The Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives Institute is requesting applications for small research grants to fund student research and/or other activities related to broadening interdisciplinary learning in the areas of food, agriculture, and human health. Funds will be distributed through a competitive review process. The grants to be funded through this program must utilize novel and innovative approaches to answer potentially high impact research questions. The request should seek to establish cross-disciplinary learning and engagement.

For this grant cycle, HFHL plans to award a total of up to $30,000. Applicants may seek grant funds ranging from $2000-$10,000. Applicants must be current University of Minnesota students in good standing who are enrolled in postbaccalaureate programs and working towards a doctoral, master's, or professional degree.

The deadline for submission is 4:30 pm on Monday, July 9, 2012. By the deadline, an electronic copy of the grant application must be emailed to hfhl@umn.edu and hard copies must be submitted to Jawad Towns, Program Coordinator, Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives Institute, Food Science and Nutrition, 225 FScN, 1334 Eckles Avenue St Paul, MN 55108. Awards will be announced the week of August 6, 2012.

For more information regarding the application and instructions visit: http://www.hfhl.umn.edu/GrantPrograms/index.htm

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Please join the University of Minnesota's Healthy Foods, Healthy Lives Institute (HFHL), the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) and the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) for a community-university networking gathering to discuss potential research projects andhow to partner on your local foods work. It will be a perfect opportunity for potential collaborators to share a couple of hours of creative thought and discussion.
Attend to learn more about the funding mechanisms that HFHL, CURA and IAS currently employ to support local foods related work. Participants are encouraged to think widely about the possibilities and interests within their work that could benefit from a community/university collaboration.

It will be held Tuesday, May 22, 2012 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM at the University Hotel Minneapolis. Please RSVP by submitting this brief form by Tuesday, May 15 here.

Free parking is available. Appetizers will be served. A cash bar will be available and guests are welcome to a complimentary beverage. For more information contact Jawad Towns: jtowns@umn.edu or 612-626-6425.

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The Community Service-Learning Center at the U of M is partnering with community engagement staff from the Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center (UROC) and Minneapolis Community and Technical College to host a one-day faculty development workshop focused on place-based learning with an emphasis on North Minneapolis.

This workshop is scheduled for Thursday, May 17th, 2012 from 8:30am-4:30pm. Space is limited. If you are interested in participating in this unique faculty workshop, please RSVP to Laurel Hirt, at hirtx002@umn.edu by Friday, May 4, 2012.

The workshop will provide an opportunity to engage with and learn from Northside neighborhood residents and leaders in order to enhance your engaged teaching and research practices. The experience will include conversations, transportation and visits to a series of local North Minneapolis community organizations, lunch at a local restaurant,
opportunities to network with other faculty, and a panel of faculty who will share their experiences with place-based engagement work. Visit here for the tentative agenda.

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Ethical Protections in Community-Engaged Research

Community-engaged research is a new model for conducting health-related scientific research, that is unfortunately not reflected in the human research participants training programs available in the US today. Human research training programs designed for community members are needed.

This workshop is primarily designed for members of community-based organizations interested in and/or actively engaged in health-related research, but university-based faculty and staff who conduct community-engaged research are also encouraged to attend. Workshop material will be presented via lecture and small and large group discussion. Appropriate video and internet resources will also be used to enhance written materials. All participants will be provided with course materials and links to additional resources. The Office of Community Engagement for Health is working in collaboration with SoLaHmo Partnership for Health and Wellness to offer this workshop.

The workshop will be held Saturday, April 21, 2012 at La Clinica in St. Paul, MN from 9:30 am - 3:00 pm. It is a free event that requires no registration. For more information contact Andrea Leinberger-Jabari at lein0072@umn.edu.

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The Office for Public Engagement presents:
Strengthening the University of Minnesota as an Engaged University: Community Perspectives Symposium

A panel discussion will ask University of Minnesota community partners to reflect on their experiences partnering with the University. Panelists will celebrate successes and also reflect on ways the University can build stronger, sustainable partnerships. The event is free and open to the public. Breakfast refreshments will be served.The symposium will be held April 24, 2012 from 9:00 am 12:00 pm in the Johnson Great Room at the McNamara Alumni Center, University of Minnesota.

Moderator: Heidi Barajas, Executive Director of the Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center (UROC) and Associate Dean for Engagement and Faculty Development in the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD).

Panelists:
Amy Libman, Minnesota Internship Center Charter High School
Elder Atum Azzahir, The Cultural Wellness Center
Hedy Lemar Walls, University YMCA
Susan Gust, Community Activist and Small Business Owner

All are welcome! Registration is required.

