UR Downtown continues to expand programs and uses

Since its establishment in March 2009, UR Downtown has expanded to include the Richmond on Broad Cafe, the School of Professional and Continuing Studies' Partners in the Arts program and a new basement-level gallery and presentation space.

UR Downtown, which is located at 626 East Broad St., is in the heart of the city, said Kimberly Dean, Richmond Families Initiative and UR Downtown Program Director. As a result of coordination with transportation services at University of Richmond, the shuttle schedule now includes a stop at the UR Downtown building each running hour in an effort to make the space more accessible to students and faculty, Dean said.

The original three programs housed in UR Downtown were the Richmond Families Initiative, Jeanette Lipman Family Law Clinic and the Harry L. Carrico Center for Pro Bono Service. The Lipman Family Law Clinic has a weekly graduate-level class that meets at UR Downtown and provides legal services to about 30 clients, Dean said.

Dean said that UR Downtown had helped to enhance the ties that already existed between UR and the community, and among separate schools in the university. UR Downtown also serves as home base for Bonner Scholars, who are already active in the Richmond community, Dean said.

"UR Downtown is a good example of the 'opportunity of place,'" Dean said. "We're located right in the midst of city government and hope to be a launch pad for the folks in the on-campus community. We want them to use our space as home base and then get out into the community."

This semester, political science professor Daniel Palazzolo taught a class in conjunction with students' General Assembly internships that met in the UR Downtown space, Dean said.

Dean said this was a perfect example of Richmond students and professors using UR Downtown for its convenient location and free meeting spaces. She said she hoped this kind of use would become more frequent in the future.

Dean said on average, there were only about a dozen students who visited UR Downtown on a weekly basis. Four of these are undergraduate students who work in the office as student coordinators and help promote programs and greater community outreach.

"My understanding was that the school was trying in many ways to embrace the greater Richmond community," said freshman Diane Gremillion, a Bonner Scholar and student coordinator.

"This whole idea goes along with trying to break the Richmond 'bubble,'" she said. "Being downtown has tapped me into a variety of communities throughout Richmond and enhanced my experience. There is so much going on in the city of Richmond that UR Downtown is working to make students more aware of."

As a student coordinator, Gremillion gives tours of exhibits to visitors and helps as UR Downtown needs her. Recently, she provided childcare when free tax preparations were offered to the Richmond community. Gremillion is currently organizing an exhibit that will open in September and will focus on murals throughout Richmond, she said.

Students don't realize how willing to help UR Downtown is, Gremillion said. UR Downtown just opened its refinished basement level, which can hold many more people than the original gallery, Dean said. This space now hosts "Take 30" talks, which occur during the lunch hour and are based on TED talks, Dean said.

Dean said the hope was that these talks by Richmond professors and Richmond professionals would allow people to stop in during their lunch breaks, listen to a talk, grab lunch and still get back to work on time. Richmond's shuttle schedule accommodates these talks, and Dean said she hoped students would begin to take advantage of the Take 30 talks this summer and next year.

One of the biggest attractions this year was the opening of the Richmond on Broad Cafe, where students can use dining dollars to pay for meals, Dean said. Gremillion's first visit to UR Downtown was part of Bonner Orientation and happened to coincide with a First Friday Downtown, the opening of the cafe and the showing of an exhibit of Richmond photography, she said.

She has continued to eat at the cafe ever since, she said, and recently heard a patron commenting on the high quality of one of the cafe's burgers. "I don't even think that many students know what they're missing out on until they get there for a visit," Gremillion said.

Contact reporter Anika Kempe at anika.kempe@richmond.edu