Loyola hosted its first Loyola Listening event Wednesday at St. Mary of the Assumption Church on York Road. The event, which involved nearly 20 students, faculty and administrators from Loyola, was the first of three listening events scheduled to take place this semester.
Loyola Listening is a component of the broader York Road Initiative, an element of Loyola's recently concluded strategic plan, which calls for the university to "take a leadership role in the development of a multi-dimensional plan to improve the quality of life for the people who live, work and learn on and around the York Road corridor."
The listening project itself is simply an open community forum, hosted by Loyola at various locations in the York Road/Govans neighborhood, where members of the Govans neighborhood can come and answer questions about their neighborhood, living situations and relationship with the university.
Ultimately, the goal of Loyola Listening is for the school to determine how to perform best that leadership role called for by the York Road Initiative mapped out in the strategic plan.
"There were lots of conversations about different things we could and should do [on York Road]," said Terry Sawyer, Loyola's vice president for administration. "And then it dawned on us: Maybe we should ask the people that we're intending to work with what they need, want and desire for their community."
Planning for the listening events began in the middle of the fall semester, when the general York Road Initiative committee formed a subcommittee - chaired by Sawyer and John Palmucci, Loyola's vice president for finance - expressly for implementing these events.
"There was a group of us that strongly believed that we really needed to - before we did any kind of formal [or] informal venture on York road - talk with the people and hear what it is they think is needed, and try to match up what some of our needs are with their needs, and hopefully come up with some things that will be mutually beneficial," said Missy Gugerty, S.S.N.D., director of the Center for Community Service and Justice and a subcommittee member.
To assist with the endeavor, the subcommittee enlisted the help of the York Road branch of the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker organization nationally headquartered in Philadelphia with branches, both national and international, committed to service, development and peace projects in communities facing material poverty and injustice. AFSC provided "listening training" for the Loyola participants - techniques on how to conduct the conversations with members of the Govans community.
"We have sort of an army of listeners," said Sawyer.
At the initial listening session, attended by 12 people from the York Road/Govans neighborhood, teams of two Loyola listeners were arranged at various stations, at which one listener worked through a questionnaire and the other listener recorded the answers. The questions asked ranged from what people thought about Loyola, to where people shopped for groceries, to what health care options people have.
"Before we do anything [on York Road], or try to do anything, or try to make things happen, we feel like we need to do this exercise first," said Sawyer. "We know that we might not be able to assist in certain areas, but we might be able to help advocate for assistance in certain areas."
"It was a wonderful opportunity to hear from members of the community," said Gugerty. "But it was also a wonderful opportunity to mix and mingle with members of the Loyola community, some of whom I have not spent time talking with."
Subsequent listening sessions are scheduled for February 24 and March 24, with the possibility for two or three more sessions before the spring semester ends. Once all the Loyola Listening events are finished, the subcommittee plans to produce a brochure with all the comments they will have collected, to then be distributed to the members of the York Road community that attended the events.
"We'll send that so they can see, first hand, that they've been heard," said Sawyer. "And then we'll look to map Loyola's assets and capabilities with some of the things that we've heard.
"We're not just looking for weaknesses in the community," said Sawyer. "We're also looking for strengths, and how do we celebrate and embrace and be part of those strengths as well. But we also want to help and be part of areas where the community would like to improve."
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