College of Liberal Arts funding three new community and civic engagement projects

Published: January 30, 2020

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Every year, the College of Liberal Arts, or CLA, funds community and civic engagement projects proposed and carried out by its faculty and associated with teaching and research. The projects must include non-university collaborators and the funds, in the amount of $1,000 per award, may be used for any university-approved expenditure related to the project. Funding may be renewable for an additional year based on the viability and merit of the project.

This year's winners are Jay Mittal, Department of Political Science, community planning; Felicia Tuggle, Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work, social work; Rosetta G. Caponetto, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Italian; and Danilea Werner, Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work, social work.

Mittal's community engagement proposal involves graduate classes synthesis studio and principles of real estate development. The project is titled, “Planning for Brownfields in Pell City, AL.” Their community partners are the planning department of the City of Pell City, Alabama, and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, or ADEM. The important goal of this program’s community engagement is to better prepare graduate students for professional challenges by exposing them to real time community issues and challenges through class project, thus fostering active engagement and enriching student learning outcomes.

Tuggle's project is to integrate a youth participatory action research, or YPAR, framework into the existing policy practice and social justice course. YPAR is an innovative approach to positive youth and community development in which young people are trained to conduct systematic research to improve their lives, communities and the institutions intended to serve them. This advanced practice elective course promotes the development of advanced research, policy practice, advocacy, evaluation skills and techniques necessary for promoting social and economic justice.

Caponetto and Werner are developing a partnership between Auburn University and Lee County Youth Development Center, or LCYDC, called, "Fostering Communities in the Kitchen and Garden." This program provides foster youth with cooking skills and training to grow fresh food through a community garden setting. This program represents a unique opportunity to address the complex needs of young adults transitioning out of the foster care system while utilizing their own strengths to advance food security in Lee County, Alabama.

Submitted by: Vicky Santos