The UT Urban Affairs Center

Projects for 2004-2005

Note: click here for more information for the faculty listed below, as well as UAC's on-going services. You can also view UAC's research publications.

The Urban Affairs Center is one of UT's major vehicles for establishing strong and effective linkages between our community, its urban region, and the University. We look to the Center for leadership in helping the University of Toledo fulfill its mission as a premier metropolitan university. For Toledo and Northwest Ohio to be successful in their efforts to promote economic development and improve the quality of life, it must have a strong, engaged university. The Urban Affairs Center is playing an important role in ensuring that UT is a strong engaged university.
Dr. Daniel Johnson, President, University of Toledo
The UAC will promote, support, and/or facilitate locally relevant and nationally recognized scholarly and applied research in the following areas: Community Preservation and Enhancement, Urban and Regional Planning, Economic Development, and Urban Education"
(From the UAC Mission Statement, 04/02).

Program Area - Community Development and Enhancement

New Schools, New Neighborhoods – UAC Assistant Director Sue Wuest and Research Associate Donna Johnston will continue to work with the New Schools New Neighborhood effort as it moves toward the implementation of its initial projects.

Chronicling Domestic Violence – Professor Gabrielle Davis (Law) and Dr. Lois Ventura (Social Work), with support from the UT College of Law, collected and analyzed data on court cases involving domestic violence in NW Ohio. They presented a preliminary report to the police, City administration, county commissioners, sheriff, City and County Prosecutors, municipal court judges, and victim rights advocates in spring 2003-4. Their final report will be released in September 2004.

Ohio Substance Abuse Network Monitoring (OSAM) – Dr. Thomas Tatchell will work with the OSAM as a UAC project. He will interview local drug users, and hospital, law enforcement, and therapy center personnel to learn the level and type of drug use in the NW Ohio region and forward his findings to OSAM for integration into Network reports. He is also preparing a quantitative analysis of these responses and related data.

Access to Recourse – UAC Faculty Research Associates Christine Fox (Education) and Gabriel Davis (Law) and UAC Director Dr. Patrick McGuire completed their analysis of the survey and issued a report with the Ohio State Bar Foundation regarding attitudes of Lucas County residents toward legal issues and access to local courts in November 2003. The Foundation held this report awaiting completion of two other reports, and will issue them simultaneously in Fall 2004.

CATNeT (Coalition to Access Technology and NETworking) – CATNeT is a coalition of community technology centers providing access for individuals who lack access in their home and/or work place. We build, house, and mentor the coalition; maintain the technology in the labs; disseminate information on instruction; solicit and secure the donation of computers; and work with them on grants to further strengthen and expand the group. Interim Coordinator Hope Hudson will guide CATNeT’s efforts to expand their VIRT programming, review and recertify participating centers, and will file grants with agencies, foundations, and corporations to secure funding to keep the network operating. CATNeT intends to increase the number of centers by 10, and increase users by 15% and at the same time begin a review of the viability and effectiveness of Centers to better allocate resources to Centers and to the public. CATNeT will continue to solicit computer donations from corporations and agencies to rehab and place in centers, and will continue to refine and build its Lap Tops into Homes program. They are developing a new funding program, formula and strategy, and their board is becoming increasingly involved in funding issues. They will continue their grant writing, and will begin to charge their participating Centers a small annual dues to stabilize revenues and increase community “buy-in.” They also will continue to work with outside agencies with appropriate missions, as a short time consultant to assist in the installation or improvement of computer services. And it will work with Northwest Ohio Community Shares as a member.

CATNeT Computer Support – CATNeT Technical Assistant Nathan Sloan will help to maintain the computers in the CATNeT Centers, prepare and upgrade donated computers, and conduct training classes and seminars for student volunteers and CATNET center personnel to teach them to help maintain and upgrade computers in their centers. He will oversee and train student and public volunteers in the repair and reconstruction of the hardware used by CATNeT centers.

