CHANCE is always looking for ways to connect the Humphrey Institute, the colleges on the West Bank, and the University to the neighborhood. The following are a few of the projects we have collaborated on together or that involve community and University relations.

PA 5990, section 3: Engaging the Public in Policy and Planning
During spring 2007, CHANCE students designed a one-year service-learning course that would show future professionals how to work with a public to reach a common good.  Cedar-Riverside is the geographical focus of the course.  Community members helped to inform the syllabus and will be an active force throughout the class.  The Humphrey Institute will offer the course for the first time in the fall of 2007, and it will continue indefinitely.  

Central Corridor LRT
During spring 2007, CHANCE students worked with the Dania Partners, a group representing west bank organizations, to advocate for a Cedar Avenue stop on the future Central Corridor LRT.  The alternative proposed by the University of Minnesota was a stop on the West Bank of the UMN campus.  CHANCE organized students at the UMN to support a stop closer to Cedar Avenue. 

CHANCE decided to support the neighborhood around the LRT issue because a stop at Cedar Avenue would serve to better connect the West Bank and the neighborhood, while also serving the residential and business population of Cedar-Riverside. For engineering reasons, the University of Minnesota has decided to stop advocating for a West Bank stop.

The UMN Metropolitan Design Center assisted Dania Partners with an LRT Station Area Analysis Map.  Find out more.

Neighborhood Tours
CHANCE is always trying to advertise the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood to students, staff, and faculty on the West Bank.  One way that CHANCE has familiarized West Bankers with the neighborhood is by organizing tours led by local residents.

Neighborhood Business Fellows Program

This program aims to encourage students, staff and faculty to patronize our local Cedar Riverside businesses. In Fall of 2008, MBA students compiled case studies with local businesses and hosted a forum to discuss key challenges of our business district.