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Please join us for the next CURA Housing Forum: Redevelopment, Refinancing, and Renovation of Riverside Plaza, Minnesota's Largest Housing Development

Riverside Plaza, located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is one of the largest housing projects in the United States. It was designed by the late architectural icon Ralph Rapson and built between 1971 and 1973 as Phase 1 of a seven-phase, 12,500-unit project that was part of a HUD pilot urban redevelopment program called New Town, In Town. After the completion of Phase 1, HUD abandoned the New Town, In Town concept and Riverside Plaza is only one of two existing today. Presently, Riverside Plaza consists of 1,303 rental units, a Charter School, a grocery store, a daycare, a tenants' association, a cultural center, and an 800-car parking garage for a total of 1.4 million square feet. Over 5,000 individuals call Riverside Plaza their home.

On January 6, 2011, Sherman Associates closed on one of the largest and most complex Tax Credit rehabilitation projects in our nation's history, and began the substantial rehabilitation of the complex: a two-year, $132 million acquisition rehabilitation. The financing for the project includes over 16 different types of funding from both public and private sources including City, County, State and Federal funding, and Low Income and Historic Tax Credits. During the financing process, Riverside Plaza was placed on the National Register of Historic Places less than 40 years after it was constructed and received one of the first, and to-date the largest, allocations of State Historic Credits in Minnesota.

The forum will take place Friday, April 20th, 2012 from 12:00 to 1:30 pm in Hanson Hall, Room 1-106 at the University of Minnesota. George Sherman, Principal, Sherman Associates will be presenting.

Registration is required.

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Public Mission, Urban Challenges: The 21st-Century University

University of Minnesota President Eric W. Kaler in conversation with
Syracuse University Chancellor Nancy Cantor. This is a keynote event of UMN Land Grant 150, a yearlong celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Morrill Act of 1862--legislation that laid the groundwork for the land-grant research university's ongoing mission: learning, discovery, and engagement for the common good.

It will be held in Coffman Theater at Coffman Memorial Union on Wednesday May 2nd from 4:00 - 5:30 p.m. Reception with light refreshments to follow from 5:30 - 6 p.m.
This event is free, but space is limited. Reservations required.

Learn more about the events, speakers and register here.

This event will be live-streamed. To watch, go to this page at 4 p.m. on May 2.

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The Center for Health Equity, The Program in Health Disparities Research, and The Minnesota Center for Cancer Collaborations are hosting a two-day Health Equity Conference: Eliminating Health Disparities Conference for researchers, practitioners, policy makers, community members, business leaders and students to come together around meaningful health equity issues. The conference will be held April 23rd - 24th at the Eagle Brown Heritage Center in Minneapolis, MN

The dinner keynote speaker is Kweisi Mfume, Former United States Congressman 1987 - 1996 and Former President of NAACP. The plenary speaker is Jane Delgado, Ph.D., M.S., President and CEO, National Alliance for Hispanic Health.

View the conference website for a full schedule of events and further information about the conference.

Registration is required and costs $75 for faculty, staff, and community members and $25 for students. Register online.

For questions contact Megan Hoffman at hoff0511@umn.edu or 612-626-4120

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The Community Collaborative Grants Program supports research that solves problems in translating clinical and health-related scientific knowledge into meaningful changes in practice, with the goals of improved health outcomes and/or reduced costs. This funding is intended to stimulate outstanding new pilot research that 1) involves strong community-university collaborations and 2) addresses important issues identified by community and 3) holds the promise of developing into long-term research and evaluation projects that will attract larger grants from NIH or other federal, state, or private funding agencies.

Grants are awarded in three areas: health disparities, systems for health improvement, and rural health.

- Full applications due April 16, 2012

Visit the Office of Community Engagement for Health page for more information and to download the Requests for Applications (RFA).

Questions? Contact Andrea Leinberger-Jabari at lein0072@umn.edu or 612-624-4247.

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CURA is a co-sponsor of the 7th Annual Sustainable Communities Conference - March 23 and 24, 2012 where 1,000 community, business and local government leaders will envision and plan steps to achieve a thriving, just and resilient and Twin Cities. Hosted by the Alliance for Sustainability. The agenda for the conference is divided into three main focuses:

1) Sustainable Business Forum - Friday March 23 - 7:30 am to 1 pm at U of M McNamara Alumni Center, Minneapolis - Network with 400 business leaders from small, medium and large businesses and learn how they are integrating sustainability into their operations to increase profitability, performance and innovation. See the agenda and Forum Flyer and register now (March 9 early registration discount) $35 to $75 at
http://2012sustainablebusinessforum.eventbrite.com

2) Local Government Sustainability Workshop - Fri March 23 - 1 to 5 pm at the U of M McNamara Alumni Center - 400 local government staff, elected and citizen leaders will share best practices for sustainable economic development Agenda PDF Flyer Register - Free http://localgovernmentsustainability.eventbrite.com

