Engagement
Engagement Overview
My engagement focuses on working with city officials,
non-profit organizations, and local residents, all within the
city of Lafayette, Indiana, to measure and impact positively
community well-being. I am a Lafayette native and leverage my
significant history of community involvement to forge
connections throughout the city that facilitate my access to
city initiatives. The City of Lafayette is my largest
partner/collaborator. I work primarily with and serve
impoverished communities within the City. Such access and
collaborations inform the service-learning experiences I
create for undergraduate students at Purdue, and provide the
foundation for my scholarship and discovery.
My
work is characterized by residents “liking where they live,
feeling safe, and having pride” in their community to the
extent that they want to continue living in it and are willing
to participate in making it a better place. The City of
Lafayette and the Faith Community Development Corporation have
identified the need to reduce transciency, especially among
impoverished residents, within the north end neighborhoods of
the city by focusing on neighborhood revitalization,
affordable housing, and homelessness intervention. Habitat for
Humanity Lafayette and the Edgelea Neighborhood Coalition have
identified the need to focus on neighborhood revitalization by
getting local residents involved in their respective
neighborhoods.
