Fresno State selected for pilot project

Fresno State is one of four public universities selected to participate in a pilot project to improve economic and community living conditions.

The project, Making Place Matter, is supported by a partnership between the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and the Alliance for Regional Stewardship.

The association provides $25,000 for the Fresno project, and the university is matching that amount.

The project, consisting of a state university and regional and state stakeholders, engage in an intensive process to identify stewardship opportunities and barriers and address them. The institutions were selected on the basis of readiness, commitment (human and financial), and potential to serve as a model for peer institutions.

President Welty wrote in his cover letter with Fresno State’s application that the university is committed to a “lasting role as a regional steward in California’s San Joaquin Valley.”

The pilot project has received $150,000 from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to promote a more integrated approach to engagement with communities, regional stewardship, and advancing policy and programmatic conversations for state college and university leaders through concrete tools and strategies.

The 18-month pilot project will aid campuses and their regional and state partners in framing comprehensive visions for communities and regions and preparing and equipping leaders to pursue those visions. Through this project, state colleges and universities will employ their assets in stewardship of place, both inside and outside the campus community. 

The pilot project will be followed by a two-day meeting to introduce the concept of regional stewardship, exploring higher education’s role as a regional steward, and presenting the tools developed for use by campuses and their regional and state partners. 

The other institutions selected are Northern Kentucky University, the University of North Carolina Pembroke and the University of Northern Iowa.

AASCU is a higher education association whose membership is comprised of more than 430 public colleges, universities and systems of higher education throughout the United States and its territories.

The W.K. Kellogg Foundation was established in 1930 “to help people help themselves through the practical application of knowledge and resources to improve their quality of life and that of future generations.”

Read the Fresno Bee’s story on the pilot program.