LMHA/CATNeT Collaboration – CATNeT Technical Assistant Sloan will provide expertise to LMHA in their efforts to develop community computer centers in some of their facilities as part of a multi-year effort to bring computer training to people in public housing facilities. Interim Coordination Hope Hudson will oversee a volunteer instructor program in 7 of the LMHA centers, as part of this contract.

MetroNet – CATNeT Technical Assistant Nathan Sloan and CATNeT will maintain this website network and its server. All non-profit groups in the community are welcome to have their website posted for free on this network, including CATNeT. While the Metronet has been housed on the UAC server, it will be removed to a separate dedicated server for CATNeT and Metronet, during the fall of 2004.

Downtown Toledo Walking Tours – UAC Secretary Barbara Burmeister will continue to convene this group that prepares and conducts weekly tours of the architecture and history of downtown areas throughout the summer. They will begin to distribute the new guidebook– the Discover Downtown Toledo Walking Tour guidebook and map, and will sell copies to help underwrite future reprints and editions. The group will again solicit new tour guides and provide a series of training sessions in Spring 2005.

UT-UAC Press – The UAC Press Board will further develop their organizational structure, policy, and relationships to guide and promote the UT-UAC Press. Dr. Tom Barden will serve as publisher and Chair of the Advisory Board. They will publish a book by Dr.’s Seamus & Eileen Metress, et al., on the history of the Irish in Toledo in fall ’04, and bring at least one other book to the press for publication during the year and line up another for next year. Dr. Barden and the Board will oversee and coordinate the marketing of the Metress book and help distribute the Discover Downtown Toledo Walking Tour guidebook and map which the Press published last year. Dr. Barden has committed to write grants to further strengthen the Press’ finances.

Birmingham Cultural Center – The UAC will provide the Birmingham (Hungarian) Culture Center with some secretarial, mailing, and program assistance to promote the community cohesion and cultural programming of this community center

Downtown Toledo Design Center – UAC Research Associate Donna Johnston will replace Sue Wuest on the Board of this Center in August. We will continue to work to develop this community based design center.

Nonprofits and the Community-Based Data Gap – This project, led by UAC Faculty Research Associate Dr. Randy Stoecker (Sociology), used a participatory action research framework to study the kinds of information local nonprofits currently collect, along with information they are unable to collect and why. The resulting report (due fall ’04) will inform a planning event to develop strategies for filling the data gap.

A Neighborhood Indicators System for Toledo – Most community indicator systems rely on data coded at the city level or, at best, the census tract or zip code level. Because such boundaries do not correspond to neighborhood boundaries, their indicators do not help neighborhood-based development and social change efforts. Dr. Randy Stoecker (Sociology) will conduct a neighborhood indicators system demonstration project, and examine 21 existing neighborhood indicators systems around the country as part of a feasibility study to develop a comprehensive neighborhood indicators system in Toledo.

Community Demographics, Minority Prisoners and Impacts of Federal- and State-funded community programs – Dr. Patricia Case (Sociology) will determine the impact of Ohio’s predominantly minority prison populations on the local economies surrounding prisons. Geographies based on Census tracks will be created to determine the population characteristics with and without the prison population, especially when the prisoner population tips the racial balance and qualifies the area for assistance. When possible, this study will review funding awarded to ascertain to what degree communities received funds they might otherwise not have been eligible for without the prison populations.

Walk Westgate – UAC Assistant Director Sue Wuest will continue to guide and support a coalition of neighbors, business people, politicians, real estate owners, and academics working to re-envision, re-design, and re-develop this neighborhood-shopping district in manners that promote pedestrian mobility, encourage community and communication, and enhance the quality of life. The group will give input on policy, zoning changes, and design standards to the City of Toledo and Toledo Lucas County Plan Commission.

Surveys of Metropolitan Toledo – At least twice this year we will query citizens as to their views on important civic issues. We will also collaborate with other UT researchers seeking to ascertain the social, economic, cultural, and political attitudes and ideas of residents, organizations, and businesses of the area.

