MIT@Lawrence is a long-term commitment to support dynamic and mutually beneficial relationships between faculty, students, and staff at MIT, together with civic leaders, residents, and community-based organizations in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
The MIT@Lawrence commitment includes service learning, technical assistance, and community-based service projects in three program areas: affordable housing, community asset-building, and youth pathways to career and education. These areas promise opportunities for action-oriented scholarship through university-community engagement for the purpose of contributing to an equitable and sustainable future in the City of Lawrence.
VISION
MIT@Lawrence aims to establish a self-sustaining network for reciprocal knowledge transfer and innovation amongst scholars, practitioners, and residents in the MIT and Lawrence communities. This commitment will result in stronger institutional relationships, and MIT@Lawrence will become a model for remote university-community partnerships that result in measurable people- and place-based returns to economy and society.
PEOPLE
Program Director: Lorlene Hoyt
Program Manager: Jesse Kaminsky
Lawrence is home to a burgeoning network of civic leaders and organizations dedicated to building the city’s capacity and effecting long-term change. Their commitment is both the inspiration for and the force behind MIT@Lawrence.
A number of Lawrence residents, youth, and members of community partner organizations form the Community Advisory Committee (CAC).
Staff:
Jeff Beam
The Environmental Sustainability Strategic Planning Project
Debmalya Guha
The Energy Efficiency Project
Jesse Kanson-Benanav
The “Our City’s Future” Project
Pedram Mahdavi
The “Our City’s Future” Project
Danielle Martin
The “Our City’s Future” Project
Laura Rothrock
The Mill Area Business Improvement District (BID) Project
Anne Schwieger
The Lawrence@MIT Project
Amy Stitely
The DUSP Lawrence Practicum 2007/08
Holly Jo Sparks
The Building Community Wealth Project
Amruta Sudhalkar
The GIS HelpDesk Project
Laurie Tamis
The Food-related Business in the Informal Economy Project
PLACE
Lawrence is a small, ethnically diverse city 30 miles north of Boston. It lies along the Merrimack River, which has strong currents that prompted investors to plan and build an industrial city there in the early 1800s. The large, brick textile mills are the central physical feature of Lawrence to this day.
Lawrence and its residents face challenging economic and political conditions, stemming from this industrial legacy and subsequent economic and demographic upheavals. There are many small cities like Lawrence throughout the Northeast and Midwest; cities that were industrial powerhouses but now face uncertain futures.
HISTORY
Since 2002, the Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP) has offered a service-learning course in partnership with community organizations, residents, and youth in Lawrence. In 2005, MIT and its community partners secured financial and in-kind commitments from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to build on these relationships and support the creation of additional connections between MIT and Lawrence. A growing network of MIT alumni living and working in Lawrence provides additional community support for this project.
DISCLAIMER
The work that provided the basis for this publication was supported by funding under Community Outreach Partnership Centers Program with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of University Partnerships. The author and publisher are solely responsible for the accuracy of the statements and interpretations contained in this publication. Such interpretations do not necessarily reflect the views of the Government.