Office of Engagement Annual Report 2020-2021

June-July

The Office of Engagement was formed December 2020

Education Health Place Prosperity

1845 Fairmount Street Campus Box 22 Wichita, KS 67260

PARTNERSHIPS/COLLABORATIONS

FOUR AREAS OF ENGAGEMENT

Education Shocker Neighborhood Promise

By improving access and affordability to higher education we are attuning to the demographic shifts and needs within our region.

Youth Outreach Council

A Youth Outreach Council to build a university network, best practices, and inventory of youth programs..

17 scholarships awarded.

Council was formed April 2021.

Health Mobile Market – Farmer’s Market

Food boxes to support Shocker Support Locker

Partnering with Common Ground \ P & G to provide access and an option to purchase fresh local produce in a USDA recognized food desert is a way to encourage collaboration and find solutions to addressing the lack of healthy, fresh food items in our area.

Over 200 served Over 50 blood pressure checks provided to the community Over 50 children’s books given out

Donations to the Shocker Support Locker work to alleviate food insecurity and hunger for our university community.

Over 4000 lbs of food distributed to the Shocker Support Locker

FOUR AREAS OF ENGAGEMENT CONT

Prosperity .

Shocker Neighborhood Coalition

Working collectively to bring prosperity to the neighborhoods and residents. We can make a bigger impact and drive prosperity together.

Through the work of the Shocker Neighborhood Outreach VISTA the Office of Engagement works to convene meetings to encourage collaboration to addressing pressing issues our community faces.

Place

University Village

Working to include and capture community input for mutually beneficial outcomes.

Summer Movie Series

Community and campus opportunities to connect builds stronger relationships that lead to trust and partnerships.

Volunteer Opportunities

Commitment to Shocker Neighborhood

Over 100 hours served in Shocker neighborhood.

Highlighting and sharing how WSU is engaging on and off campus.

Facilitating conversations through storytelling can change perceptions.

5 conversations were held reaching between 600-700 the first year with 3500 total reach.

#WSUEngaged Series

Shocker Neighborhood Assoc.

Building strong neighborhoods.

550+ responses to our survey were captured. The QR code was shared at 5 events and yard signs were placed on campus and in the community.

Over 100 attended the event and we featured 3 youth vendors who each made over $100 in sales.

Through the work of the Shocker Neighborhood Outreach VISTA a plan to help build capacity and connect Neighborhood Associations to the university was developed.

2021-2022 .

WSU (pilot) literacy programming offers support to USD 259’s 3rd grade literacy goals which could lead to improved graduation rates and post-secondary education.

WU Reads

Mobile Market – Farmer’s Market

Goal to have 40 Wichita State members read virtually to 3rd graders from Gordon Parks Elem. With a goal to expand to other schools in Shocker Neighborhood.

Goal to collaborate with Common Ground P & G again and build upon the success by increasing outreach and awareness of the option to purchase local fresh produce.

By helping build a Habitat home Habitat for Humanity – we are helping build strong, stable Service project for Shocker Neighborhood Helping to building a house communities in the neighborhoods Scholars December 2021. with the Shocker Neighborhood encircling the university. Research Scholars shows the social benefits of increased volunteering, improved health, and less crime. Strong neighborhoods improve academic success among students in that area Good Neighbor Week

Activating Red Bud Trail

Elevating, encouraging, and celebrating good neighboring practices works to address challenges presented in the 2019 Climate Survey indicating opportunities for improvement within the Goal to have satisfaction of culture and atmosphere on campus and the 6 events planned.

"Why Good Neighboring Matters" featured in the Chung Report.

In the report, of "108 cities surveyed, Wichita ranked the 11th lowest on talking with neighbors frequently, ninth-lowest on doing favors for neighbors frequently and the lowest on seeing and hearing from friends and family frequently.

Partnership with Bike Walk Wichita to encourage use by placing mile markers on the trail.

Goal Spring 2022

The Office of Engagement is excited and encouraged to build on the 2020-2021 initiatives, partnerships and efforts.

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OFFICE OF ENGAGEMENT Wichita State is the state’s premier urban research and innovation university. We honor our history as a municipal university in our efforts to engage the community in ways that support our neighborhood, city, region, state and beyond. The Office of Engagement has hit the ground running since its inception in 2020 to honor that history.

SOCIAL MEDIA REACH A Facebook page reach of almost 25,000 primarily from the Shocker Neighborhood Coaliton page.

The Office of Engagement’s Facebook page was created July 2021.

MONDAY MARKET

A NOTE FROM THE ENGAGEMENT OFFICE Wichita State honors its history as a municipal university in our efforts to engage the community in ways that support our neighborhood, city, region, state and beyond.

We are a front door for community members and agencies who wish to access the resources and assets within the university that can be used to bolster economic prosperity and community.

We strive to promote the mission of the university to be an essential educational, cultural, and economic driver for Kansas and the greater public good.

The Four PIllars of Engagement Wichita State is an anchor institution in our region that can help overcome economic disparities, health disparities, educational disparities, and help stop the outward migration of millennials. For more than 125 years Wichita State has been an integral part of the growth and prosperity in Kansas.

Wichita State is committed to reinvigorating the public purpose of higher educational institutions and be a vital agent and architect of a flourishing region, by addressing income inequality and overcoming health and education disparities. The 4 Pillars of WSU’s Strategic Engagement in addressing disparities and driving partnerships and collaborations are: Education, Health, Place and Prosperity.

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