The Wilmington Partnership is a collaborative, place-based initiative between the University of Delaware and the City of Wilmington.
The partnership aims to utilize the research expertise of University faculty, staff, volunteers, and students to address the challenges and concerns identified by Wilmington community leaders, organizations, and residents.
The partnership seeks to enhance the research experiences of the UD community, simultaneously enriching the well-being and life outcomes of Wilmington residents.
Two key initiatives of The Wilmington Partnership are University-Wilmington Partnerships and Wilmington Partnership Mini-Grants.
University-Wilmington Partnerships
These examples of mutually beneficial partnerships began between 2017 and 2020. Analysis of the gathered data and publications from these projects are ongoing.
Wilmington Street Participatory Action Research (PAR) Health Project
Primary investigator: Yasser A. Payne, PhD
Co-Primary investigators: Leroi Hicks, MD and Ann M. Aviles, PhD
The Street PAR Health Project is a street participatory action research (Street PAR) project designed to explore to what extent health and structural opportunity is predictive of experiences with and attitudes toward physical violence in a community sample of street identified Black youth and adults ages 16 to 54 in the Northside and Westside sections of Wilmington, Delaware.
The Street PAR Health Project collected community-level data in the following forms: (a) community survey packets (b) blood pressure tests; (c) individual interviews; (d) dual interviews; (e) group interviews; and at least (f) two dozen field observations of street identified Black youth and adults in these two neighborhoods.
Additionally, the project has implemented a robust “action” or activism agenda that runs concurrent with or complements the empirical study.
Action programs include organizing a health festival, street art exhibition and a street outreach campaign to not only bring attention to violence and structural opportunity, but also to educate local residents about the prevalence of “food deserts,” hypertension, diabetes, exercise, dental and health care.
Wilmington Community Asset and Resource Mapping
Meeting the Needs of Students in Poverty Committee
The research brief Wilmington Community Asset and Resource Mapping: An Analysis of the Resources Available to Residents of the City of Wilmington, Delaware from the Meeting the Needs of Students in Poverty Committee summarizes the first stage of a resource mapping project focused on determining what public and nonprofit community resource institutions are in Wilmington, what types of services they provide, who they serve, where they are located, and how their location and operation corresponds to the needs of the city’s children and low income families.
A key step in this effort was to evaluate available Wilmington community assets and resources and the extent to which they serve the needs of low-income families.
Public Policy Partnership
University of Delaware, Delaware State University, and the City of Wilmington
University of Delaware, Delaware State University, and the City of Wilmington have worked together to explore, identify, and define opportunities to cooperate and collaborate together as key institutions addressing the most compelling challenges and opportunities faced by the City of Wilmington.
This partnership actively encourages continuing innovative and collaborative community engagement initiatives, projects, and opportunities dedicated to the public good at the stakeholder levels within each institution (including, as appropriate, with individual colleges, research centers, faculty, staff, students, and alumni) within university communities and with City Council, the Office of the Mayor, departments, commissions, and other appropriate stakeholder groups inside and outside of the city of Wilmington that are consistent with the mission, purpose, and resources of each institution.
Wilmington Community Engagement Group (WCEG)
Center for Community Research & Service
Between 2018 and 2020, the Center for Community Research & Service hosted a series of meetings in the Community Service Building in Wilmington that focused on highlighting community engagement projects based in Wilmington and promoting collaboration and information-sharing between University of Delaware faculty, staff and students engaged or seeking to become engaged in the Wilmington area.
The meetings were attended by representatives from a wide range of UD schools, departments and programs, and representatives from Delaware State University and Wilmington University. Presentations from community partners and discussion addressed how to advance and strengthen engagement initiatives in Wilmington, and strategic doing sessions that moved the group towards identifying key collaborations and future projects.
Small Grants Help Partners Make Big Impact
Read more about the projects that benefited from the 2023 mini-grants
Wilmington Partnership Mini-Grants
Wilmington Partnership Mini-Grants foster and support mutually beneficial community-engaged research in collaboration with community organizations and/or individuals in Wilmington.
The maximum amount awarded for any Wilmington Mini-Grant is $5,000.
The Wilmington Partnership will accept proposals through May 2, 2025.
Applicants will be informed of funding decisions by May 30, 2025.
Learn more about Mini-Grants and the application process.
Contact
Ann Aviles, Ph.D.
Senior Faculty Fellow
Associate Professor, Department of Human Development and Family Sciences