Center for Urban & Regional Affairs - CURA

How do investor strategies impact single-family rentals? 🏘️ Explore CURA's latest research shedding light on housing trends and their effects on communities. Learn more: https://www.cura.umn.edu/research/understanding-impact-investor-strategies-single-family-rentals

The Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) proudly announces its Neighborhood Leadership and Organizing program and Neighborhoods Now! training received the National Community-Based Organization Network (NCBON) Unsung Hero Award. This award celebrates unheralded leaders advancing public health and equity locally. The Neighborhood Leadership and Organizing program offers training and organizing assistance to support community leaders in identifying and tackling local issues, and in building vital communities that value full participation and embody racial equity and economic justice.

Pictured: Ish Malik Holt Shabazz and Ned Wik Moore, Program Directors of Neighborhood Leadership and Organizing accepting the NCBON Unsung Hero Award

Learn more about the award: https://www.cura.umn.edu/news/curas-neighborhood-leadership-and-organizing-program-honored-unsung-hero-award

📰 The latest edition of the RCP Newsletter is here!

Meet our 2024-2025 local government community partners, learn how you can apply for our program, celebrate Center for Urban & Regional Affairs - CURA graduate student research, and much more: https://mailchi.mp/umn/rcp-newsletter-fall24

📢 Opportunity Alert for Grad Students!

Join CURA at the University of Minnesota as a Graduate Research Assistant and work directly with community partners in Spring 2025! These roles offer hands-on experience in impactful projects focused on food justice in the prison system and equitable access to homeownership across Minnesota.

✔️ Build connections with community partners working on real-world issues
✔️ Develop practical research skills through community-guided projects
✔️ Perfect for students passionate about research and reparative justice

https://buff.ly/3Z5q1Tw

The Kris Nelson & Community Assistantship Programs have led 45 impactful projects across MN since 2021, tackling Environmental Justice, Housing, Arts, Economic Empowerment & more! With 70% BIPOC researchers & dedicated partners, we're building leadership, supporting capacity, and driving change through community-based research.

And don't forget that you can apply any time for the Kris Nelson program here: https://buff.ly/3qVHom9

Some Of The Incredible Partners Driving Our Work:
River Bend Nature Center, Akiing, Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation, Mizna, Ayada Leads, The Loppet Foundation, West Broadway Business & Area Coalition, Legal Rights Center, Renewing The Countryside, and The Alliance

🚨 We're hiring a student storyteller! 🚨 This is a part-time position for currently enrolled University of Minnesota students.

Learn more: https://hr.myu.umn.edu/jobs/extstu/365217
Job ID: 365217
Preferred deadline: Friday, Nov. 15

cc: Center for Urban & Regional Affairs - CURA Communication Studies, University of Minnesota University of Minnesota Hubbard School of Journalism & Mass Communication Writing Studies, UMN University of Minnesota English

If you missed last week's CURA Housing Forum "Exploring the Impacts of the RealPage Antitrust Case," the landing page has been updated with the presentation and video from the event:

https://www.cura.umn.edu/events/oct-18-2024/cura-housing-forum-exploring-impacts-realpage-antitrust-case

RSVP now for the CURA Housing Forum: Exploring the Impacts of the RealPage Antitrust Case.

Fri, Oct 18 2024, 2 - 3:30pm. In person or via YouTube livestream. Learn more at

CURA Housing Forum: Exploring the Impacts of the RealPage Antitrust Case | CURA Fri, Oct 18 2024, 2 - 3:30pm Hanson Hall, Room 1-108Register nowIf you are not able to attend the event in person, we will be streaming the housing forum live and then archiving it on the CURA YouTube page. Presenters: Lawrence McDonough, Policy Attorney for HOME Line and Senior Fellow for the Natio...

Last week CURA staff traveled to Detroit to receive the Urban Institute NNIP Impact award, present on voter turnout and demographic mapping, and learn more about how organizations across the country help local communities use data to shape strategies and investments so that all neighborhoods are places where people can thrive. As a long-time NNIP partner, we appreciate the recognition of our work and the connections that the network makes possible.

https://www.cura.umn.edu/news/nnip-selects-cura-g-thomas-kingsley-impact-award

📢 Calling all MN communities with populations under 15,000!

❗Tap into historic federal and state funding opportunities for infrastructure by applying for the Empowering Small Minnesota Communities program (ESMC).

👉 Act by Oct. 15 to schedule a meeting to discuss your project idea: https://forms.gle/277BnyhrRUpG6j8f7

🤝 RCP Director Mike Greco serves as the 11-county Twin Cities metropolitan area coordinator for the ESMC initiative. The program is open statewide.

