Community Outreach Partnership Center

The Community Outreach Partnership Centers (COPC) Program, an initiative of HUD's Office of University Partnerships, provides 3-year grants of up to $400,000 to encourage institutions of higher education to join in partnerships with their communities. The COPC Program is open to accredited public or private nonprofit institutions of higher education granting 2 or 4-year degrees.

Community Outreach Partnership Centers are expected to play an active and visible role in community revitalization -- applying research to real urban problems, coordinating outreach efforts with neighborhood groups and residents, acting as a local information exchange, galvanizing support for neighborhood revitalization, developing public service projects and instructional programs, and collaborating with other COPCs.

COPC grants are intended to help communities respond to the problems of greatest concern to their residents such as:

Job training and counseling to reduce unemployment

Resident-backed strategies to spur economic growth and reduce crime

Local initiatives to combat housing discrimination and homelessness

Mentoring programs for neighborhood youth

Financial and technical assistance for new businesses

Campus outreach to involve faculty and students

VU COPC

Valparaiso University received its first COPC grant of $400,000 in 1999. The primary goal of this project was to bring together University and community resources to revitalize the Hilltop Neighborhood, an approximately 20 square block area bordering the University. VU partners in this project included, Hilltop Neighborhood House, Hilltop Neighborhood Association, Project Neighbors, the Family and Youth Services Bureau, Union Community Church, the Valparaiso Community Development Corporation, Habitat for Humanity, and the City of Valparaiso. The overall project has four related components including: (1) Neighborhood Revitalization, (2) Affordable Housing, (3) Youth Mentoring Program, and (4) Capacity Building.

VU's COPC met or exceeded all of the goals for this project. Among its major accomplishments:

Eleven new Affordable Housing units were constructed in Hilltop Neighborhood.

Community Partners continue to work on creating Affordable Housing units in the community.

Individual and Group Mentoring programs for Hilltop Neighborhood Youth were created.

The Hilltop Neighborhood Association emerged as a leader of important projects to improve quality of life in the neighborhood.

More than 150 residents of Valparaiso and the surrounding area participated in Study Circles on race relations.

After the success of its first program, VU was awarded a COPC New Directions grant of $150,000 in 2003. These highly competitive "New Directions" grants are awarded by HUD to universities that have managed the most successful COPC programs, offering them the opportunity to build on the gains made under the initial COPC programs. With a continued commitment to work with our community partners, the VU COPC's "New Directions" program is dedicating to revitalizing the Hilltop Neighborhood with two initiatives:

(1) Lead Hazard Identification and Abatement

(2) Economic Development