relationship to the grand rounds

This board was put together to show the relationship my chosen neighborhood has to the river.

From the satellite image, it is clear that the neighborhood is quite cut off from the river by a major freeway and a thick band of industrial facilities.

I drove the grand rounds from my home near Lake Nokomis along Minnehaha Creek, up the Mississippi, through downtown, to North Minneapolis.

It was interesting to me that the grand rounds happens to dead end, literally with sign and everything, right at the neighborhood I am investigating.

The relationship to the river and to the grand rounds system seems to be a potential area that could be addressed architecturally, though I am unsure at this point, how it would or is related to higher education.

At the time I made this board, I kept thinking about the bridge over 94 on Broadway as a potential site, something designed to connect the neighborhood back to the city as a whole, and potentially through program and metaphor, to higher education as well.

final demographic board

This board was put together in order to identify the geographic location of the people I felt were the least likely to attend post secondary education. After layering the data, the darkest areas (indicating the areas I am interested in) were highlighted and looked at with satellite images.

All were home to government housing projects and all were located directly adjacent to a freeway.

I chose the one centered around Broadway Ave. in North Minneapolis to investigate further.

new map idea

I am thinking of focusing on the u of m as the contested terrain

I would like to generate a map of where incoming freshman to the u twin cities campus come from.

a program the university offers: (from http://admissions.tc.umn.edu/admissioninfo/fresh_requirements.html)

Access to Success Program

The University of Minnesota supports high potential students through its Access to Success Program (ATS), a one-year program for a limited number of incoming freshmen in the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD); the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS); and the College of Liberal Arts (CLA).

The mission of the Access to Success Program is to help ensure the academic success of its participants. It is designed for students whose experiences and high school records indicate strong potential for success through the ATS Program, but whose high school rank and test scores may not meet the typical profile of students admitted to CEHD, CFANS, or CLA.

ATS students will participate in classes and programs during their freshman year specifically designed to strengthen their academic skills and promote their academic achievement. Participants benefit from the following:

• Classes that focus on the needs of new freshmen to ensure their successful transition to college and their successful first year
• A variety of support services offered by CEHD, CFANS, and CLA, such as individually tailored academic advising, peer mentoring, and tutoring services
• Services offered by University offices such as SMART Learning Commons and the Multicultural Center for Academic Excellence
• Course instruction that utilizes state-of-the-art teaching methods, small classes, personal attention, and other features designed to support and encourage their success
• Some students will also have the opportunity to participate in Bridge to Academic Excellence, a year-long program that further facilitates a successful transition to the U of M. The program begins the summer prior to the freshman year.

The ATS Program also offers a number of other services that address the needs of students with diverse backgrounds and characteristics, including urban students, first-generation college students, student parents, students with disabilities, students of color, older students, and non-native speakers of English.

Selection process
Students who have demonstrated strong potential for success in the ATS Program and who would most benefit from the services provided in the program will be admitted to CEHD, CFANS or CLA, and as a condition of their admission they will be required to participate in all programmatic elements of the ATS Program. Decisions will be based on an individual, overall assessment of each application.

Participants will primarily be Minnesota residents. A very limited number of students from the reciprocity states of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin will be selected to participate.

I will be adding more data for some of these schools as I can track it down, also considering breaking down post secondary enrollment between 2 and 4 year institutions

green design

a link from Erin

I still need to answer the questions from before:

• What are the graduation rates for the existing highschools in these underserved neighborhoods?
• What percentage of the graduates go on to some post secondary (4 or 2 year) education?
• How many people in these low income low education neighborhoods who go to college, complete their degrees?
• How many people from these communities ever return to these neighborhoods to live their adult lives?

It would be nice to look at some environmental indicators as well, maybe this place can be something that improves the health of the ecosystem around it.

Harlem Children's Zone

cbs 60 minutes piece