Minnesota Census and Democracy Partnership Meeting: Mapping Minnesota's Communities and Voter Turnout
Register: https://mcf.org/events/minnesota-census-and-democracy-partnership-meeting-mapping-minnesotas-communities-and-voter

It’s Get Out the Vote Season! Join the Minnesota Census and Democracy Partnership to learn about two new mapping tools. Utilizing data showing voter turnout by precinct along with demographic data, these tools can help organizations reach more historically underrepresented communities in voter engagement activities. Leaders from Voices for Racial Justice and the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs will show how to use these tools and answer participant questions. The Minnesota Council on Foundations will also be joined by the Office of the Secretary of State to learn more about the Here We Vote campaign and additional voter resources.

Tuesday, October 1, 2024, 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Minneapolis Central Library - Room: S-275 RKMC room on the second floor

Last week, we hosted a Graduate Research Symposium to showcase the exceptional work of our graduate students. The gathering brought together community and local government partners to celebrate student research, which is essential to our university-community partnership model.

Our heartfelt thanks to the Loppet Foundation for providing a beautiful space to gather; to Tram Hoang for delivering an inspiring keynote; to graduate students Neamatallah Elsayed, Liam O’Brien, and Nuzhat Fatima for presenting their research, and to Wha’ Jamaican for feeding us so well.

The Loppet Foundation, U of MN Extension Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships Resilient Communities Project - University of Minnesota

Apply Anytime for the Kris Nelson Community-Based Research Program!
Next Deadline for Spring Projects: October 15.
The Kris Nelson Community-Based Research Program builds the power and capacity of community-based organizations to create social change through partnerships with the University of Minnesota. We match the research and technical needs of organizations with student research assistants to carry out community-defined and community-guided projects. CURA works with organizations selected for the program to create shared understanding and action based on the results.
Learn more and apply: https://www.cura.umn.edu/news/apply-anytime-kris-nelson-community-based-research-program

Apply anytime for the Kris Nelson Community-Based Research Program! | CURA Next Deadline for Spring Projects: October 15The Kris Nelson Community-Based Research Program builds the power and capacity of community-based organizations to create social change through partnerships with the University of Minnesota. We match the research and technical needs of organizations with....

CURA named a finalist for national community engagement scholarship award
https://www.cura.umn.edu/news/cura-named-finalist-national-community-engagement-scholarship-award

CURA named a finalist for national community engagement scholarship award | CURA Spring 2023 graduates of the Neighborhoods Now! Program. The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) has announced the University of Minnesota earned the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award in recognition of the extraordinary community engagement initiativ...

CURA Senior Research Associate Dr. Brittany Lewis named the 2024 President's Community-Engaged Scholar https://www.cura.umn.edu/news/cura-senior-research-associate-dr-brittany-lewis-named-2024-presidents-community-engaged

CURA Senior Research Associate Dr. Brittany Lewis named the 2024 President's Community-Engaged Scholar | CURA Dr. Brittany Lewis The Center for Urban and Regional Affairs is excited to announce that CURA’s Senior Research Associate Dr. Brittany Lewis has been named the 2024 President's Community-Engaged Scholar. The University of Minnesota President's Community-Engaged Scholar Award recognizes one facul...

From RCP Student to RCP Project Lead | Resilient Communities Project Ten years ago, Alex Mollenkamp was in her last semester of college at the University of Minnesota when she participated in an RCP class project that gave her the confidence she could build a great career.“RCP helped solidify that municipal engineering is the type of work I want[ed] to do,” she s...

Twin Cities libraries accessible beyond posted hours - MinnPost Libraries across the metro are accessible to patrons with pre-registration for extended hour usage, with more branches to offer the service.

The University of Minnesota Office for Public Engagement (OPE) invites the general public to a presentation by Adriano Udani, an associate professor of political science at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and candidate for the position of director of community-engaged research for the University's Robert J. Jones Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center (UROC) at 3:30 p.m., Tuesday, July 30, at UROC. His talk is titled "The Co-Pursuit of Justice: The Role of Community-Engaged Research in Academic Collaborations" and will answer questions from the public.

UROC Director of Community-Engaged Research Candidate Public Presentation—3:30 p.m., Tuesday, July 30, at UROC | Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center The University of Minnesota Office for Public Engagement (OPE) invites the general public to a presentation by Adriano Udani, an associate professor of political science at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and candidate for the position of director of community-engaged research for the Universit...