Civic Engagement House

The Civic Engagement House is designed for students who have an interest in civic engagement, social problems and service to the community. Students live together in a coed environment, learn about pressing social and urban issues, and strive to become active citizens who address these problems in the Greater Richmond community.

Students take “The Urban Crisis in America” course together, where they have the opportunity to explore social issues from a historical context and connect their learning to related activities and programs on civic engagement outside the classroom. Programs from past years have included:

·        A bus tour of Richmond neighborhoods

·        Participating in a poverty simulation

·        Completing community service projects

·        Inviting city leaders to the House for discussions and debate

·        Social events at local festivals, museums and restaurants

“The Civic Engagement House allows us to be engaged in the community in a thoughtful manner that has actual repercussions.” – Civic Engagement House Member, 2006

About the Class—399/AmSt 398: The Urban Crisis in America

This course examines the roots and impact of the urban crisis on metropolitan areas in the twentieth and twentieth-first centuries. We will investigate pressing problems including racial segregation, poverty, population shifts, flight and suburban sprawl, public housing and urban renewal, riots and resistance, and deindustrialization and job loss.

At different points throughout the course, we will use metropolitan Richmond as a case study to understand both the specific challenges the region faces as well as problems that have an impact on urban metropolitan regions nationally.

There is a class blog, which is another way you can engage with the issues you are studying and bring people outside of the course into the conversation. In groups, we will put together short documentaries on a social issue in Metro Richmond, including your ideas for enacting change.

“Not only did we learn about the history of homelessness, poverty, race and class issues, we explored ways that we could do something about the problems.” – Civic Engagement House Member, 2007

About the Professor—Dr. Amy Howard

Dr. Howard is the director of the Center for Civic Engagement. She graduated with honors from Davidson College and received her master’s and doctorate degrees in American Studies from the College of William and Mary.

Her research interests are focused on public housing, and she is currently working on a book about tenant activism, community building, and racial and ethnic alliances in San Francisco public housing.

Dr. Howard won the Distinguished Dissertation in the Humanities Award at William and Mary and the Urban History Association’s top award for dissertations completed in the field in 2006. She also serves on the boards of the Better Housing Coalition and the Community Futures Foundation.

“Having a professor of Dr. Howard’s caliber to discuss these issues with is a unique aspect. Who else can say that they have talked about public housing with their professor over bagels and coffee on a Saturday morning?” – Civic Engagement House Member, 2007