Temple University’s president John Fry and the Office of Community Impact and Civic Engagement have created a new university-wide initiative to bridge the university with the North Philadelphia Community.
For professors like Meghan Raisch, the announcement of this initiative was a call to partner with local organizations.
“It looked to me like we were looking to work in a way with more reciprocity, meaning working with community organizations like the non-profit, Fathers Read 365,” said Raisch.
Those faculty whose courses were chosen to be a part of the first wave of the initiative were granted $13,000 to split evenly among themselves to cover additional costs of collaborating with the community.
Professor Lauren Kogen felt her course allowed students to impact local organizations directly.
“So this was just a perfect opportunity to allow the students in the course to engage with a local organization and have a concrete benefit for the organization,” explained Kogen.
The goal of the initiative is to let faculty and students become more engaged in the community.
Professor Bryant Simon hopes students use the lessons provided through these courses to solve real problems.
“And so if students are kind of applying what they’ve learned to problems in the neighborhood, I think they can also become part of the solution or recognize how they can contribute,” emphasized Simon.
And for sophomore Early Childhood Education major Hailey Paz, this initiative is a learning opportunity.
“I’m honestly excited that I’m gonna be able to get some real-life experience because I feel like that’s how you really learn the best,” said Paz.
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