Written by: Leah Ashwill
Thang Le, Phuong Vu, and Greg Capillo live in a house on East Eleventh Street.
In this house, once riddled by criminal activity, the three students seek to turn the renovations of a house into a central location for students to communicate with neighbors, develop projects, and in turn, use their interests and knowledge to make a difference in the area.
Thang Le, Phuong Vu, and Greg Capillo serve as the first students to take part in the Community Engagement House, which will provide four graduate students each year with the opportunity to complete projects in a local neighborhood bordering Western Kentucky University’s campus.
“This work brings me a great opportunity to live in an America practical life, as well as bring my academic knowledge out to apply into real life. Also, I realize that I’m gradually becoming a part of this community,” Thang Le said.
Le, an MBA student, assesses the housing, real estate market, and rental properties for the neighborhood. However, all three students are mapping the needs and assets of the neighborhood, in addition to developing a list of project ideas and concerns that they can match with community and university resources. For example, one primary concern of many neighbors is the speed of traffic in the area. Students are working to partner with the Bowling Green Police Department to conduct a speed study to determine if measures should be taken to address this traffic issue.
Greg Capillo, a Philosophy and Mass Communication major in the Honors College, brings experience in community organizing to this project. Greg states, “In addition to working with Thang and Phuong on our neighborhood mapping efforts, I am also making progress organizing around fair housing in Bowling Green in partnership with groups like Habitat for Humanity and Kentuckians for the Commonwealth.”
Just as the students work to create partnerships within the community to develop and meet needs, the creation of the house stemmed from a partnership as well. The Community Engagement House began as a partnership between a local homeowner, neighborhood professionals and residents, the Office of Graduate Studies and Research, and the ALIVE Center to promote sustainable community development efforts in underserved neighborhoods.
Students work not only within their home; they literally work for it. They are not doing service, so much as taking responsibility for making a better community to live in. This has the potential to not only transform the neighborhood, but also the students themselves, rendering them “citizen professionals” with the capacity to work together to address issues, utilize assets, and create change in whatever communities they encounter after leaving WKU.
As students create and execute their projects, they draw upon knowledge gained from their graduate coursework. Students maintain activity journals, the CE House blog, and a neighborhood email exchange to stay in communication with their neighbors.
“This is a very challenging job, but when you get into it, your great passion will lead you through,” Vu said, also a graduate student in the house.
On November 30, 2009, the students were awarded the “Groundbreakers” Neighborhood Builders Award through the City of Bowling Green’s Neighborhood Action Office. They were recognized for creating a unique and innovative neighborhood improvement project.
If you would like more information about the CE House, visit http://cehouse.blogspot.com/.
