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Levitt Center

Community Projects

Communities That Care (CTC) is a network of over forty public and private agencies working together to better provide services and support to the people of Oneida County.  Through this network, the Levitt Center  creates opportunities for students and faculty with varied research or service needs to become involved in projects that have positive outcomes for local communities.  In addition, the Center has been instrumental in conducting community-based research and producing several influential reports for CTC and Oneida County.

Hope VI, a project funded by an 11.5 million dollar HUD grant to the Utica Municipal Housing Authority, will provide better housing opportunities for residents of Utica's deteriorating Washington Courts public housing development.  The Levitt Center has been contracted to complete a program evaluation for the HOPE VI project. 

In conjunction with the HOPE VI Project and CTC, the Levitt Center will provide support for the newly created Community School-Cornhill Caring Community project.  The Martin Luther King Elementary School in Utica, where Hamilton already has a strong presence through its Teacher Education program, is the Community School.

Students Helping in the Naturalization of Elders (SHINE) was developed to help older immigrants and refugees in the Mohawk Valley improve their English language skills, pursue U.S. citizenship, and become more involved in their communities.  The Levitt Center, in partnership with Utica College, received a Project SHINE grant in 2004; and will use the money to develop service learning courses and place more than sixty students in the community to assist immigrants and refugees. More about Project SHINE, a national service learning initiative.

The Women's Fund of Oneida and Herkimer Counties raises funds and provides grants to support women and girls.  The Women's Fund, which is affiliated with the Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties, Inc.,  partnered with the Levitt Center to produce a two-part report on the status of women and girls in the communties comprising Oneida and Herkimer Counties.

A Family Dependency Treatment Court is being developed in Oneida County with Judith Owens-Manley, Associate Director for Community Research, as the Program Evaluator for a 10-person planning team led by Oneida County Family Court Judge James Griffiths.  Family Dependency Treatment Courts follow a recent model of problem-solving courts in providing increased services and accountability for parents with substance abuse problems in danger of losing their children to ensure more timely permanence.  This project is supported by a Department of Justice training grant.