Bus Route 443, better known as the Connective Corridor, stretches across the city of Syracuse and connects Syracuse University to the surrounding community.

The Connective Corridor project serves as a reminder of former Chancellor Nancy Cantor’s emphasis on community development. As the transition in leadership under Chancellor Kent Syverud has led to an increased focus on addressing internal deficiencies and fiscal issues, SU faces a difficult task in deciding how to invest limited funds in the city.

“We should care about the success of the city and some challenged neighborhoods in the city because they’re part of what Syracuse University is,” Syverud told The Daily Orange in September. “So I think we need to build on that and we need to be very targeted in how we invest.”

Syverud noted the difficulty in investing in the city stems from a lack of “strategic funds” that the university spent during Cantor’s tenure. This year’s Bain & Co. diagnostic report noted “widespread and varying investments” in community engagement programs.

“You’ve got to build on what we’ve got with the city but you’ve got to also focus on some internal needs,” Syverud said.

Syverud cited a continued commitment to the Connective Corridor, including finishing construction, improving the bus system’s efficiency and “(making) it work successfully for students.”

It fits with what many see as the administration’s strategy of maintaining support for major existing community projects while developing fewer new commitments than under Cantor’s tenure, said SU Vice President of Community Engagement and Economic Development Marilyn Higgins, who oversees SU’s side of the Connective Corridor and Near Westside Initiative.

“I’m very grateful that we’re going to have the opportunity to complete these projects,” Higgins said. “Chancellor Syverud has not in any way gotten in the way of us doing that.”

A plan to function with minimal contributions from SU has allowed some of the university’s flagship community development programs to remain mostly untouched by changes in funding priorities.

Outside of staff salaries and office space, both the Near Westside Initiative and Connective Corridor will operate without university contributions this year, Higgins said.

“Our office is comprised of people who know how to raise money and manage projects without putting a burden on the rest of the university,” Higgins said.

The Near Westside Initiative earned nonprofit status in 2007 as part of Cantor’s “Scholarship in Action” strategy. The nonprofit carries out development and cultural programs in Syracuse’s Near Westside neighborhood, incorporating academic experiences for SU students and faculty.

While the Near Westside Initiative has largely decreased its financial dependence on SU, the university was vital in starting the organization’s momentum, said Maarten Jacobs, director of the Near Westside Initiative.

“None of it would have happened without SU,” Jacobs said.

SU had a much larger role in the property and program development at the organizations’ start, Higgins said.

Higgins anticipates SU will not provide any of the roughly $3 million the Near Westside Initiative will spend on property development and programs this year. Donations from outside foundations and businesses, among other groups, will sustain the organization moving forward.

Similarly, much of the more than $47 million in capital funding raised for the Connective Corridor project came from grants at varying levels of government, according to fundraising records provided by Higgins. She added that SU won’t contribute any more money to the project beyond its current contributions, as the rest of the infrastructure costs will come from money already raised.

The Connective Corridor and Near Westside Initiative, two keystone programs in Cantor’s “Scholarship in Action” strategy, have established financial viability. But other nonprofits more reliant on the university face a more uncertain future with changes in SU’s priorities.

For instance, 601 Tully, another cultural institution on the Near Westside, received $200,000 less in its 2014–15 budget than it had in the previous year, The Daily Orange reported in April.

The process to apply for nonprofit funding from SU has changed in the last year as well. While organizations previously took requests to individual schools and colleges, SU has since centralized the process so requests go through the SU Office of Government and Community Relations.

The process aimed to stop different parts of the university from responding to the same funding request to reduce redundancies and waste, said Kevin Quinn, SU senior vice president for public affairs, in an email. The process applies to non-profit organizations so that SU can engage community requests without wasting resources.

Other programs that operate through SU have not seen reason to fret about funding. The Office of Cultural Engagement for the Hispanic Community, which manages La Casita Cultural Center and Point of Contact, works to offer opportunities for students to learn about Hispanic culture or study Spanish, said Teresita Paniagua, executive director of the Office of Cultural Engagement for the Hispanic Community, in an email.

The programs function with support from the College of Arts and Sciences. Paniagua said that after the change in university leadership, the office has “no indication whatsoever of any changes related to our programs at Syracuse University.”

Though it may be too soon to characterize Syverud’s relationship with the city, he has verbally committed to maintaining some of the key contributions of Cantor’s tenure.

Said Syverud: “I care deeply about the city. I think Chancellor Cantor’s legacy of connectivity to the city is world-renowned and something to build on and something we should be really proud of.”

Published on November 18, 2014 at 12:01 am

Contact Jacob: jspramuk@syr.edu