The Wright State University Board of Trustees established the Center for Urban and Public Affairs or CUPA, in 1986. By creating CUPA, the trustees institutionalized the outreach and applied research objectives pursued by the Office of Urban Affairs, which was created in 1983 to focus the university's efforts on urban issues in the Miami Valley area. Two years later, the trustees established the Department of Urban Affairs to develop the interdisciplinary academic programs created by the office of Urban Affairs. Today, the department and CUPA together embody and foster Wright State University's mission to serve the educational, research and service needs of Ohio's Miami Valley metropolitan area.

CUPA is part of the Ohio Board of Regent's Urban University Program (UUP), which comprises eight state universities and parallels the agricultural and rural research and assistance model. CUPA and seven other state university partners provide education, training, research and technical assistance to urban areas throughout the state.

Achievements

For more then a decade, CUPA has formed partnerships (including the Dayton Community Outreach Project), produced valuable studies and taken leadership positions on urban issues. CUPA provides outreach and applied research services through collaborative interdisciplinary teams of faculty, professional staff and graduate and undergraduate students. Partners served by CUPA include governments, nonprofits, neighborhoods, civic institutions, public managers, legislators and citizens. Some of CUPA's past efforts include:

• Worked with the City of Dayton to create the Neighborhood Leadership Institute.

• Assisted in developing the Urban Resources and Metropolitan Universities journals.

• Designed and guided Challenge 95, a seven-county strategic plan.

• Hosted an international conference-Models for Regional Cooperation.

• Participated in the development of a voluntary tax revenue sharing program.

• Developed community economic development action plans.

• Joined the UUP in studying housing, solid waste management, and information systems.

• Surveyed and analyzed health care in the Miami Valley and Ohio.

• Facilitated retreats for local governments and nonprofit agencies.

• Assessed affordable housing development and community development corporations.

• Measured and qualified the need for labor in the Miami Valley.

• Identified and conducted a needs assessment of nonprofit organizations.

• And many other projects