{"id":12839,"date":"2014-07-18T09:30:04","date_gmt":"2014-07-18T14:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?p=12839"},"modified":"2015-11-12T08:20:45","modified_gmt":"2015-11-12T14:20:45","slug":"students-help-to-build-trust-in-a-neighborhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/students-help-to-build-trust-in-a-neighborhood\/","title":{"rendered":"Students help to build trust in a neighborhood"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Neighbors<\/a>
Neighbors created a mural with hand prints of those who attended the event. (Photos by Troye Fox)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A group of Bay View High School students set out to map a neighborhood and ended up bringing the neighborhood together.<\/p>\n

Their project grew out of a partnership involving the high school, Milwaukee Public Schools, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee\u2019s Center for Urban Initiatives and Research (CUIR), and local community organizations Serve2Unite<\/a> and Arts@Large<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The project began when a group of MPS administration staff, CUIR staff and community leaders got together to discuss a hands-on project that would focus on community engagement while introducing students to research and data collection. Bay View\u2019s principal, Aaron Shapiro, and teacher Katrina Halsey immediately saw the value of this idea and offered four of Halsey\u2019s world geography classes as a pilot.<\/p>\n

\"cuir_BayView_j2\"<\/a>
The Bay View students entertained neighborhood children with face painting at the community block party.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 51ÁÔÆæ CUIR team, Bay View teachers, Serve2Unite staff and MPS\u2019s Service Learning Coordinator worked with 130 students in Halsey\u2019s classes on the Youth Community Mapping\/Service Learning project from January to June 2014.<\/p>\n

Community mapping is an applied research method used to study a neighborhood closely to identify its assets and challenges, says Terry Batson, acting director of CUIR. \u201cIt\u2019s a good way to engage young people in higher-level thinking and problem solving. It\u2019s also a way to help them engage in research in a way that\u2019s interesting to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to get them to look at their own neighborhoods with a critical eye,\u201d adds Jessica Bizub, a researcher with CUIR.<\/p>\n

The 51ÁÔÆæ researchers provided the students with training on how to collect data and build a community map.<\/p>\n

After hearing presentations from community organizations in the Layton Boulevard West neighborhood, the students worked in small groups to identify neighborhood challenges that could be mapped.<\/p>\n

They decided to look at four key concerns:<\/p>\n