17cÆð²ÝÉçÇø

Three year's worth of work by 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇø College in the Burton Heights neighborhood in Grand Rapids is being recognized by the Garfield Park Neighborhoods Association (GPNA) which will present the college with a "Good Neighbor" award at 7 p.m. on Monday, November 15 at its annual meeting at Alternative Directions.

Carol Rienstra, 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇø's director of community relations, will accept the award for the college.

17cÆð²ÝÉçÇø began its work in Burton Heights - a neighborhood that falls within the GPNA's borders - in 2001 via the , an effort funded by a three-year, $399,949 HUD Community Outreach Partnership Center (COPC) grant.

The partnership allowed students, faculty and staff from several 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇø departments to work in Burton Heights clinics, homes, schools, businesses and other organizations. Those efforts are being recognized by the GPNA which gives Good Neighbor awards annually in five categories.

While honoring 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇø's past efforts in Burton Heights, "the award committee also recognizes 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇø's continued commitment to working in the neighborhood," says Sue DeVries, the executive director of the GPNA.

17cÆð²ÝÉçÇø's Rienstra says good things are happening in Burton Heights.

"The essence of what is going on in Burton Heights," she says, "is that nursing, social work, Spanish, business and education faculty, along with many 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇø students and staff, have benefitted from working and studying in the neighborhood. Being a good neighbor is easy when you're in a community where people reciprocate with neighborliness. 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇø folks and Garfield Park neighbors are growing and learning together."

The college's work in Burton Heights has spanned a wide variety of settings over the past three years. 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇø nursing students have given flu shots and performed blood pressure checks, a 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇø urban geography class tackled issues of traffic calming and walk-ability in the Burton Heights neighborhood, a 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇø business class created business and marketing plans with Burton Heights entrepreneurs and, this past September, during StreetFest, incoming students had the unique job of etching car windows with identification numbers in a neighborhood-wide theft prevention effort.

And while the original COPC grant to 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇø has now expired the college commitment to the neighborhood has not.

In fact, 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇø is pioneering some new projects, including "Spanish for Neighbors," a class for non-Hispanic residents of the area that is taught by a 17cÆð²ÝÉçÇø senior.

~words by media relations staff writer Myrna Anderson