Program Area - Urban and Regional Planning

The Metro Toledo Smart Growth Partnership – Led by UAC Research Associate Donna Hardy Johnson, the UAC continues to partner with various inner-city organizations (faith-based, CDCs, non-profits) to “improve the quality of life in the Metro Toledo area through promotion of planned growth and regional cooperation.” The Partnership will move forward on their 2004 goals to organize a First Suburbs component and a business component.

Toledo First Suburbs Consortium – UAC Research Associate Donna Hardy Johnston will organize a meeting of Toledo’s first suburbs mayors and managers to explore the possibility of a first suburbs consortium. If successful, next steps include joining with Ohio First Suburbs Consortium to affect policy change at the state level.

Center for Urban Ecology and Education – UAC Research Associate Donna Hardy Johnston will continue to work with UT faculty and community organizations to promote and gain funding for the Center for Urban Ecology and Education. CUE aims to connect researchers, formal and informal educators with local urban stakeholders in order to improve literacy, stewardship and individual power through public and private education.

Regional Network – UAC Research Associate Donna Hardy Johnston will continue to manage the Regionalnet and forward the effort to education list members on innovations and best practices in land use and planning.

TMACOG – UAC Director Patrick McGuire will serve on the Board of Directors of the Toledo Metropolitan Area Council of Governments as the University of Toledo representative on this MPO–Metropolitan Planning Organization. Research Associate Donna Hardy Johnston will continue to serve on the 2035 Transportation Planning Committee and the Growth Strategies ad hoc Council.

Program Area - Economic Development

City Tax Revenue Forecast – Using the formulas developed in his 1999 report to the City Dr. Paul Kozlowski (Finance) will again work with, and produce a report for, the City Council, Auditor, and City administration projecting payroll tax revenues. These reports have been repeatedly cited by Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s investment services as positive factors in their evaluation of the City’s bond status.

Decline in Business Income Taxes in NW Ohio Cities – Dr. Paul Kozlowski (Finance) will conduct a series of interviews and focus groups in an effort to ascertain why the receipt of business taxes by local jurisdictions has declined throughout the region. In particular, the role of changing venues, business foreclosures and bankruptcies, state and federal tax policy, and the allocation of economic subsidies and tax deferrals upon business income tax revenues will be explored.

Industry Cluster Project – Dr. Neil Reid (Geography), UAC Assistant Director Sue Wuest, and Dr. Michael Carroll of BGSU will continue to work with the local economic development community to develop a cluster based economic development strategy. Work will focus on identifying target clusters, develop cluster strategies, identifying emerging/potential clusters. This will also involve the completion of the CEDS which will enable us to access EDA funds to support Cluster Strategies.

Targeted Industry Cluster Strategy Website – UAC Assistant Director Sue Wuest and a consultant will work to develop the website to explain and highlight the Toledo targeted industry cluster study being undertaken with a special allocation from the Ohio Legislature. Due to the intense interest in this study from its many partners and other community leaders and agencies, we are creating a specific venue for updates and analyses.

Economic Development System Reorganization and the Development of a CEDS (Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy) –This project involving Dr. Neil Reid (Geography), Dr. Michael Carroll (BGSU), and UAC Assistant Director Sue Wuest, has been an ongoing effort to evaluate and reorganize the local economic development system in order to be for effective and efficient and to be better able to implement an regional economic development strategy based on targeted industry clusters. The UAC’s role has been to provide leadership on the industry cluster strategy development, data and information services, and has provided leadership in the facilitation of the overall discussion. The development of the CEDS was delayed until fall 2004 awaiting participation by Local Government Partners. Sue Wuest helped identify a funding strategy for the project and helped assemble the partners. The UAC will partner with the Pogemeyer Planning Group to complete the planning process and the CEDS in the first quarter of 2005. The UAC’s role will include data development and analysis as well as serving on the project planning committee. The CEDS is required by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Agency in order for eligibility for EDA funding.

