This
summer begins the fourth year of the High Road Project, a program through which
Cornell students get involved in non-profit organizations in order to make
improvements on the West Side and throughout Buffalo.
This
eight week long program begins in mid-June and works in cooperation with the
Partnership for the Public Good (http://www.ppgbuffalo.org/)
and the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations (http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/), said Lou
Jean Fleron, director of the High Road Program.
“We’re
looking at really mutually beneficial relationships between the students and
the organizations and the greater community as a whole,” said Megan Connelly,
program coordinator for the High Road Program and director of program and
development for the PPG.
“The High Road Program is really a
living laboratory of community and economic development in the city,” Connelly
said.
Students
undergo an application process before being assigned a highly defined project
to work on throughout the summer, Fleron said.
“I think we’ve been fairly
West-centric in the past couple of years, in part because the majority of our
partners are working on the West Side,” Connelly said.
Lou Jean Fleron, director of the High Road Program, and Megan Connelly, director of programs & development at the Partnership for Public Good, discuss the upcoming project that begins in June:
PUSH Buffalo, Urban Roots and Buffalo First are just three of the many organizations that receive student interns through the High Road Program.
“I think it’s an excellent way for
students to apply the theoretical to practical experiences,” said Sarah Bishop,
executive director of Buffalo First.
Carolyn Krupski, from Clifton Park,
is one of the 20 students that will be taking part in the High Road Program
this summer.
“I
am really looking forward to a summer in Buffalo! I have never been to Buffalo
before, and I hear from other High Road Fellows that there are really unique,
fun things to do in Buffalo in the summer time,” Krupski said.
Krupski
said that she is really interested in “the effects of post-industrialization on
rust-belt and industrial cities and their current economic development.”
“This summer I am hoping to gain
first hand knowledge of the people of Buffalo's initiatives to address the
economic challenges that the city faces,” Krupski said.
Students in the program work at
their specific organizations Monday through Thursday and then on Friday they
come together to share their week’s experiences and participate in programs and
workshops in specific areas, Connelly said.
In addition, the students are expected
to journal, or blog, on Thursday nights in order to reflect on their
experiences, Connelly said.
Interest in the program has
increased substantially over the past four years, going from five participants
in 2009 up to 20 who will be participating this summer, said Fleron.
The program has received positive
feedback from students who were involved in the past.
“It was an honor working with PUSH;
they are really doing a wonderful job empowering folks on the West Side,” said
John Parker, a Cornell student who was involved in the program last summer, in
his program evaluation.
"The
most rewarding part for me was probably just being able to work in the
community,” said Daniel Cooper, a Cornell student who worked with Buffalo First
through the program last summer.
In the past, the
students accomplished a great deal by the end of the summer.
“I
ended up creating a marketing plan for Buffalo First, like how to improve the
organization, and then I also created a technology guide to help local business
owners gain a large consumer base," Cooper said.
“We’re
very happy to have [the students] here and look forward to it summer after
summer,” Fleron said. Edited by Richard Cumpston
