96-02-27 Speaker to Discuss Civic Values UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY CELEBRATION WILL FOCUS ON CIVIC VALUES COLUMBUS -- Edward A. Schwartz, president of the Institute for the Study of Civic Values in Philadelphia, will speak April 18 in a community celebration of the 125th anniversary of the founding of The Ohio State University and the 25th anniversary of creation of the University District Organization. Schwartz's lecture, titled "From 'Me' to 'We': A Civic Framework for Community," will be at 7:30 p.m. in St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 30 W. Woodruff Ave. His lecture will be free and open to the public. The lecture is part of a series of university-sponsored programs during the 1995-96 academic year which commemorate Ohio State's founding in 1870. Schwartz's lecture will celebrate the relationship between the university and neighborhoods around Ohio State. These neighborhoods underwent substantive change following World War II as Ohio State's Columbus campus grew to become the largest single campus in the nation. In the last year, the university, with support from the City of Columbus, created Campus Partners to develop a comprehensive revitalization plan for the University District. In planning for Schwartz's lecture, the University District Organization and Campus Partners hope his appearance will lead to additional public programs on a general theme of "Community, Civility and Change." The University District Organization was founded in 1971 as a planning organization for the University District with involvement by the city, Ohio State and other major institutions. UDO has evolved into an organization of organizations in the University District which sponsors a variety of programs and encourages networking and cooperation among the groups serving the area. Schwartz founded the Institute for the Study of Civic Values in 1973 to develop education, research and action programs that relate contemporary issues to America's historic ideals. The institute currently is organizing a Social Contract Project which helps neighborhood organizations use social contracts to define shared responsibilities for community improvement; a Neighborhood Self-Sufficiency Program to integrate housing, literacy and job training programs within neighborhoods as a means of empowering the poor; and Neighborhoods Online, a variety of services helping neighborhood-based organizations gain information and communicate with one another through the Internet. Schwartz is a 1965 graduate of Oberlin College. He later earned a Ph.D. in political science from Rutgers University. He was elected a councilman-at-large in Philadelphia in 1984, then he directed Philadelphia's Office of Housing and Community Development from 1987 to 1991. # Contact: The Rev. Richard Bausman, director of the United Christian Center and chairperson of UDO's Program Committee, 294-5195. [Submitted by: Ruth Gerstner (rgerstne@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu) Tue, 27 Feb 1996 11:36:58 -0500] All documents are the responsibility of their originator.