A Survey of Internet Business Practices and Information Technology Workforce Needs Among Northwest Ohio Corporations – UAC Faculty Research Associate Dr. Paul Fritz (Communication) and UAC Post-Doctoral Faculty Research Associate Svetlana Beltyukova examined the nature, extent, and form of IT use by non-IT firms in the Toledo MSA. An initial draft of the report was submitted and circulated, and a final report will be released in late summer 2004.

Alternative Energy Opportunities – Underwritten by funds from an NSF-PFI grant, UAC Faculty Research Associates Dr.’s Subba Rao and Mark Vonderembse (MIME) interviewed with firms and examined public records to identify the ability of existing firms in NW Ohio to effectively participate in the creation of a bio-fuel “sector” and on the vitality of the photovoltaic industry in the area. A final UAC report will be posted during summer ’04.

Assessing Barriers to Use of Alternative Energy – In cooperation with the UT Office of Research, we will hire Green Energy Ohio (an appropriately skilled community partner) to determine the legal and regulatory barriers to creating and installing alternative energy systems in Ohio, and create a report on this topic.

Preparation and Application of Economic and Spatial ES-202 Data from Ohio DOD – Dr. James LeSage (Economics) will work with the UUP ES-202 network (OEDIN) and NODIS to clean and prepare the ES-202 data for use by various UUP centers and researchers. Dr. LeSage will continue to work on his NSF grant, which is an outgrowth of, and dependent upon the cleaning of this data.

Brain Drain from Northwest Ohio – UAC Director Patrick McGuire, Research Associate Donna Johnston, and UT Alumni Director Dan Saevig initiated a study of the demand for, and migration of college graduates from NW Ohio and Ohio in general. Using data obtained from college alumni offices around the state, we will analyze the patterns influencing this phenomenon, including the effects of marriage, gender, and disciplinary major on the “brain drain” that Ohio is facing since 2000, the patterns that predate it, and the “demand side” environment of the region, including the needs of local businesses for well trained workers.

High School Brain Drain from the Toledo Region – Dr. Patrick McGuire, Research Associate Donna Johnston and several undergraduate students will ascertain the ideas, values, intentions, and expectations of graduating high school honor students regarding college attendance. The goal is to ascertain the extent of, and rationale guiding the “initial” brain drain from the area–the exit of talented students from the region and state for higher education experiences.

Program Area - Urban Education

East Toledo Gear-Up Evaluation – Dr. Christine Fox, Dr. Svetlana Beltyukova, and Lynne Hamer (Social Foundations) will evaluate the impacts of the Gear-up activities on the students in East Toledo Junior and Waite Senior high schools. Among the activities they will undertake are 3 surveys of the student’s, teachers, and parent’s perceptions. They prepared several reports to MERC/Gear-up and for public presentation to document the changes in organization and operation of the school, consistent with the goals of the grant. Dr.’s Fox and Beltyukova have completed an initial draft “Student Perceptions of Classroom Environment and Attitudes Toward Teaching and Learning in East Toledo Junior High” as a UAC report, and are revising this for release in fall ’04. They will work on other related reports and papers as data is analyzed.

MERC Evaluation and Promotion – UAC Faculty Research Associate Dr. Svetlana Beltyukova helped to assess and coordinate the MERC Gear-up programs in East Toledo, Battle Creek, and Bangor Michigan, and Harvey Illinois, developing multi-site research instruments and templates.

The Educational and Employment History of Waite High School Graduates – UAC Faculty Research Associate Svetlana Beltyukova will examine the patterns of student employment and achievement for graduates of Waite High School who chose to attend UT and BGSU. The value and “cost” of employment, benefits of different types of employment, role of family, income, race, etc. in employment and education decisions and patterns will be explored.

Honor Roll Project – Dr. Lynne Hamer (Social Foundations) will conduct interviews with Junior High students who are on the honor roll, to learn what factors they share, and what they believe is important to educational success in East Toledo Jr. High system. She will ask them about family, work, support networks, extra-curricular activities, etc.

