Oct. 15, 2020
Contact: Megan Silvey, silveyml@missouri.edu
Today, the University of Missouri launched the MU Community Connect platform – a tool designed to improve opportunities for communication and connection between the university and various populations in the communities they serve. “Whether it’s finding impact data on education and wellness programs, learning about university resources you can bring to your community, or finding events and opportunities to engage with university events and faculty, MU Community Connect makes the university more accessible to the people it serves,” said Marshall Stewart, Vice Chancellor for Extension and Engagement at MU.
Partnerships
The Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Lab works with the Missouri Department of Conservation to test deer harvested throughout Missouri for chronic wasting disease.
Impact
The College of Education’s Missouri Youth Leadership Forum is a unique career leadership training program for high school students with disabilities, ages 16-21. Participants cultivate leadership, citizenship, social and career development skills during the program.
Connections
The College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, with funding from the US Environmental Protection Agency, coordinates hundreds of volunteers from around the state who sample water from various lakes to create a real-time snapshot of Missouri’s water quality and a database of how the water quality changes over time.
Resources
The School of Health Professions department of Occupational Therapy brought the CarFit program to local communities to help older adults find a better fit with their vehicles and improve both comfort and safety.
Power of partnerships
For more than 150 years through its extension and engagement work, MU has been connecting communities across Missouri’s 114 counties and the city of St. Louis with university knowledge, resources and research. In addition to these connections and partnerships, the UM System is mobilizing the assets of all four universities to tackle Missouri’s grand challenges. System-wide initiatives in health care and broadband are aimed at moving the needle for Missourians’ health and education outcomes. MU will host several virtual events as part of UM System’s Extension and Engagement Week October 26-30. Faculty, staff and members of the community are encouraged to register and attend.
The MU Community Connect website features stories of community engagement, upcoming events, resources, services and campus contacts to support and facilitate community conversations. Users can also find an Impact Report — key data about the impact the university is making in their communities. At the UM System level, users can sort data by county or legislative district to see the programs, opportunities and impact data in targeted area.
MU Community Connect was developed in partnership with the MU Center for Applied Research and Engagement Systems (CARES), the team that also manages the data that powers the impact reports.
