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May 3, 2019 Media Advisory: UA Hosts Social Innovation Community Forum
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The University of Arizona School of Sociology is hosting a Social Innovation Forum focused on improving quality of life in the Amphitheater Neighborhood. The forum builds on the success of the Tucson Poverty Project, which has been collecting data on the challenges and needs of vulnerable households in Tucson for five years. With the support of Habitat for Humanity, the Tucson Poverty Project has expanded from conducting its 300-person household survey to working in the field of social innovation. A new UA course, called Building Healthy Communities, uses the poverty data as a starting point to challenge a class of 50 undergraduates to apply human-centric design thinking to develop innovative solutions to improving community quality of life. The Building Healthy Communities course and project is led by Brian Mayer, associate professor in the UA School of Sociology. On May 7, UA students will present nine innovative solutions in five-minute pitches to partners in the Amphitheater Neighborhood and to an audience of nonprofits, service agencies and funders. Community members can come listen to the students and provide feedback on their ideas. Attendees will vote on their favorite ideas and provide constructive feedback. The community forum is free and open to the public. ### |
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| The University of Arizona, the state's super land-grant university with two medical schools, is one of the nation's top 50 public universities, according to U.S. News & World Report. Established in 1885, the UA is widely recognized as a student-centric university and is a designated Hispanic Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education. The UA ranked in the top 25 in 2018 in research expenditures among all public universities, according to the National Science Foundation, and is a leading R1 institution with $687 million in research expenditures. The UA advances the frontiers of interdisciplinary scholarship and entrepreneurial partnerships as a member of the Association of American Universities, the 62 leading public and private research universities. It benefits the state with an estimated economic impact of $4.1 billion annually. |
