We know that being in a community is more than just building a campus. It’s about creating relationships that can lead to partnerships and engaging with community leaders, teachers and students to identify areas that we can work on together.
As part of planning for the downtown campus, faculty members and leaders from UCF and Valencia College last week spent the day in the Parramore community – adjacent to the future campus location in Creative Village – to talk with community leaders and hear from graduating high schools seniors about what educational and other opportunities they would like to see with the new campus.
Among the places visited were the Wells’ Built Museum of African American History, the Dr. J.B. Callahan Neighborhood Center, the Parramore Community Garden, the John H. Jackson Community Center, Jones High School and the Orlando Downtown Recreation Complex, shared with the Parramore Kidz Zone – which helped organize the day and runs many educational, health and wellness and youth development programs. Both UCF and Valencia are already working with Parramore Kidz Zone and are discussing future collaborations with the launch of the new downtown campus.
