Abstract
In 2014, community volunteers and university grant writers created the Bowman Creek Educational Ecosystem (BCe2), focused on revitalizing a river tributary that stretches throughout the Southeast neighborhood of South Bend, Indiana. The organizational partnership linked efforts of local community groups, schools, and universities in continued revitalization a post-industrial urban environment. The initial goals of this ecological coalition included the systematic transformation of a long-neglected waterway and its environs. By the summer of 2018, BCe2 was a dynamic organization of thirty interns in eight teams working with a complex host of research advisors, community partners, and three dozen mentors. The interns, from thirteen different universities, colleges, and high schools, worked on a variety of engineering projects including urban sustainability, tree nurseries, lead mitigation, stormwater management, arduino technology, and vacant lot assessment. As the current organization continues to integrate its efforts in redevelopment projects with the neighborhood surrounding Bowman Creek to expand its benefits for other South Bend communities, it continues to serve as a vibrant opportunity for experiential learning, place-based science, and community-university partnerships.
Highlights
In 2014, community volunteers and university grant writers created the Bowman Creek Educational Ecosystem (BCe2), focused on revitalizing a river tributary that stretches throughout the Southeast neighborhood of South Bend, Indiana
The initial goals of this ecological coalition included the systematic transformation of a long-neglected waterway and its environs “into a respected and revered part of the City” (Bowman Creek Project, 2017)
As the current organization continues to integrate its efforts in redevelopment projects with the neighborhood surrounding Bowman Creek to expand its benefits for other South Bend communities, it continues to serve as a vital opportunity for experiential learning (Efstratia, 2014; Kolb, 1984), place-based science (Hebert & Lewandowski, 2017), and community-university partnerships (Hogan et al, 2017)
Summary
BCe2 is organized around improving South Bend’s Southeast neighborhood, an area which continues to experience a revival of community building mostly free of trends of gentrification in other cities. As the interns realized that the required work was difficult or impossible in a condensed ten-week time frame, some of the projects lost their initial allure Given these difficulties, for BCe2 and similar locally-based groups, the liaison role augments potential gaps in complex urban collaborative projects, providing continuity, commitment, and outreach to community members. At Bowman Creek, this collaborative role emerged unexpectedly in the summer of 2017, when BCe2 employed Valor as a project intern who was a long-term neighborhood resident He joined the project’s affordable housing group, which was tasked with creating strategies for additional low-cost home approvals in the area. As one of the ten project teams, the affordable housing group joined BCe2’s broader Southeast Neighborhood redevelopment projects They participated in community events held after work hours, including local efforts to increase street light coverage and to install additional solar panels on South Bend homes. Through their particular traits and skill sets, whether they are community members or ethnographic researchers, community liaisons can work towards committed neighborhood advocacy
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