Barbara Lucio has immediate experience with dangerous traffic congestion. The grandparent of a second grader at Buchanan Elementary School, she stations herself every day at the school to ask those who are parked illegally if they are having a problem reading the “no parking” signs. Buchanan assistant principal Bob Jaime is also acquainted with Buchanan’s traffic problem. His reading of old PTA minutes shows that outdoor safety has been a subject of discussion in the association’s meetings since 1912. Lucio and Jaime are grateful that staff and students from Calvin are helping Buchanan’s PTA to resolve this safety issue.

Last spring several of Calvin Professor Henk Aay’s urban geography students did a study of the traffic flow around Buchanan School. Their recommendations included adding speed bumps, converting a two-way to a one-way street and possibly closing off a section of the area’s busiest street at certain times during the day.

These options are being studied further by Darryl Langendoen, Mia Cooke and Kim Cooke, students in Professor Lissa Schwander’s Social Welfare Policy class, who have formed a traffic study task force with members of the PTA and the Garfield Park Neighborhoods Association. This group is communicating with city officials about the need for more and clearer signage and with the Grand Rapids Police Department about better patrolling of the neighborhood before and after school.

The traffic study task force is one focus of a much larger effort, the Calvin@Burton Heights partnership. Ten college departments—education, Spanish, nursing, business, social work, sociology, art, English, geography and health/physical education—and six offices—alumni and public relations, Center for Social Research, Service Learning Center, Pre-College Programs, information technology and media relations—are involved in this institutional partnership.

Calvin faculty, staff and students collaborate with representatives of Buchanan Elementary School, Burton Health Center, Burton Heights Business Association, Garfield Development Corporation, Garfield Park Neighborhoods Association, Health Intervention Services and other community organizations; all of the drivers of these college and neighborhood initiatives are moving toward a revitalized Burton Heights and an enriched Calvin College.

A grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of University Partnerships funded Calvin@Burton Heights and its headquarters, the Community Outreach Partnership Center (COPC) at 1725 S. Division. The COPC model emphasizes that urban neighborhoods need college partners, and institutions of higher education benefit from involvement in neighborhoods like Burton Heights, where students can apply their knowledge to real-life situations.

For more information or to get involved in the Calvin@Burton Heights partnership, visit: www.calvin.edu/admin/community/copc/