How Higher Education Institutions Are Prioritizing Community Impact

Walk on any college campus and the vibe will vary, both in terms of the design and the philosophies coming from the top. Some institutions feel like an extension of the respective city or town, while others are more insular by design.

Wabash County’s Manchester University (MU) falls in the former camp — and that’s by no accident. It’s a value that MU President Stacy Young, Ph.D, and her predecessors have woven into the campus culture. Whether through experiential learning, volunteer engagement or patronizing local businesses, Young says the private, liberal arts institution is very much in and for the community.

Young, a MU alumna, worked in the community college world prior to taking the helm at the college. In her estimation, having a higher educational institution in a city or town is a privilege and represents an opportunity for the community at large. Among her priorities for her tenure is to strengthen the sense of connection with the town, starting with academic work.

“First of all, the fact that we have a university in Wabash County is a special thing,” she says. “And it’s my belief that we need to support the community just like the community supports us. I’m big on lifting up experiential learning here, which means we are going to be sending our students out into the community, even more than we do today, to do internships and get that real hands-on learning.”

The idea is to expose students to employers in the county and help them earn income while acquiring practical skills. Ultimately, Young says the hope is that students will find a match at a local company and they’ll put down roots in the county. The town boasts a population of about 5,200 and the college enrolls about 1,300 students from 21 states and nine countries.

Though most students come from within the state, they don’t necessarily stay in the county after completing their degree. Data provided by Manchester’s Office of Alumni Relations shows that 668 graduates reside in Wabash County. Young says these alumni share a common trait in that they tend to be community-minded.

This is no coincidence if you ask Young. She says service is part of the school’s DNA and they walk the walk. The school makes funding available to help offset the cost of wages student interns earn at local nonprofits, whose budgets are often stretched thin. The impact on community-based organizations is also felt in terms of project-based learning.

“Our students took on (a nonprofit organization) as a client,” she says. “The students did all of their social media and marketing and rebranded them for free. That’s a gift back to the community and for that nonprofit. It also gave our students wonderful experiences for their resumes.”

Another important piece of the puzzle is working with employers to determine and meet regional current and future workforce needs. Young says many companies are struggling to find talent and Manchester can provide what she calls a “solid pipeline,” from the classroom to the workplace. For instance, a student might work part-time as a bank teller while completing their undergraduate degree. Then when it’s time to hire for another more senior position, the bank already has a qualified internal resource to leverage. It all goes back to the calculus of matching supply with demand. MU is eager to step up to deliver on the workforce front.

Young says these employer partnerships are and should be synergetic for them to be sustainable.

“Another takeaway is that if the bank is seeing things that they would like us to work on with our students, that’s a continuous improvement opportunity for us,” she says. “Hopefully they’re sharing that information with our faculty so that we can work to improve our students.”

Speaking of insights, Young says it’s important to work to translate specific feedback into actionable results. Case and point: they revamped their core curriculum to ensure it aligns with the high-demand skills employees and employers desire. In her words, “We studied the data. We studied this generation. We heard what they’re saying, and now we’re going to apply it here at Manchester. So I’m really excited.”

Outside of the job training and career focus, Young says the student, faculty, staff and North Manchester resident cohorts make meaningful contributions in other areas.

“The students go to (local) restaurants,” she says. “We shop at the local stores and all of those things. But also the community comes to us sometimes — we have football and basketball games and the cultural things with our musical (extracurriculars).”  In other words, the university’s presence is felt in the larger North Manchester community and that’s a boon to the residents.

According to Young, the school has plans to continue on that trajectory. A sizable grant award, announced in August, will help bring the college’s vision to life. The college received a grant of $12.1 million from Lilly Endowment Inc. through its initiative, College and Community Collaboration (CCC). The funds are earmarked to support efforts to develop a park along Eel River in the downtown area. Additionally, the college has plans to construct a multi-modal path to connect the park with the campus. Plans call for the renovation of two university facilities to expand arts and culture programming.

When complete, these projects will increase amenities, expand housing opportunities, improve cultural facilities, and offer a safe and attractive connection between the university and downtown. The total anticipated investment totals more than $40 million. While she’s excited about this groundswell of interest and activity, Young feels particularly energized around one aspect of the project.

“We’re going to be building some townhomes for the community and our faculty and staff. Because right now, if we want to attract a new faculty member, it’s really difficult. There aren’t a lot of homes for sale in this area. [More housing] will help not just Manchester University, but also the local school district [because of the larger tax base].”

Alex Downard, director of the community-driven effort Imagine One 85, agrees. Among other priorities, his organization is concerned with growing the county’s housing stock while investing in current neighborhoods. A recent graduate himself, Downard says MU is a key player in the county’s growth and that’s reflected in the comprehensive plan adopted in July 2022.

Downard says his organization, along with community partners, has been mindful of getting student feedback along the way.

“We’ve tried to have a concentrated effort to continue to do a better job of [engaging students in] anything that we’re doing in the community,” he says. “If we want students to be a part of it, or young people to be a part of it, let’s have them at the table. Let’s engage them. Let’s speak at the classes. I always say that the number one thing that costs us no money and a little bit of time is just showing up, being in front of the students. I think, now more than ever, young people want to have that sense of belonging.”

One way they do that is through the Wabash County Fellowship Program. In partnership with Visit Wabash County, the program aims to connect interns and young professionals with real-world work experiences in the country. The idea is to attract people from outside the region for a few months with the hope that they might decide to stay in town to kickstart their professional careers.

Per Downard, the program has largely been a success, both qualitatively and quantitatively. During their inaugural session, they had 10 students representing nine different colleges and universities. Nine different employers participated, offering 10 unique internship spots. They placed four international students at job sites and hosted one from as far away as Washington State.

Now, with a year of programming under their belts Downard says they’re collecting insights about the fellowship’s impact.

“The students have all gone back and [have entered either their] senior year or going into their junior year. And so for us, we have a couple of students that are graduating that already are talking to employers about full-time offers when they graduate, which is a great thing. But more than anything for us, we had a really, really good group of students, and our employers did a really, really nice job of providing meaningful internship experiences.”

Downard recounts one success story of an engineering student who worked with a manufacturing company over the summer. She designed a new accessory for an existing product that will be unveiled at a trade show in October.

That program intended to build a pipeline that would expose employers to talent that they otherwise wouldn’t encounter. By all accounts, it seems Downard and his team have succeeded. But the fellowship program may just be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to economic development.

“If we can show that we have the quality of life and amenities that young people and college students [want] and we’ve built a talent pipeline for those students, we’re only more likely to be successful in our business attraction efforts and retention and expansion as well,” says Downard.

Wabash is the focus of our Partner City series underwritten by Visit Wabash County. This series captures the story of talent, creativity, investment, innovation, and emerging assets shaping the future of Wabash County, about an hour Southwest of Fort Wayne.