CITA Summer Projects
Efforts to maintain students' academic skills in the summer can take the form of research projects with strong mentoring. At CFWC we have worked to develop and test such a model.
With generous funding from CITA (Committee on Industrial Theory and Assessment), CFWC created summer research initiatives for diverse Lowell High students to work with graduate students from UMass Lowell to study an issue of joint interest to the community and the university. Topics included new immigrant businesses (1998), youth transportation/youth asset mapping (1999), women-owned businesses (2000), the housing crisis (2001), social program cutback (2002), youth program cutbacks (2003), signature outreach areas (2004), sustainability (2005), economic development and the arts (2006), the immigrant experience (2007). For more information follow these links.
- CITA Summer Project 2003
- CITA Summer Project 2004
- CITA Summer Project 2005
- CITA Summer Project 2006
- CITA Summer Project 2007
In so doing CFWC listened closely to what high school researchers think. One of them recalled: "This experience has truly changed the direction of my future. I'm more motivated, alert, and interested in excelling in school. I know that I want a career that I am happy with, and my job at CITA has showed me that I must work hard to get what I strive for. I learned how to interact with students that are older and more mature than I am and comfortably integrate myself into their conversations. I learned how to work independently, but still within a group, without anyone telling me every step of the way. I learned much more at this job than I ever could have at any other summer job."
CITA Summer Project 2003-Youth Program Budget Cuts
This project was a follow up of CFWC's research in 2002 on education, training and youth service providers. The focus was to research the impact of budget cuts on youth services in the City of Lowell, and how these agencies managed the cut-backs, particularly through innovations. A research team, as a result, was recruited, including eight high school graduates, undergraduate students, and graduate students.
CITA Summer Project 2004-Signature Outreach Areas
This project aimed to identify resources that could contribute to eight signature outreach areas - making Lowell a math mecca, meeting the needs of elders, improving environmental health, the immigrant experience, improving prospects for youth, community revitalization, crime and public safety, and the creative economy.
The project focused on the University's staff who could be an important part of mobilizing and leading partnerships, including police officers, administrative assistants, writing support personnel, diversity experts, environmental specialists, maintenance specialists, librarians, researchers, admissions specialists, dorm administrators, communication specialists and many others.
We shared the information generated on the signature outreach areas with the staff and asked them what they already did in these areas and what innovations were needed for a successful community-university partnership. We reported the gathered information in the form of written articles, audio clips and video clips that could be widely used in the community and the university to capture current activities and available partnership resources.
CITA Summer Project 2005-Sustainability Survey
This year the goals of the team were to analyze and disseminate the results of a survey that took place in 2004 as part of CITA’s effort to get an idea of what issues UML students thought were important for regional sustainability. The survey covered a wide spectrum of issues such as the environment, employment, social issues, health and others.
The team analyzed the answers and got an overall idea of what issues were critical. A list of people who would most likely be interested in learning about the survey results was created. The team contacted individuals from the list to disseminate the results, including faculty, academic and community groups. Furthermore, the team found other ways of communicating the results by creating brochures, flyers, web articles, radio announcements, newspaper articles, presentations, etc. The expectation was that the results of this combined effort would most likely become evident after the start of the academic year, when faculty, staff and students will be back from summer break.
CITA Summer Project 2006-Economic Development and the Arts
The 2006 CITA Summer Project examined the social and economic impact of cultural and artistic activities in the city. The Team interviewed numerous residents and visitors at various events throughout Lowell. The outcome includes the content of this section of the website and a film, which highlights various perspectives on Lowell's art scene. The project also revealed several ideas on how to broaden student involvement in the arts community.
CITA Summer Project 2007-Immigrant Stories
Lowell has always been a diverse city with immigrant residents, such as Irish and Canadian whose experience has already been documented. In the past 30 years, however, not many stories have been collected.
This project, as part of a bigger project conducted by Professors Robert Forrant, Linda Silka, and Christophe Strobel along with two graduate students, focused on such immigrant groups as Asian, Hispanic and African. The project idea was built from the accomplishments of 2006 CITA team which created a documentary about Lowell’s creative economic development and featured interviews with prominent residents engaged in these areas. Our task emerged from concerns that the University of Massachusetts Lowell and the downtown community share:
- How to increase the numbers of UMass Lowell students and faculty actively participating in downtown.
- How UMass Lowell can increase its links to the growing cultural arts activities downtown.
- How to reduce the barriers (transportation, perceptions of safety) to student and faculty involvement in downtown.
This project was funded in part by a Joseph P. Healey and Public Service Endowment Grant given to interdisciplinary university faculty programs. Our deliverables were:
- Develop a “Best Practices” guide of strategies to promote university-downtown involvement.
- Develop a project website.
- Present an article on what we have learned in the Lowell Sun.
- Identify downtown partners willing to provide space for classes or meetings.
- Identify downtown partners willing to bring an event or service to the University.
- Visit other colleges to learn about their strategies.
To accomplish our tasks, we visited approximately 30 downtown businesses and organizations to see if they were interested in creating partnerships with UMass Lowell. We also met with representatives from: Clark University (Worcester, MA), UMass Dartmouth (Dartmouth, MA), and the Colleges of Worcester Consortium (Worcester, MA), to learn how they promote student interaction with their communities.
Our Team:
Members of the team come from a variety of places including Cambodia, Japan, Ghana, Malaysia and Russia. This gave us a great advantage when identifying immigrants who would share their stories. Events such as the African and Puerto Rican festivals were also invaluable in gathering contact.
The Results:
By the end of the summer we interviewed 22 individuals who
provided us with insightful and interesting information concerning their life experience in Lowell. We were able to learn about their cultures and their lives before and after they came to live in Lowell. We recorded, transcribed and compiled these interviews and used them as the basis for our digital presentation. One of our team members met with musical group One Love which consists of rapper Fee, songstress Ruby and guest MC Lyrical. We are proud of our accomplishments and the experience we had on this project.
For more information about CITA Summer Projects 2005, 2006, and 2007, contact Project Manager Patricia Coffey.
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