BG Independent, by Jan Larson McLaughlin 

Bowling Green's block party on Saturday met all qualifi-cations, live music, food, dogs and people of all ages. "It's close to perfect," said Heather Sayler, city planning director who was in charge of organizing the Court Street Connects event. The block party was the brain-child of the City's Community Action Plan process. At a series of public meetings, Bowling Green residents were asked what project they wanted to try out first in an effort to improve neighborhoods on the East Side. The block party was top on the list. "This is great," said Adam Rosa, a principle with Camiros, the consulting firm helping with the Community Action Plan. It's amazing how much energy has gone into this." The goal of the Court Street Connects goes far behind the one-day block party. "When people see changes in their neighborhood, it brings other positive changes," Rosa said. Sayler agreed. 

Stony Brook University, by Brian Smith

Students joined forces with the University Police Depart-ment (UPD) on April 19 to fight false perceptions of cops on campus through healthy competition and hearty barbecue. The event, Field Day with UPD, builds on a Stony Brook tradition that started three semesters ago, when the Undergraduate Student Government pitched an idea to build a more positive relationship between students and police amid national news involving police and the use of lethal force. "This is an effort for students to meet our officers as individuals out-side of their enforcement duties in non-negative situations," Assistant Chief of Police Eric Olsen said. "It's very important that we interact with students in the most positive way possible, so we can reach our goal of cre-ating better relationships between our cops and the campus community." More than 400 students and 20 UPD officers attended the event. 

Rockhurst University, by Staff Writers

From young robot builders to neighborhood leaders, since 2002, these groups and more have called the Rockhurst University Community Center home. In 2016 alone, a variety of groups logged more than 1,700 hours at the center, hosting 485 meetings, an in-kind value of $180,495. Over the course of 15 years, the center has provided countless hours of in-kind space for not-for-profit groups, including neighborhood associations, educational groups, and community service organizations. On Tuesday, many of those who have become a part of the center's story and made its success possible helped celebrate its 15th anniversary with a short ceremony. "We're not only celebrating the Community Center, we're celebrating community," said Alicia Douglas, director of community relations and outreach. 

The Gazette, by Madison Arnold

The Iowa City Downtown District Tuesday announced a steering committee selected Angela Winnike as the district's first "nighttime mayor." Winnike, who plans to keep her day job, is expected to begin on April 27 and is tasked with becoming a "go-to-person" for nighttime businesses like bars and restaurants and being a liaison between those businesses and the community and city. The district's nighttime mayor position isn't the first of its kind. Nancy Bird, executive director of the Downtown District, said other cities like San Francisco, Pittsburgh and Austin have had successful nighttime mayors, which borrowed the idea from European cities. Winnike said for the position to be a success, it must "foster a positive image of downtown to the rest of the community" and fill the gap between Downtown District or city staff who often go home just as bar managers and owners get to work.     

Centre Daily, by Sarah Rafacz

Town and gown came together on Monday evening for the Campus and Community Sustainability Expo. Twen-ty-eight student projects were showcased on the second floor of the State College Municipal Building. Students partnered with various local governments and commu-nity organizations. About 500 students worked on pro-jects. State College borough Manager Tom Fountaine said the expo, which is held near the end of the fall and spring semesters, is one of his favorite events. While the borough's focus on sustainability is broader than environmental, he said, the environment is at the heart of sustainability. But it's not something the borough can achieve  on its own, Fountaine said. Project themes included "Energy and the Built Environ-ment," "Health, Safety and Nutrition," "Human Resource Management: Equity and Empowerment and Resilience and Sustainability Planning." 

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