North St. Louis Symposium

4:00 p.m. - 6:00 pm, October 24
Saint Louis University, as part of the North St. Louis Initiative, will host a symposium titled "Making a Difference in North St. Louis" from 4:00 to 6:00 pm Thursday, Oct. 24, at the Grand Center Arts Academy, 711 N. Grand.

In lieu of the current ability to formalize the North St. Louis initiative with dedicated staff and resources, the initiative would like to offer faculty, staff and students from around the campus the opportunity to gather and share their actual or proposed work in North St. Louis. The symposium will continue the momentum for work in North St. Louis that was developed during the spring 2013 Atlas week. The objectives of the symposium are to:

• Highlight projects, service or research conducted in North St. Louis through poster presentations
• Encourage collaboration among faculty, students, staff and community members on current or future projects, service and research in North St. Louis
• Introduce current community partners to the University and the work that is being done with North St. Louis in order to increase and strengthen partnerships with the community.

Call for abstracts will be sent in the beginning of the fall semester. For more information contact Darcy Scharff at 314-977-4009 or scharffd@slu.edu.

About the North St. Louis Initiative
Saint Louis University, with its urban location, Jesuit tradition, mission, commitment to social justice, and history of service to the underserved, is in many ways uniquely positioned to address social, economic, education, and health disparities that exist in North St. Louis.

Several faculty, staff, and students currently partner with community organizations on a number of program, service and research activities. However, despite significant investment on the part of the university, community engagement and partnership is too often fragmented, uncoordinated and unfocused. Coordinating these activities through a community-focused SLU initiative could help crystallize these efforts, providing a home for enhanced service learning activities and a base upon which to build future research.
Principles of the North St. Louis Initiative:

• Members of the community regularly request that SLU work with them.
• Partnerships between SLU faculty, staff and students are key to the initiative.
• Activities include education, service and research that are consistent with the Jesuit mission.
• SLU will have a physical presence in the North Saint Louis community.

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