3) Community Conference - Sat March 24, 8:30am to 3:30am at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, Minneapolis - for 500 volunteers from neighborhoods, congregations, schools and environmental commissions to share hands on project resources. See the agenda and register (suggested lunch donation $5 - $10) at www.afs.nonprofitoffice.com/2012conference

For more information and details on registration, visit:
http://www.afs.nonprofitoffice.com/index.asp?SEC={BF10A597-5C1B-425F-867A-CB87E1740A54}&Type=B_BASIC

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The Center for Integrative Leadership presents, "Catalysts for Creating the Future of the Academy: UMN Case Studies on Shared Leadership" with presenter Ann Hill Duin

Globalization, immersive research and learning environments, unlimited access to information and analytics, and fiscal realities continue to impact higher education -- and higher education IT. Although IT organizations face immense pressure to meet significantly greater expectations at significantly less cost, with such pressure comes the opportunity to move IT beyond managing commodity resources to serving as a strategic and catalytic force for transforming higher education. To do so, however, demands an evolution from distributed to highly coordinated leadership as well as fostering the institutional conditions for enabling strategic shared leadership. In this research forum, Dr. Ann Hill Duin will challenge all those engaged in higher education to think even more boldly about integrative leadership.

Dr. Ann Hill Duin is a professor in the Department of Writing Studies in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota. Ann's research focuses on the social construction of knowledge and the impact of digital technologies on communication. Ann has taught and conducted research across K-12, undergraduate, graduate, and corporate levels in the U.S. and abroad.

This event will be held Friday, March 23, 2012 from 11:30 am -1:00 pm in
Room 144 Science Teaching and Student Services Building.

Register at: http://fridayforum6.eventbrite.com/

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Hennepin-University Partnership is hosting a half-day forum from 7:30am - 1:15pm on March 9, 2012 at the McNamara Alumni Center around what it means to effectively engage communities from the viewpoint of governments/universities, specifically Hennepin County and the University of Minnesota. This forum is meant to stimulate discussion on the following questions:

- What does community engagement mean to our organizations?

- What do we expect/need to accomplish by engaging communities?
- How do we know if we're effective?

Speakers will include, Jan Callison, 6th District Commissioner, Hennepin County, Richard Johnson, County Administrator, Hennepin County, Ed Goetz, Director of Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA), U of M, Andy Furco, Associate Vice President for Public Engagement, U of M, Kathy Quick, Assistant Professor, Public and Nonprofit Leadership Area, U of M, Steve Kelley, Director of Center for Science, Technology, and Public Policy, HHH, U of M, Tai Mendenhall, Associate Director, Citizen Professional Center, U of M, and Jay Clark, Director of Minnesota Center for Neighborhood Organizing (MCNO), CURA, U of M.

For more information and to register, email Brittany Kellerman at kelle410@umn.edu

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Community-Campus Network presents:
Program Evaluation Example #4: Building Community Connections in the College of Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS) with Faculty and Staff from CFANS.

March 7, 12-1:30
Morrill Hall, room 300
(for a map, go to http://www1.umn.edu/twincities/maps/MorH/ )
RSVP to axtel002@umn.edu

Please join us for all of our Network meetings this year, 12:00-1:30 on the following days:

April 4: Recommendations from the Public Engagement Metrics Committee (PEMC)
May 2: Aligning Your Program's Metrics with PEMC

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CURA Housing Forum - The Big Picture Project: Addressing Affordable Housing Along the Central Corridor

The arrival of light rail transit along the Central Corridor is a game-changer. This billion dollar infrastructure investment will bring many other investments, providing both opportunities and challenges. A unified housing strategy for the whole corridor would not only attract millions of investment dollars, but could also stabilize existing housing stock, preserve affordable rentals, and make sure new development projects improve the quality of life for residents in the surrounding neighborhoods. Come find out what we found agreement on, how those agreements turn into action, and what the rest of the region can learn from this work. This event will be held March 2, 2012 from 12:00 - 1:30 PM in Hanson Hall, Room 1-103.

The speaker Gretchen Nicholls is a Program Officer for Twin Cities Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), where she oversees the nationally award winning Corridor Development Initiative (CDI), and assists regional strategies around equitable transit-oriented development.

This event is free but registration is required.

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The Institute on the Environment presents their spring series of Frontiers in the Environment, weekly lectures on environment related issues occurring in our communities and throughout the world. The events occur ever Wednesday at 12:00 - 1:00 pm in the IonE Seminar Room R380, Learning & Environmental Sciences Building on the St. Paul Campus. The events are free and open to the public; no registration required. They're also available to watch online: https://umconnect.umn.edu/IonEFrontiers

Upcoming Events:

February 29: Putting the "Fun" Back in "Infrastructure": The Electric System and the Future of Energy
March 7: Conserving Tropical Forests from the Ground Up
March 21: Preparing Students to Grow a New Agriculture: Experimental Curricula at the University of Minnesota

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