Introduction

Introduction A team of University of Maryland (UM) students prepared this white paper to synthesize students’ visions of their University’s role as a neighbor in Westside and West Baltimore. UM President Dr. Jay Perman issued a challenge to the UM student body to develop a vision for the surrounding neighborhoods in light of the ongoing integration challenges of the UM community with local communities. The goal of this paper is to provide a report broadly useful to members of the campus community involved in infrastructure planning, business development, academic program design, and student activities.

To this end, the 2011-2012 President’s Fellows conducted independent research through a campus-wide web-survey 1 exploring student opinions about this issue, participated in a seminar series focused on academic-neighborhood relationship building, and explored the history of academic institutional involvement in urban renewal. During this process, the “Health of the Neighborhood” theme emerged, becoming a main focus for recommendations.

This paper is intended as a guide for how the University can engage its surrounding neighborhoods. The Health of the Neighborhood forms the base of this vision for the future of the Westside and West MLK areas. When exploring the relationship between neighbors, the Fellows identified five critical issues impacting the success of neighborhood development in the area of public health and wellness. These health-critical issues are (a) safety, (b) green space and recreation, (c) economic and commercial development, (d) residential development, and (e) education. This paper considers solutions addressing these issues in cohesive and synergistic

ways.

Background

The University of Maryland, The Founding Campus of the University System of Maryland, is a nationally-recognized public academic health, human services, and law center. UM’s 6,000 students constitute Maryland’s most important training pipeline for lawyers, doctors, nurses, social workers, dentists, and pharmacists. UM students are also a core driving force behind over $500 million in sponsored research. Currently, the UM student body engages with the West

1 Complete results from this survey can be found in the Appendix.