“Almost everything I know about poverty I learned in West Philadelphia,” says Dr. Lakshman Yapa, Penn State geography professor.

For a decade Yapa—in partnership with community organizations and residents in the Parkside neighborhood of Philadelphia, where there are high levels of poverty—has offered Rethinking Urban Poverty: The Philadelphia Field Project, a course in which students are challenged to work with community members in West Philadelphia to rethink existing resources to solve problems.

“Our students may not have the power to attract factories and create jobs or eradicate racism, but they discover their nonsovereign power in engagement using their academic skill, organizational ability and sense of duty,” said Yapa. For the project, he received the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges’ 2008 C. Peter Magrath University Community Engagement Award, which recognizes the outreach and engagement community partnerships of four-year public universities.

The community and students have implemented more than 65 academic and practical projects. Here are some examples:

Nutrition Improvement
—Emily Farr (’01)
Currently: Humanitarian livelihoods specialist, Oxfam America
What I did for the Philadelphia Project: There are few grocery stores in West Philadelphia, and most of them tended toward overpriced corner markets focusing on convenience foods. I [researched] what alternative sources existed for residents to have access to healthy, reasonably priced foods as well as to nutrition education. The theory is that by changing the way people think about food, by finding cheaper and more accessible sources for healthy food, and improving nutrition to avoid expensive health-related problems, we can mitigate poverty.
How I felt about the project: I felt very positive about my involvement; there are not many opportunities for undergraduates to do a lot of fieldwork.
How the project impacted my career choice: After graduation I spent two years in AmeriCorps—which included giving cooking and nutrition classes in low-income communities. I then got an M.S. in food policy and applied nutrition, with a focus on nutrition interventions and humanitarian assistance. My B.S. degree was in geography (not related to nutrition), so my involvement directly impacted my decision to focus on issues of food and livelihood.

Social Spaces
—Corinne Thatcher (’04)
Currently: Instructor, Chief Dull Knife College, and director of development, American Indian Housing Initiative (AIHI), Lame Deer, Mont. [The AIHI is a collaborative community development effort led by Dr. David Riley, architectural engineering, Penn State.]
What I did for the Philadelphia Project: I volunteered at the Lancaster Avenue Business Association, headed by Sister Aisamah Muhammad—a spunky Muslim woman who works tirelessly to improve the physical and social spaces of the Mantua and Belmont neighborhoods of West Philadelphia. I also worked at a community garden.
How I felt about the project: I didn’t feel as if I was in a position to tell the people I met in the city what to do to improve their lives, because I quickly realized that any answers I could provide would be inadequate and/or naive; rather, I learned to offer my skills and assistance in support of West Philadelphians’ own ideas and initiatives.
How the project impacted my career choice: Working with and learning from people who live in a place that most students only study had a strong impact on the way I view economics, education, politics and even service. I feel very similarly about my role in the Northern Cheyenne community as I did in West Philadelphia: I am highly interested in the process of economic development, but I am not interested in being an economic development agent for the tribe—I’m here to support their dreams, not to impose mine.

Credit Cooperative
—Edward Smith (’06)
Currently: First-year master’s student in College Student Affairs, and Multicultural Internship Program coordinator, Penn State
What I did for the Philadelphia Project: I conducted research in attempts to build a Community Development Credit Cooperative operating on the principles of microlending. This cooperative would enable small businesses and eligible community members to apply for and receive loans to be used for facility upkeep, housing renovation and security improvements. I also participated in a facilitation program for young people in jail awaiting sentencing, placement, legal advice or trial.
How I felt about the project: Although I was only a first-year student at the time, in retrospect it was an incredible experience.
How the project impacted my career choice: After graduation I was an analyst for RBC Capital Markets in New York. Nevertheless, the idea of working with Dr. Yapa and the Philadelphia Field Project again influenced my decision to return to Penn State for my graduate work.

Rescue Services
—Vanessa Massaro (’07)
Currently: Commuter student programming assistant and master’s student in geography, University of Arizona
What I did for the Philadelphia Project: Using GIS [Geographic Information Systems], I compared the distribution of fire engines to occurrence of fires in the city. Since the need for fire rescue services is closely related to poverty (areas where poorer people live tend to have higher rates of fire occurrence), adjusting methods of fire service distribution in consideration of need is part of a comprehensive approach to poverty alleviation.
How I felt about the project: The project was one of the first times I realized the kind of impact I could have in a community, despite not having a great deal of power or capital.
How the project impacted my career choice: The desire to continue this type of community engagement and university outreach is what prompted me to pursue a career in academia.