Succeeding at life
Slippery Rock University is creating a 17-mile bridge from campus to the city of Butler in the form of a new branch office on Main Street.
SRU Center for Community Engagement, Empowerment and Development, known as Butler SUCCEED, has been in the works since before the coronavirus pandemic to be an outreach office for students to collaborate with community organizations. After months of planning and preparation, university and community officials celebrated a grand opening of the downtown office Friday.
“This is meant to be a partnership,” said SRU president Bill Behre. “With everyone here who has worked to bring this together, we can identify needs and bring those resources to bear over time.”
The SUCCEED office will primarily be staffed by about 15 to 20 students day-to-day. Jeffrey Rathlef, SRU's director for community-engaged learning, will be the director of Butler SUCCEED.
According to Rathlef, the students staffing the center will get real-world experience through working with nonprofits in Butler, such as the Center for Community Resources and Butler Downtown, as well as other agencies like the school system and local government.“It opens up possibilities that have not yet been explored,” Rathlef said. “The bigger goal is to be a resource for the community to use to connect and get what they need.”Following speeches from Behre, county Commissioner Leslie Osche, Butler County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jordan Grady, Butler Downtown President Jeff Geibel and Rathlef, university officials and staffers offered an inside look at the facility.The student staffers of the office actually started community outreach already, and were doing some cleanup for Butler Downtown Friday morning.Geibel said the university sprucing up a vacant storefront in the city is just one good aspect of SUCCEED opening. Having students there to help the community is an added benefit.“We're looking forward to the partnerships and the opportunities for things we can collaborate on and work on together,” he said. “I'm excited about the resources that Slippery Rock University has that can be brought to bear here in the city.”
Montanna McClue, a senior developmental psychology major at SRU, was part of the development process for the center, and spoke with Butler organizations to find out what they could get out of a university office. She said she found that several community leaders did not know what was available to them in terms of support.“A lot of the community didn't know what partners have to offer,” McClue said. “We'll have students helping support their initiatives.”Alice Del Vecchio, director of SRU's Institute for Nonprofit Leadership, gave some examples of upcoming initiatives that will be run by SUCCEED, including a food drive and distribution in October and a writing workshop for people in recovery at the Center for Community Resources.Rathlef said more uses for the SUCCEED center are still in development because it will adapt to fill different community needs that arise.He said he is among the most excited for the future possibilities.“It's an applied learning experience that we're hoping will enhance the quality of life in Butler,” Rathlef said.
