative program designed to familiarize emerging leaders and young professional with best practices in community development and affordable housing policy and practices in the United States. This collaboration between the Office of Civic and Community Engagement; School of Education and Human Development; the South Florida Community Development Coalition and Catalyst Miami has trained 24 emerging professionals working in non-profit, for-profit and government sectors over the last two years. Participants have the opportunity to engage with local and national experts to explore techniques and concepts in development of affordable housing, including critical issues facing South Florida, such as funding, design, special needs populations, home ownership, advocacy, markets and engaging stakeholders. Through collaborating with a select cohort of peers, participants acquire skills and build networks that will lead to enhanced opportunities in the field of affordable housing and community development. (http://www.miami.edu/index.php/civic_community_engagement/initiatives/affordable_housing/community_scholars/)


Name of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability (3rd partnership):
Miami Affordability Project

Does the institution provide financial or material support for the partnership? (3rd partnership):
Yes

Which of the following best describes the partnership timeframe? (3rd partnership):
Multi-year or ongoing

Which of the following best describes the partnership’s sustainability focus? (3rd partnership):
The partnership supports at least one, but not all three, dimensions of sustainability

Are underrepresented groups and/or vulnerable populations engaged as equal partners in strategic planning, decision-making, implementation and review? (3rd partnership) (Yes, No, or Unknown):
Not Sure

A brief description of the institution’s formal community partnership to advance sustainability, including website URL (if available) and information to support each affirmative response above (3rd partnership):

MAP is an interactive, online mapping platform to support the formulation and adoption of affordable housing solutions and guide sensitive community development in South Florida. This online map of affordable housing includes data to support community development and allow users to understand the geography of cost burden, affordability gaps, and distribution of assisted units throughout the county. Using data generously made available by the Shimberg Center for Housing Studies at the University of Florida, Miami-Dade County Public Housing and Community Development, the City of Miami Department of Community and Economic Development and the Miami-Dade County Information Technology Department, we have produced this interactive map as a tool for housing and community development practitioners, urban researchers, and community members to explore Miami's housing landscape, address needs, and promote informed decisions about housing policy.(http://comte.ccs.miami.edu/housing/)


A brief description of the institution’s other community partnerships to advance sustainability:

National Gandhi Day of Service:
National Gandhi Day of Service (NGDOS) is the University of Miami's largest annual service day. For the last thirteen years, hundreds of students have gone out into the Miami-Dade community to support local Community Partners working towards alleviating varying social issues including, but not limited to: poverty, education, environmentalism, etc. In 2015, 904 students participated in service at 29 different sites. Website - http://www.miami.edu/sa/index.php/service_and_leadership_center/get_involved/service_days/

Historic Virginia Key Beach Park:
In 2015, the University of Miami partnered with the Historic Virginia Key Beach Park for the university's annual Hurricanes Help the Hometown event. Virginia Key Beach has a rich legacy as it was originally established as the only beach that Blacks and African Americans could visit during the struggle for Civil Rights. Today, Virginia Key Beach Park, works to "promote and maintain absolute public ownership and access, fostering its perpetuation as a passive open green-space that includes nature trails, recreational facilities and museum structures appropriate and compatible with the nature of Virginia Key." During Hurricanes Help the Hometown, 403 UM students worked on various projects at the park including: beach clean up, exotic plant removal, staining of boardwalks, etc. Website - http://virginiakeybeachpark.net/

Other partnerships:

• Glazer Lorton Writing Institute held at TERRA High School

• Holocaust Institute held at UM

• IES Goal 3 grant, Reading Achievement Multi-Component Program (RAMP-UP). Professor Mary Beth Calhoon partners with MDCPS for this program.

• "Planned and Interactional Scaffolding in 1st Grade" Professor Luciana de Oliveira works with 2 first grade teachers, observes their students, works together to design lessons based on picture books, and analyzes the writing of students (and she is particularly interested in English language learners and bilingual students).

• Donner Valle Project – 40 schools
- Coordinate placements for students completing field hours for UM courses in K-5 classrooms
- Coordinate placements for associate teachers (teacher candidates) in K-5 classrooms
- Career Advisement--M-DCPS personnel attend the associate teaching seminar to speak, and the career fair to recruit students for teaching positions.

• Teaching and Learning Projects - Professor Mary Avalos
- Writing for English Language Learners (WELLs): Funded research project exploring writing instruction and writing outcomes for fourth grade English learners (2014-2017)
- Definitions Project: Funded research project exploring text supports for fourth grade English learners (2015-2019)
- Vocabulary Instruction: Small observation study (8-10 teachers) to document vocabulary instruction for fourth grade English learners (2017-18)

• West Lab Elementary School
- For the past several years, professors have taught the reading methods courses (TAL 420 and 426) and have concurrently run the STARS program at West Lab. STARS provides free tutoring to West Lab students who are struggling with reading skills. This program has been going for over a decade.
- UM Students are placed at West Lab for field experience.
- This semester, professors Ji Shen and Blaine Smith are co-teaching (with a West Lab teacher, who is the lead teacher for the class) an elective for West Lab’s new cohort of 6th grade students. The focus of this elective is STEM-related (science, technology, engineering, math), and the West Lab students will be on the UM campus once per week.

Current partnerships between the UM Center for Autism and Related Disabilities (CARD) and Miami Dade County Public Schools:

• CARD has a very close relationship with Miami Dade County Public Schools.
• CARD provides extensive teacher training and consultation to schools for their clients and families. It is a long and productive collaboration.
• There has been conversations of CARD having space at Citrus Grove, but CARD’s administration feel they do not need space there. They feel an autism program at West Lab would be much more desirable given our proximity to West Lab.
• CARD currently runs their summer camp at West Lab.


The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.