Modeling TPS –Dr. Maryellen Edwards, Dr. James LeSage, and a graduate student will attempt to compare the patterns of courses, SES info, etc of students in the TPS district vs. those in adjacent suburban districts to determine the relative significance of various factors in explaining standardized test scores, graduation rates, and post-secondary attainment.

School and Employment Trends in a Toledo High School – Svetlana Beltyukova will explore the relationships between employment, scholarly productivity, and academic achievement among a group of local high school students from Waite HS in East Toledo as they “transition” through high school, college, and into the workforce.

School, Employment, and Race – UAC Faculty Research Associates Dr.’s Mary Ellen Edwards (Social Foundations), Carter Wilson (political Science) and Dagmar Morales (Latino Initiatives) will examine patterns of employment and academic achievement, using EMIS, HEI, ES-202, ACT/SAT, and JFS data. Instead of relying on OBOR which failed to provide us with promised data for the entire state of Ohio, we will obtain the needed data from UT and BGSU, and will examine the influences of these factors on local youth graduating from local high schools and attending regional baccalaureate institutions.

Educational Attainment and Occupational Outcomes for African Americans in NW Ohio – UAC Faculty Research Associate Dr. Carter Wilson (Political Science) and Dr. Esther Erkins (University of Cincinnati) collaboratively identified relationships between educational courses and content and various racial and socio-economic groups in Toledo. The initial report was completed and is being updated before being released in fall ’04.

The Status of Ohio's Urban Public Schools - This UUP Urban Education network project completed the third year of a three-year project. Dr. Carter Wilson is leading the network dealing with infrastructure and governance issues utilizing data from the Ohio School facility Commission and gather additional data from major urban districts. He will work to enhance and integrate his report on governance and infrastructure among the 21 largest urban areas, into the final network report, which will be completed spring ‘05.

City Schools And Natural Areas: A Longitudinal Study Of An Urban land lab For Elementary Science Education – UAC Faculty Research Associate Dr. Charles Rop (Curriculum & Instruction) undertook a longitudinal analysis of PARK-IT, a land lab of the City of Toledo Parks Department and Toledo Public Schools. The program has undergone several changes of funding and participation in the last 5 years. Rop will identify those changes and their implications, and devise a set of best practices and projects. He will use these to both inform and update the existing program, and to help write new grants involving the UAC, Lake Erie Center, and community partners to develop “hands-on” or experienced based educational curriculum on environmental issues including sprawl, land use planning, soil and water pollution, etc. A report is expected in Spring ’05.

Program Area - UAC Services

Data Collection, Management, Analysis, and Presentation; Technology Support

Data & Information Services: Data Manager Gregg Rice will coordinate the Urban Affairs Center's data and information services, including data storage and backup, data transformation into formats suitable for analysis and mapping, data resource identification, online survey data collection, and online publishing of data and research reports. These services include the following:

Data Preparation- UAC Data Manager Gregg Rice will assist UAC researchers and other UT faculty and graduate students by obtaining and transforming data for their projects.

UAC Computing Technology Support - Data Manager Gregg Rice will continue to maintain and support the Center's computers, databases, web site, and computer-related technology to provide a stable and secure operating environment for the Center's staff and researchers. This work will include applying software patches and/or security fixes from to UAC's computers, and maintaining servers that receive over 2 million requests for various files, data, support data, menus, etc.

Survey Calling Capacity - UAC continued to develop our survey research capability offered by this center, sharing it with other UT researchers. We will train additional students in the methods of phone interviewing and pay them to conduct several interviews for UAC and other UT researchers.

UAC Metadata Catalogue – Data Manager Rice will continue to build an index of the data owned and stored at the UAC, and updates it as needed when new datasets are created; expanding upon our 158 datasets now in this index.

Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) – As the official UT representative to the ICPSR, Data Manager Gregg Rice will catalogue data CDs from ICPSR; download and/or transform ICPSR datasets as requested by UT researchers; remain current with policies regarding ICPSR dataset use; and locally promote the use of ICPSR resources, primarily online access by the UT community to ICPSR data using the "ICPSR Direct" program and summer ICPSR courses (http://uac.utoledo.edu/Services/ICPSR.htm).

Electronic Publication and Inventory of UAC Research - Faculty and Staff Research Associates and non-faculty partners produce research findings that are posted on the web site by the Data Manager. These include new publication and re-formated versions of out of print studies from before 2000. He maintains these for the s thousands of people who request UAC documents and reports each year.

Create On-line versions of printed UAC Studies – Data Manager Rice and UAC Secretary Barbara Burmeister will collaborate to create on-line drafts of additional UAC reports created during the mid to late 1990’s that were previously available only in paper form.

On-line Census Data for the Toledo Metro Area – Data Manager Gregg Rice will extract the US Census data from the 1990 and 2000 censuses for each of the cities, villages, counties and townships in the region (320 areas comprising 640 datasets) and maintain and augment an on-line form (http://uac.utoledo.edu/Links/census-demog/census-demogs.htm)for accessing it. This will assist various on-campus researchers and off-campus agencies in their research, grant- and report-writing efforts.

Online Survey Capacity - UAC Data Manager Gregg Rice will create on-line surveys for the UAC projects, and for others by UT Faculty and graduate students' who used the UAC survey web site. This programming and database construction executes surveys that benefit to the local community and increases the data holdings of the UAC.

Develop Project Tracking database for Center use – UAC Data Manager Gregg Rice will maintain and further upgrade the UAC Project Tracking Database (a database of the projects and initiatives of the UAC, accessed by all staff members).

Mapping Services- UAC Research Associate Donna Hardy Johnston and UAC Data Manager Gregg Rice will continue to create and distribute maps and perform mapping services for UAC researchers and clients.

Land-Use Planning Facilitation and Technical Assistance- UAC Assistant Director Sue Wuest and Research Associate Donna Hardy Johnston will provide assistance to community and governmental groups engaged in land-use planning.

Organizational Development and Strategic Planning Facilitations- UAC Assistant Director Sue Wuest and Research Associate Donna Hardy Johnston will assist local organizations in rationalizing their organizations and developing strategic plans to advance the client’s interests. The UAC provides technical assistance to CDCs and other area non-profits in organizational development, resource identification, grant writing, program development, strategic planning and meeting facilitation services. Sue Wuest and Donna Hardy Johnson are both trained meeting facilitators, and Ms. Wuest is certified by the Ohio Capital Corporation in the area of Strategic Organizational Planning.

UAC Educational Projects and Student Support

What Works? Seminars: This series focuses on innovative ideas that potentially solve problems in the Toledo area. UAC annually sponsors speakers and conducts public seminars in the areas of urban educational reform, urban sprawl, and economic development. We will continue to seek community partners to help support and promote these efforts.

Student Support

The Collaborative Inc. - C. T. Schauder Memorial Scholarship - The Collaborative Inc. has endowed an annual scholarship through the UT Foundation for a student to work with the UAC and the Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commission Staff on a neighborhood design project. We will update and redefine the criteria of award to increase the number of applicants and quality of scholarship proposals.

Graduate Student Support

UUP Network Participation

Western Ohio Research Consortium – Dr. Patrick McGuire and Sue Wuest will serve as the UAC Representatives to this new UUP Research Network.

UUP Urban Education Network – UAC Director Patrick McGuire and Dr. Carter Wilson (Political Science) will serve as UAC Representatives to this UUP Network.

UUP ES-202 Network – Dr. James LeSage (Economics) and UAC Data Manager Gregg Rice will serve as the UAC Representatives to this UUP network.

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The University of Toledo
current as of apr. 2007 | email: uac@utnet.utoledo.edu | rss
Urban Affairs Center, Mail Stop #404, The University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio 43606
Tel 419.530.3591, Fax 419.530.3548