The State, by Avery G Wilks

Promising to curb traffic congestion, police students' off-campus behavior and to give neighbors more say in future developments, the University of South Carolina has won over neighborhood leaders for its plans for a massive student housing village on the south side of USC's downtown Columbia campus. USC made the promises during yearlong negotiations with seven neighborhood leaders. Those leaders said area neighborhoods were con-cerned about possible consequences, namely in increased traffic and poor student behavior, of tripling the number of students living nearby. "We've spent over a year now working together, trying to understand what kind of impact our project will have on the neighbors and how can we make that better," USC chief officer Ed Walton said. "Our options came down to fight or talk," Smith added. We knew we could fight, but we opted to talk." 

Boston Globe, by Deirdre Fernandes

Northeastern University, hoping to offset concerns that its expanding campus provides few benefits to neigh-bors, is launching a unique lending program aimed at helping local businesses owned by women and minorities. The private university will announce on Tuesday it is spending $2.5 million to help guarantee nearly $6.5 million in small business loans over the next two years. The loans will be provided with funding from Local Initiatives Support Corp. and Mass Growth Capital Corp., a state economic devel-opment organization, and can be used to help businesses expand and pay for equipment. The loan program is an outgrowth of an agreement the university signed with the City of Boston in 2015 when it outlined plans to expand academic facilities and upgrade student housing. During the university's planning process, neighborhood groups complained about Northeastern's limited vendor contracts with minority-owned businesses.   

College Park Partnership, by Staff Writers

The City-University Partnership's Homeownership Pro-gram is part of an effort to increase the number of University of Maryland and City of College Park employ-ees living in the City as outlined in the University Dis-trict Visions 2020. It provides $15,000, in forgivable loans, to full-time, benefits-eligible University and City employees to become homeowners in the City of Col-lege Park, ultimately reducing commutes, strengthening neighborhoods, and supporting our local economy. "This program has been extremely suc-cessful," said Eric Olson, executive director of the Partnership, "using our tax-credit award to increase community investment will have positive ef-fects for years to come. People won't just be contributing to the Partner-ship's program, but investing in the growth of College Park into a more vi-brant university community." Thanks to the City, University and State for continued support for this program, said College Park Mayor Patrick Wojahn.

Pittsburg State University, by Staff Writers

Sometimes important lessons are taught from a book, and other times, students learn all they need to know from a simple smile. For Pitt State students in Laura Covert's Therapeutic Recreation for Older Adults course, their experience this semester provides both. Once a week for six weeks this fall, students visit residents at Gran Villas Assisted Living in Pittsburg to work with them on a variety of physical and mental activities. The goal of the weekly visit is to teach students how to care for older adults while also providing the residents with fun, engaging interaction. "The Gran Villas experience is valuable to the students' education because it provides them with hands-on experience that is not provided in a traditional classroom setting," Covert said. "The experience allows them to not only learn about aging... it's a way for PSU students to give back to the Pittsburg community."  

KLCC.org, by Brian Bull

In roughly a year, the City of Eugene plans to have hundreds of bikes available for short commutes across the Downtown, University District and Whiteaker areas. Officials say they've just awarded a contract in their "bike-share" venture. Associate transportation planner Reed Dunbar says while New York-based Social Bicycles is sighed on to deliver the equipment for the bike share system, they still need a sponsor. He says there are more than 100 commu-nities in the U.S. that have a bikeshare system, including Seattle and Port-land. "About 80 percent of trips taken in urban centers are two miles or less, and most of those taken by car," says Dunbar. "So the city has a lot of objectives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to promote active transpor-tation so that people are being more healthy." Dunbar adds that they also need to raise more money past that provided by a state ConnectOregon grant, the City of Eugene and University of Oregon.  

Journal-News, by Bob Ratterman

A Butler County city's inclusion as one of Ohio's best hometowns is due to its unique mix of small town charm and vibrancy of a larger city thanks to the thousands of Miami University students who call it home. The November issue of Ohio Magazine highlights Oxford as one of its four choices in the 11th annual feature. The other three communities chosen were Chagrin Falls in the Cleveland area, Grove City in central Ohio, and repeat honoree Maumee in Northwest Ohio. Editors evaluated nominees from readers in six categories-community spirit, education, entertainment, health and safety, business environment, and culture and heritage, to help finalize their selections. Oxford was chosen  because Miami's campus and the community "merge in this rural college town with a long history and a lively downtown," editors of the magazine said. 

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