The Neighborhood Lab: Strengthening Community Capacity

Course structured around group-defined team projects intended to engage students in the analysis & solutions of real problems in collaboration with organizations & professionals in a targeted neighborhood. Will explore the concept of social change from perspectives that focus on how racial & ethnic identities, & the social networks & reciprocity that result from such identities, affect processes & outcomes. Project-based lab is intended to be interdisciplinary & to engage students from various professional schools that interact with neighborhoods from the perspectives of diverse practical & theoretical disciplines. Students in the lab will select projects that offer the opportunity to observe & change professional practices to be more responsive to the needs & differences of culturally diverse communities. Through the analysis of real world issues & interdisciplinary theoretical learning, will apply diverse methods for the understanding of neighborhood challenges & opportunities. Methods may include community capacity building & strengthening, organizing & social action, institutional & organizational capacity building, & others.