When the City of Madison was interested in evaluating a pop-up shop program, UniverCity Alliance connected the project and city staff with an initiative at the Center for Community and Nonprofit Studies called Co-Create.
This initiative provides applied research, evaluation, and technical assistance to community organizations and was a good fit for the analysis project that involved interviewing vendors and collaborating partners and providing recommendations.
“Our center serves as a bridge between the outside world and the university — bringing our university-based skills to organizations doing good work, and also bringing all the knowledge and engagement from those organizations back to our teaching and programs,” Center for Community and Nonprofit Studies (CommNS) Executive Director Mary Beth Collins said.
Through this model, the community benefits from university resources and campus partners learn from experts in the field. This approach of the CommNS aligns with UniverCity Alliance’s goals, which are to connect Wisconsin local governments with university resources to assist local leaders, solve challenges, and catalyze change.
UniverCity Alliance Managing Director Gavin Luter describes this exchange of knowledge as a “two-way street.”
“While faculty, instructors, and students can offer valuable research to communities, universities should be listening to and learning from local leaders and community expertise,” Luter said. “When we do this community engagement well, both universities and communities succeed.”
Hometown focus
Because of where the University of Wisconsin–Madison is located, UniverCity aims to be the primary entrypoint to the university when the City of Madison has a research question to be answered. In 2023, the city approached UniverCity about analyzing Culture Collectives – the city’s pilot pop-up shop program, launched in 2021, aimed at supporting the small-scale businesses of entrepreneurs of color.
The project’s goals were to understand the experience of vendors, city staff, and organizational partners and determine recommendations for the future. Office of Business Resources Manager Saran Ouk said the third party evaluation of the program, and Co-Create’s approach, were a good fit for reaching these goals.
“Not only did we need someone from outside our organization to help us gather feedback from multiple stakeholders on this pilot program, we also needed folks who were culturally sensitive to working with diverse business owners. The team understood that these business owners do not have a lot of free time and knew to offer flexible options and methods,” Ouk said. “[The Co-Create team] also recognized that the traditional methods of evaluating and questioning may not always be the right fit when working with diverse groups and on a new program. It was great working with them.”
Ouk said the Office of Business Resources team will use the report to determine the next steps for their Small Business Development programs.
Because of Co-Create’s capacity in qualitative research and the ability to work flexibly and quickly outside of the traditional academic schedule, Co-Create was a great resource for the city to use. Dr. Amy Washbush, the associate director for engaged research at the CommNS, said the Culture Collectives project was interesting because “there was very much a story we were trying to capture” to ensure the nature and impact of the pilot program was better understood.
The analysis offered concrete recommendations that could inform a future iteration of the city’s program. For example, vendors said they would have benefitted from additional support, including professional development opportunities and mentorship. Also, they suggested pursuing partnerships with other organizations and collaborative events.
“The project certainly offered a lot of insight about how cities can promote more diverse and equitable retail opportunities,” Washbush said.
Because the vast majority of Co-Create’s work is in Wisconsin, this project has the potential to benefit other communities across the state. Washbush said when she’s talking to local leaders up north about a similar issue, she can draw on what she has learned from the project with Madison.
“In addition to our toolbox, we’re also bringing this web of past experiences and related initiatives that we can connect with people around the state,” Washbush said.
The CommNS and UniverCity have also collaborated on a grant writing pilot program for bipartisan infrastructure and a traveling exhibit focused on the Ho-Chunk Nation that is being developed by the Village of Waunakee.
Additionally, the CommNS has supported UniverCity projects that include determining the feasibility of a “friends of” group for a City of Madison department, securing translation services for a pedestrian friendliness project in Wausau, and developing evaluations for UniverCity.
Campus connections
At a large institution like UW–Madison with multiple efforts that engage with community partners, it can be difficult for outside organizations to navigate what is available.
Because of this, Collins, Washbush, and Luter work closely together and with others on campus dedicated to public service and outreach, including the Morgridge Center for Public Service, to make sure community partners are connected to the best resource. For example, the CommNS primarily engages with communities, civil society, and nonprofit or purpose-based organizations, while UniverCity is focused on connecting with local governments.
Additionally, the Community Campus Connecters (C3), a group of UW–Madison units and programs that routinely connect with community partners, is another way to coordinate community-engaged efforts on campus. UniverCity and the CommNS were two units that helped develop this network.
“I would like to think that for our size and scope and prestige that UW–Madison is particularly dedicated to our research, work, and teaching being related to what’s going on outside the university, serving the community, having community engaged practices when it is appropriate, and showing students what it’s really like out there through service learning,” Collins said.
UniverCity Year and the CommNS have been valuable partners in various ways. Bolstering the connection between them, Collins is a member of UniverCity’s advisory board and Luter is a member of the steering committee for the CommNS’ Civic Health of Wisconsin initiative.
Collins said she has loved discussing how cities can be laboratories and platforms for advancing sustainability, equity, and democracy. Likewise, Luter said the opportunity to engage in civic health initiatives is critically important for Wisconsin local governments.
When connections are strong on campus, partnership programs can support communities more effectively. For example, a first connection with a university partner can make great progress and then morph into a new type of project that another connection at the university might be more poised to advance.
Washbush said these connections are important for stewarding a relationship.
“In a complementary sense, these different units can really sustain partnerships that meet multiple needs of cities or counties or nonprofits over time,” Washbush said.
–Abigail Becker