Penn State Altoona News

Tuesday, June 14, 2005 - 910 hits

Altoona Housing Authority and Penn State Altoona Partner to Improve Quality of Life for Area Residents

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ALTOONA -- Penn State Altoona’s students and faculty will be working hand-in-hand with the Altoona Housing Authority during the next three years to help improve the quality of life of its residents, thanks to a grant the College received from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

A team of faculty led by Dan Lago, assistant professor of human development and family studies at the College, worked with Cheryl Johns, executive director of the Altoona Housing Authority, and staff members in applying for a grant of $287,000 in federal funds to establish an academically focused Community Outreach Partnership among Penn State Altoona, the Altoona Housing Authority, and a network of affiliated human service agencies in Blair County. This partnership will work with residents of the Altoona Housing Authority through a series of education and service programs targeted toward needs that are seen as high priority. These include health promotion and care, education, and neighborhood revitalization.

“The project will greatly enhance Penn State Altoona’s efforts to integrate undergraduate student education with community needs,” says Dr. Lori J. Bechtel, Penn State Altoona CEO and Dean. “It will provide working examples and established pathways of collaboration for academic programs, individual faculty, and cohorts of students, as well as service to the community. It is a direction that we strongly support.”

The Altoona Housing Authority is a municipal authority that was created to administer and develop affordable housing for low-income families in the City of Altoona. It currently provides assistance to more than 1500 families in Altoona through its public housing programs. The Housing Authority initiated this partnership effort, which involves matching contributions from both the Housing Authority staff and Penn State Altoona faculty, so that the overall budget for the three-year project is $565,000.

“By matching the funding contributions, we are demonstrating our commitment to this project, both to our students and to the residents of our community,” says Lago. “The residents and our students will both actively be involved in the project.”

A team of eight Penn State Altoona faculty members will direct student projects including nursing instructors Suzanne Kuhn and Nedra Farcus; human development and family studies faculty members Kevin Galbraith, Lauren Jacobson, and Lago; criminal justice faculty member Sharon Redhawk Love; economics faculty member Barbara Wiens-Tuers, and anthropologist Elizabeth Seymour. Thomas Shaffer will also help coordinate student internships on the project. A half-time project coordinator will be hired. Cheryl Johns will direct the Altoona Housing Authority participation with involvement by staff members Kathi Ardizzone, Pam Brazle, Janet Frank, Sherry Symons, and Rebecca Vaughn.

The specific programs that will be developed with the housing authority residents vary and will depend upon which faculty and their classes get involved in specific projects. Programs that will be developed in the first year include consumer economic skills, crime prevention, active lifestyle and nutrition management for children, nutrition and obesity prevention for adults, chronic disease prevention and management for older adults, helping networks for seniors, and expansion of computer resources in the communities.

Faculty will have the opportunity to take their classes out into the field and help with the project. Internship opportunities will also be available for students, providing more opportunities for hands-on experience for Penn State Altoona students. The project is designed to not only improve the quality of education for Penn State Altoona students who are studying a field that prepares them to work directly with community-based clients, but also to improve and sustain the quality of life of Altoona Housing Authority residents through a series of education and service programs.

“Improving the quality of life for residents through a series of educational programs will be very rewarding,” says Johns. “I look forward to working with the faculty and students from Penn State Altoona on this very exciting project. This partnership is a win-win situation for everyone involved.”